CHICAGO — Two armed men lured a locksmith to the South Loop and then robbed him of his car key fob programmer on Sunday afternoon. Auto theft rings are increasingly using fob programmers to steal vehicles across the city.
A 37-year-old locksmith responded to a service call in the 2000 block of South State around 3:38 p.m. Sunday and met with two men, according to Chicago police. According to a CPD report, the men stated that they were locked out of their vehicle and directed him to a Dodge Durango.
After a brief conversation, one of the men pulled out a gun and demanded the locksmith’s key fob programmer. Both robbers left the scene on foot, police said.
Auto thefts across the city are down 24% from the record level reported last year. Car thefts surged beginning in June 2022 as thieves known as “Kia Boys” exploited a design flaw, allowing them to steal certain Kia and Hyundai vehicles by using a USB plug as the key. Beginning late last year, the automakers rolled out modifications to fix the problem. But, with millions of cars in need of updating, the process has been slow.
Even with the 24% decline, this year’s auto theft tally is still 141% higher than 2020 and 135% higher than 2021.
Increasingly, more sophisticated auto theft crews have been using key fob duplicators to steal vehicles, including high-end makes and models.
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