The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(October 2013) |
Motor vehicle theft (also known as a car theft and, in the United States, grand theft auto) is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle. Nationwide in the United States in 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reported stolen, up from 724,872 in 2019. [1] Property losses due to motor vehicle theft in 2020 were estimated at $7.4 billion. There were 505,100 car thefts in the EU in 2019, a 43% decrease from 2008. [2]
Some methods used by criminals to steal motor vehicles:
The makes and models of vehicles most frequently stolen vary by several factors, including region and ease of theft. In particular, the security systems in older vehicles may not be up to the same standard as current vehicles, and thieves also have longer to learn their weaknesses. [9] Scrap metal and spare part prices may also influence thieves to prefer older vehicles. [10]
In Bangkok, Thailand, the most frequently stolen vehicles are Toyota cars, Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-Max pickups. [11] [12]
In Malaysia, Proton models are the most frequently stolen vehicles, with the Proton Wira being the highest, followed by the Proton Waja and the Proton Perdana.
In Indonesia, locally-produced MPVs such as Toyota Avanza, Daihatsu Xenia and Suzuki Ertiga are the most commonly stolen vehicles. [13]
In the United Kingdom, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class was the most stolen car in 2018, followed by the BMW X5. Police said the growing number of vehicles featuring keyless entry technology was a contributing factor to a rising number of stolen vehicles. [14]
In the United States and Australia, a design flaw allowing USB cables to substitute for car keys led to sharp increases in the thefts of affected Kia and Hyundai vehicles in 2022. [15] The Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger are listed as the most stolen vehicles in the United States (especially Hellcat powered) [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]
There are various methods of prevention to reduce the likelihood of a vehicle getting stolen. These include physical barriers, which make the effort of stealing the vehicle more difficult. Some of these include:
Recovery rates for stolen vehicles vary, depending on the effort a jurisdiction's police department puts into recovery, and devices a vehicle has installed to assist in the process.
Police departments use various methods of recovering stolen vehicles, such as random checks of vehicles that come in front of a patrol unit, checks of all vehicles parked along a street or within a parking lot using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) or keeping a watchlist of all the vehicles reported stolen by their owners. Police departments also receive tips on the location of stolen vehicles through StolenCar.com [22] or isitnicked.com [23] in the United Kingdom.
In the UK, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) provides information on the registration of vehicles to certain companies for consumer protection and anti-fraud purposes. The information may be added by companies with details from the police, finance and insurance companies. Such companies include Carfax [24] in the US, AutoCheck [25] and CarCheck [26] in the United Kingdom, Gapless [27] in Germany and Cartell in Ireland, VinCheckFree [28] Worldwide which then provide online car check services for the public and motor trade.
Vehicle tracking systems, such as LoJack, automatic vehicle location, or OnStar, may enable the location of the vehicle to be tracked by local law enforcement or a private company. Other security devices such as microdot identification allow individual parts of a vehicle to also be identified and potentially returned.
Criminologist Frank E. Hagan wrote that, "Probably the most important factor in the rate of motor vehicle theft is the number of motor vehicles per capita in the country." [29] Using data supplied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, [30] the estimated worldwide auto-theft rate is 85.3 per 100,000 residents. However, data is not available for all countries, and this crime rate reflects only the most recent year (2018) of reported data. For the 2,302,190,898 people these countries represent, there were a total 1,963,007 cars stolen. New Zealand has the highest auto-theft rate for any fairly large country in the world, at 1172.0 per 100,000 residents in 2018. However Bermuda in its most recent year of reported auto-thefts (2016), reported a rate of 1215.3 per 100,000 people. But the population of Bermuda (63,360) is smaller than many cities in countries such as the US and Canada. Some cities have higher rates than Bermuda, such as Richmond, California, which had an auto-theft rate of 1,518.3 in 2018. [31]
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime notes "that when using the figures, any cross-national comparisons should be conducted with caution because of the differences that exist between the legal definitions of offenses in countries, or the different methods of offense counting and recording". Crime rates in certain neighborhoods or areas in each country may also be higher or lower than the nationwide rate. Furthermore, because the vehicle theft rates shown in the table below are "per 100,000 population"—not per 100,000 vehicles—countries with low vehicle ownership rates will appear to have lower theft rates even if the theft rate per vehicle is relatively high.
