NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) -Metro Nashville police said people are stealing Infiniti cars and the thieves are using a new device to drive away with cars almost seamlessly.
An auto locksmith and a woman who said her locked Infiniti was stolen from her driveway spoke with WSMV4 about the ongoing issue.
The woman said she woke up on Tuesday morning and couldn’t believe the video caught on her porch camera that showed her car being driven out of her driveway, but not by her.
“I woke up at around 5:30 a.m., rolled my front window up and I noticed that my car was not in the driveway. I immediately thought, ‘Oh, did I put my car on the street?’ So, I ran out of my house and saw glass on my driveway,” the woman said. “Someone stole it; someone stole my car, and I immediately felt frustrated and angry.”
The woman said she called 911 and an officer showed up moments later. Police told her that they had recently had several reports of Infiniti’s being stolen.
According to MNPD’s statistic chart, there have been more than a 100 Infiniti’s stolen in Nashville with the last six months.
The woman said when she posted about what happened to her on Instagram, comments started to pour in from people with similar experiences.
“One of my friends commented, ‘Oh yeah, my Infiniti got stolen in July, and the police were able to find it though, three weeks later,’“ the woman said. ”I had another friend who was like ‘Two or three months ago my sister’s Infiniti got stolen’ and I was like ‘Oh, so this is a thing and just no one is talking about it.’”
Police said thieves are using a key fob reprogramming device to steal these cars, but auto locksmiths said there are few things drivers can do to protect their cars.
Auto locksmith John Cunningham said protection starts with simply locking car doors.
“Lock your car, set the alarm, get an aftermarket alarm, park it inside and if you’re really concerned with a push to start car, keep your key in a Faraday bag at night,” Cunningham said.
With more than 10 years of experience working in Nashville as an auto locksmith, Cunningham said drivers should also look into the type of key they get when buying a car.
“Anything that’s push to start or a keyless entry, there’s kind of a tradeoff between convenience and security,” Cunningham said.
While praying someone finds her car, the woman said she wanted to warn other Infiniti owners about this issue.
“Just spreading the word that people are doing it will help people either put an Apple tag in their car or put it behind their gate or put something on their stirring wheel, so people can’t steal it,” she said.
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