Locking car with your clicker.....is that foolproof??

[BobT-47P15]

This e-mail item has been sent in the past, but thought I'd post it in

case someone may not have seen it.

To Lock Your Car and Why

I locked my car. As I walked away I heard my car door unlock. I went back and locked my car again three times. Each time, as soon as I started to walk away, I would hear it unlock again!! Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there was no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation . I quickly chucked the errand I was on, jumped in my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into cars. Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar happening....

While traveling, my friend's son stopped at a roadside rest to use the bathroom. When he came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later, someone had gotten into his car and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase.....you name it. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into, the police told him he had been a victim of the latest robbery tactic -- there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your key-chain locking device..

They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bathroom and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run. The police officer said to manually lock your car door-by hitting the lock button inside the car -- that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim, it will not be you.

When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be instantly stolen

Be wisely aware of what you just read and please pass this note on. Look how many times we all lock our doors with our remote just to be sure we remembered to lock them -- and bingo, someone has our code...and whatever was in our car.

Snopes Approved --Please share with everyone you know .

This story is sort of similar to the current deal where thieves can read

numbers on your credit card while it's still in your pocket. Who'd have

thought someday you'd need a metal wallet????

[Plymouthy Adams]

while it is wise to be alert to all things concerning your car and protecting the contents..just becasue it has a Snope approved added at the bottom does not mean it is Snopes verified. By actually going to Snopes is about the only way to know for sure what the report is..and get the full story..I would say that if one could get the frequency of the remote they would have to spend a bit of time learing just how much shift from center freq one would need to generate the open command. It is based a lot on RC control of toys..where each funtion of control is offset frm the carrier frequency. I have played a bit with my personal key remote and a spectrum analyzer. Anyway, technology of random patterns is in place since mid 90's it seems to add protection from code snatchers..but..it still amazes me that after using only one remote for over a year and then use the other remote and it still unlocks the door first time.make me wonder about the so called random in the report..

[BobT-47P15]

Here's a link to Snopes site and their reasons why this process, especially

on newer models, is pretty much impossible. At the top of their page,

they called the story "Partly True", but said they did not authorize the

use of "Snopes Approved" in the circulated e-mail.

To get to their explanations, scroll down past the anecdotes.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/lockcode.asp