Motor vehicle thefts by country [30] | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Motor vehicle thefts | Population | Rate per 100,000 population | Year | ||||||||
Bermuda | 770 | 63,360 | 1215.3 | 2016 | ||||||||
New Zealand | 55,588 | 4,743,131 | 1172.0 | 2018 | ||||||||
Uruguay | 19,265 | 3,449,290 | 558.5 | 2018 | ||||||||
Malaysia | 82,287 | 26,201,950 | 314.0 | 2006 | ||||||||
Monaco | 104 | 34,189 | 304.2 | 2006 | ||||||||
Israel | 20,974 | 7,487,095 | 280.1 | 2011 | ||||||||
France | 119,700 | 67,408,000 | 177.6 | 2020 | ||||||||
Italy | 141,132 | 60,627,290 | 232.8 | 2018 | ||||||||
Canada | 85,020 | 36,732,090 | 231.5 | 2017 | ||||||||
United States of America | 748,800 | 327,096,300 | 228.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Greece | 23,969 | 10,522,240 | 227.8 | 2018 | ||||||||
Sweden | 21,803 | 9,971,630 | 218.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Maldives | 890 | 415,592 | 214.2 | 2013 | ||||||||
Australia | 53,305 | 24,898,150 | 214.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
United Kingdom (England and Wales) | 120,114 | 59,115,809 | 203.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Netherlands | 27,735 | 17,059,560 | 162.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Lebanon | 10,059 | 6,261,046 | 160.7 | 2014 | ||||||||
Iran | 94,413 | 68,951,280 | 136.9 | 2004 | ||||||||
Chile | 24,288 | 18,729,170 | 129.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Puerto Rico | 3,699 | 3,039,598 | 121.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Belgium | 13,859 | 11,482,180 | 120.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Brazil | 240,706 | 209,469,300 | 114.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Mexico | 137,175 | 126,190,800 | 108.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Finland | 5,794 | 5,522,585 | 104.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Bahrain | 1,094 | 1,114,645 | 98.1 | 2008 | ||||||||
Bahamas | 375 | 385,635 | 97.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Portugal | 9,864 | 10,256,190 | 96.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
United Kingdom (Scotland) | 4,950 | 5,438,100 | 91.0 | 2018 | ||||||||
Switzerland | 7,640 | 8,525,614 | 89.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Costa Rica | 4,225 | 4,795,390 | 88.1 | 2014 | ||||||||
Colombia | 43,211 | 49,661,060 | 87.0 | 2018 | ||||||||
Argentina | 37,189 | 43,075,420 | 86.3 | 2015 | ||||||||
Cyprus | 989 | 1,170,189 | 84.5 | 2016 | ||||||||
Ecuador | 12,843 | 15,951,830 | 80.5 | 2014 | ||||||||
Ireland | 3,742 | 4,818,694 | 77.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) | 1,452 | 1,881,641 | 77.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Norway | 4,062 | 5,337,960 | 76.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
Malta | 317 | 439,255 | 72.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Austria | 6,333 | 8,891,383 | 71.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Czechia | 7,027 | 10,665,680 | 65.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Spain | 30,182 | 46,692,860 | 64.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Germany | 50,440 | 83,124,410 | 60.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Jordan | 4,908 | 8,089,963 | 60.7 | 2012 | ||||||||
Paraguay | 4,004 | 6,688,746 | 59.9 | 2015 | ||||||||
Peru | 19,084 | 31,989,260 | 59.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Trinidad and Tobago | 785 | 1,370,332 | 57.3 | 2015 | ||||||||
Dominican Republic | 5,455 | 10,397,740 | 52.5 | 2016 | ||||||||
Luxembourg | 293 | 604,244 | 48.5 | 2018 | ||||||||
Dominica | 34 | 71,626 | 47.5 | 2018 | ||||||||
Brunei | 169 | 370,262 | 45.6 | 2006 | ||||||||
Turkey | 31,013 | 74,651,050 | 41.5 | 2012 | ||||||||
