International Car Theft Ring Busted

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, revealed on Thursday that a recently apprehended international car theft ring can steal vehicles in less than a minute. They accomplish this without using keys, breaking windows, or even hot-wiring cars. Instead, they’re utilizing advanced technology that essentially “rewrites the brain” of the vehicles.

“There’s no drama,” Pirro stated on a morning show. “They have a device called Ortel. It’s a simple tool that literally rewrites the brain of the vehicle.”

Pirro shared that the suspects, operating across Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., have managed to hack into vehicles and disable tracking systems like GPS and Bluetooth to maintain their stealth.

According to Pirro, once the vehicles are stolen, they are taken to “cooling-off zones.” These include spots like a Marriott hotel in Pennsylvania and locations within the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Here, the culprits swap out license plates and VINs before loading the vehicles onto transport carriers bound for ports in Savannah, Georgia, and Baltimore, Maryland.

“These cars are shipped to Africa, and they cleverly label the cargo as ‘furniture’ to avoid scrutiny,” she explained.

Recently, Pirro announced a 15-count federal indictment against this theft ring. The group uses a tool called Autelus to recalibrate a vehicle’s internal systems, allowing them to program blank key fobs rather than resorting to traditional methods of car theft.

Interestingly, Honda vehicles appear to be the most frequently targeted in the U.S. Authorities are currently monitoring around 100 additional vehicles linked to these theft rings.

“In less than 60 seconds, the car is gone. It’s cooled down and shipped off, often to Africa. No one checks inside the container. They’re making significant profits,” Pirro emphasized.

“These are old crimes being committed in new ways,” she added, illustrating the evolution of car theft methods.