Thieves Exploit Bluetooth Technology: Police Warn Car Owners About Rising Vehicle Break-In Trend

The Livermore Police Department in California has issued a stark warning to car owners who travel with portable electronic devices, urging them to remain vigilant and ensure they don’t leave their electronics behind. Authorities have revealed a growing trend of thieves in the San Francisco Bay Area using cellphones and Bluetooth-scanning apps to identify and target devices left inside vehicles.

Sgt. Tim Lendman of the Livermore Police Department elaborated on this technologically advanced criminal strategy in a recent Facebook Reel posted on August 10. He described how thieves exploit Bluetooth technology to track devices and capitalize on the unsuspecting car owners who leave their electronics unattended.

Lendman explained that when individuals have electronic devices with Bluetooth capabilities in their vehicles—such as smartphones or laptops—thieves can use their own smartphones, equipped with specific applications or just the devices themselves, to pinpoint and locate these items. This is achieved by detecting the presence of other Bluetooth devices within range, even if they are set to sleep mode or hidden within the vehicle.

The accuracy of tracking is facilitated by analyzing the strength of the Bluetooth connection, which provides a clear indication of the device’s proximity. Thieves can manually search with a cellphone in hand or employ Bluetooth-scanning apps, many of which are intended for helping people locate lost items. However, these apps are now being misused by criminals for nefarious purposes.

Lendman stressed that the best course of action is to avoid leaving any electronics in a vehicle altogether. If circumstances dictate that electronics must be left behind, he recommended ensuring they are powered off completely to minimize the risk of being tracked.

While this crime trend has raised concerns in the San Francisco Bay Area, neighboring regions do not appear to have been significantly affected, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The extent of the Bluetooth-scanning method’s prevalence beyond California remains unclear. A similar phenomenon was reported in December 2022 by KHOU 11, a Houston-based news station, which warned Texas residents about thieves exploiting Bluetooth and Wi-Fi trackers to locate items left in vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that over one million vehicles were stolen across the United States in 2022. Although the NHTSA did not provide specific figures on car burglaries related to the use of Bluetooth technology, this rising trend emphasizes the importance of safeguarding valuable electronics.

Bluetooth technology is commonplace in today’s electronic landscape, found in devices such as cellphones, tablets, laptops, headphones, smartwatches, and fitness trackers. These devices, often valued at hundreds of dollars each, are at risk of being targeted by tech-savvy thieves using innovative methods to locate and steal valuables.

As law enforcement agencies and car owners alike grapple with this new challenge, staying informed and adopting best practices for electronic device storage remains crucial to thwarting these theft attempts.