Thursday, 17 March 2016

Key reading and theft investigation

On Tuesday 14 July, 32 members and guests from the London region gathered at our Southern venue, Travelers Insurance Company in Redhill, Surrey.

The guest speaker for the evening was James Happs from Zurich Insurance. A senior member of the Motor Engineering Unit’s unique Special Investigation team, James is a forensic investigator and expert in key reading and theft investigation.

Entitled ‘Keeping Up with the Car Thief: ‘Modern vehicles can’t be stolen without keys’, James’ presentation sought to demonstrate some known theft methods and provide an insight into theft claim validation while dispelling some of the myths.

James began with an overview of the complex vehicle fire, mechanical investigation and theft cases that his team investigate before providing some very interesting statistics on the changing face of vehicle theft over the last twenty years.

During the nineties many stolen vehicles were taken, for a bit of fun, by joyriders with recovery rates tending to be high. Following the introduction of transponder immobilisers as standard equipment, there has been a steady decline in the number of vehicles being stolen. Today many thefts are carried out by organised gangs who steal mainly high value vehicles or specific vehicles to order. As a result recovery rates are significantly lower than in the 1990s. Unsurprisingly, the Metropolitan area recorded the highest number of vehicle thefts in recent data.

While many stolen vehicles are exported out of the country, James provided some images of recovered vehicles. Many had been broken for parts and, in some cases, vehicles had been cut in half in order to reduce the import duty at the country of destination.

Today it is generally thought to be difficult to steal a modern vehicle without the keys. However, James suggested a number of ways that thieves are able to gain entry into a vehicle. These range from stealing the keys to simply smashing a window and include the use of lock picks, which can be obtained for as little as £20.00 online, accessing the vehicle’s electrics or blocking the signal to the key. Once inside, the thief can gain access to the OBD connection from which the programming of an additional key is reasonably straightforward with equipment and duplicate keys readily available online.

James demonstrated various household items that can be used as signal blockers and a lock picking kit that he had easily obtained online. In some cases, component substitution is used to gain entry to the vehicle. James presented a case where this was the method of theft and exhibited the ECU and fuse box that had been recovered from a stolen Ford Transit.

James went on to provide some very interesting information on how key reading can be used to access the credibility of a vehicle theft claim. While it is not possible to obtain key data from of all vehicle manufactures, those keys that can be read will often provide information that can indicate anomalies with the alleged theft circumstances. James provided a number of key interrogation reports from which he had been able to obtain information such as VIN number, mileage, timings and service history.

While electronic data can in part help to verify the validity of a theft claim, physical examination of the key will also provide important information such as whether the key is original, whether it is actually for the allegedly stolen vehicle and even its date of production. In addition, James demonstrated an example of a lock that had been recovered from the debris of a burnt out vehicle. In this case, the realignment of the tumblers on the key had confirmed the key supplied was the correct key for the vehicle.

There are many myths surrounding vehicle thefts and James reminded the audience to be cautious when viewing videos and equipment online. James advised members to consider all the facts and evidence surrounding a theft claim while using key reading techniques as an indicator of the need for further investigation.

Finally, James touched on future innovations and discussed concerns surrounding the introduction of car key apps which allow smart phones or watches to act as a car key. It is quite clear that some manufacturers could do a lot more to prevent vehicle theft. However, as fast as new technologies are developed, the thieves will find a way to outsmart the systems.

James’ presentation proved to be fascinating and was of great benefit and interest to the large audience in attendance. Our chairman Gary Hunt concluded the evening by thanking James for the very informative presentation and for giving up his valuable time.

Gary Hunt