St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 44 | 108,435 | 40.6 | 2012 | ||||||||
Mauritius | 504 | 1,251,074 | 40.3 | 2011 | ||||||||
Barbados | 106 | 285,798 | 37.1 | 2016 | ||||||||
El Salvador | 2,163 | 6,325,121 | 34.2 | 2015 | ||||||||
Hungary | 3,175 | 9,777,925 | 32.5 | 2015 | ||||||||
Eswatini | 307 | 1,026,287 | 29.9 | 2004 | ||||||||
Russia | 43,172 | 145,734,000 | 29.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Poland | 10,971 | 37,921,580 | 28.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Belize | 105 | 368,399 | 28.5 | 2016 | ||||||||
Japan | 35,959 | 127,763,300 | 28.1 | 2016 | ||||||||
Lithuania | 787 | 2,801,270 | 28.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
North Macedonia | 542 | 2,077,780 | 26.1 | 2014 | ||||||||
Slovenia | 542 | 2,077,836 | 26.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
Antigua and Barbuda | 24 | 96,282 | 24.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Bulgaria | 1,740 | 7,051,610 | 24.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Slovakia | 1,339 | 5,453,017 | 24.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Egypt | 20,231 | 84,529,250 | 23.9 | 2011 | ||||||||
Iceland | 78 | 336,712 | 23.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Croatia | 923 | 4,156,407 | 22.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Lesotho | 437 | 1,990,135 | 22.0 | 2009 | ||||||||
Panama | 879 | 4,037,073 | 21.8 | 2016 | ||||||||
Kazakhstan | 3,785 | 17,572,010 | 21.5 | 2015 | ||||||||
Jamaica | 603 | 2,891,024 | 20.9 | 2015 | ||||||||
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 585 | 3,323,929 | 17.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Macao Special Administrative Region of China | 110 | 631,633 | 17.4 | 2018 | ||||||||
Guatemala | 2,708 | 16,583,080 | 16.3 | 2016 | ||||||||
Botswana | 317 | 2,088,619 | 15.2 | 2014 | ||||||||
Cape Verde | 80 | 543,764 | 14.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Serbia | 1,282 | 8,802,741 | 14.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Latvia | 265 | 1,928,461 | 13.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Pakistan | 29,126 | 212,228,300 | 13.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Mongolia | 431 | 3,170,214 | 13.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Algeria | 5,352 | 39,728,020 | 13.5 | 2015 | ||||||||
Liechtenstein | 5 | 37,918 | 13.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
India | 165,690 | 1,280,842,000 | 12.9 | 2013 | ||||||||
Qatar | 131 | 1,022,704 | 12.8 | 2006 | ||||||||
Kosovo | 214 | 1,790,841 | 11.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Tanzania | 5,805 | 51,482,640 | 11.3 | 2015 | ||||||||
Romania | 2,088 | 19,506,110 | 10.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Indonesia | 27,731 | 267,670,500 | 10.4 | 2018 | ||||||||
Estonia | 134 | 1,322,913 | 10.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
Ukraine | 4,278 | 45,792,090 | 9.3 | 2010 | ||||||||
Albania | 252 | 2,882,735 | 8.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Thailand | 5,723 | 68,971,310 | 8.3 | 2016 | ||||||||
Côte d'Ivoire | 1,593 | 19,605,570 | 8.1 | 2008 | ||||||||
Suriname | 40 | 493,680 | 8.1 | 2004 | ||||||||
Palestine | 286 | 3,577,956 | 8.0 | 2005 | ||||||||
Cameroon | 1,583 | 23,298,380 | 6.8 | 2015 | ||||||||
Nicaragua | 388 | 5,824,058 | 6.7 | 2010 | ||||||||
St. Kitts and Nevis | 3 | 49,442 | 6.1 | 2011 | ||||||||
Belarus | 570 | 9,431,742 | 6.0 | 2014 | ||||||||
Hong Kong | 428 | 7,371,728 | 5.8 | 2018 | ||||||||
United Arab Emirates | 553 | 9,630,966 | 5.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Guyana | 41 | 779,007 | 5.3 | 2018 | ||||||||
South Korea | 2,707 | 51,171,700 | 5.3 | 2018 | ||||||||
Montenegro | 31 | 627,803 | 4.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Philippines | 4,924 | 106,651,400 | 4.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Yemen | 1,012 | 22,516,460 | 4.5 | 2009 | ||||||||
Moldova | 178 | 4,073,407 | 4.4 | 2014 | ||||||||
Denmark | 231 | 5,752,131 | 4.0 | 2018 | ||||||||
Myanmar | 2,068 | 53,708,320 | 3.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Uganda | 1,461 | 39,649,170 | 3.7 | 2016 | ||||||||
Morocco | 1,280 | 36,029,090 | 3.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Zimbabwe | 444 | 12,379,550 | 3.6 | 2008 | ||||||||
Kyrgyzstan | 203 | 6,304,025 | 3.2 | 2018 | ||||||||
Honduras | 302 | 9,587,523 | 3.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
Syria | 532 | 16,945,060 | 3.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
Sri Lanka | 577 | 21,228,760 | 2.7 | 2018 | ||||||||
Azerbaijan | 211 | 9,949,537 | 2.1 | 2018 | ||||||||
Singapore | 114 | 5,757,503 | 2.0 | 2018 | ||||||||
Oman | 89 | 4,829,476 | 1.8 | 2018 | ||||||||
Armenia | 48 | 2,951,741 | 1.6 | 2018 | ||||||||
Kuwait | 45 | 2,821,041 | 1.6 | 2009 | ||||||||
Nigeria | 2,043 | 171,765,800 | 1.2 | 2013 | ||||||||
Georgia | 43 | 4,166,860 | 1.0 | 2007 | ||||||||
Kenya | 457 | 51,392,570 | 0.9 | 2018 | ||||||||
Bangladesh | 1,061 | 140,921,200 | 0.8 | 2006 | ||||||||
Bolivia | 94 | 11,353,140 | 0.8 | 2018 | ||||||||
Tajikistan | 48 | 7,697,507 | 0.6 | 2011 | ||||||||
Guinea | 49 | 9,738,796 | 0.5 | 2008 | ||||||||
Guinea-Bissau | 5 | 1,692,433 | 0.3 | 2014 | ||||||||
Madagascar | 20 | 24,234,080 | 0.1 | 2015 | ||||||||
Nepal | 17 | 26,066,690 | 0.1 | 2006 | ||||||||
Andorra | 0 | 79,213 | 0.0 | 2014 | ||||||||
Grenada | 0 | 109,603 | 0.0 | 2015 | ||||||||
Holy See | 0 | 790 | 0.0 | 2015 | ||||||||
São Tomé and Príncipe | 0 | 184,521 | 0.0 | 2011 | ||||||||
Senegal | 7 | 14,993,510 | 0.0 | 2016 | ||||||||
Turkmenistan | 2 | 4,810,114 | 0.0 | 2006 | ||||||||
Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word theft is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as larceny, robbery, embezzlement, extortion, blackmail, or receiving stolen property. In some jurisdictions, theft is considered to be synonymous with larceny, while in others, theft is defined more narrowly. Someone who carries out an act of theft may be described as a "thief".
A car alarm is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the vehicle itself, its contents, or both. Car alarms work by emitting high-volume sound when the conditions necessary for triggering it are met. Such alarms may also cause the vehicle's headlights to flash, may notify the car's owner of the incident via a paging system, and may interrupt one or more electrical circuits necessary for the car to start. Although inexpensive to acquire and install, the effectiveness of such devices in deterring vehicle burglary or theft when their only effect is to emit sound appears to be negligible.
Hot-wiring is the process of bypassing a motor vehicle's ignition switch and thus starting it without the key. It is often utilized during a vehicle theft. However, a legitimate vehicle owner who has lost a vehicle key or starting a vehicle with inoperable ignition switch may also implement this process.
A smart key is an electronic access and authorization system that is available either as standard equipment, or as an option in several car designs. It was first developed by Siemens in 1995 and introduced by Mercedes-Benz under the name "Keyless-Go" in 1998 on the W220 S-Class, after the design patent was filed by Daimler-Benz on May 17, 1997.
Anti-theft systems protect valuables such as vehicles and personal property like wallets, phones, and jewelry. They are also used in retail settings to protect merchandise in the form of security tags and labels. Anti-theft systems include devices such as locks and keys, RFID tags, and GPS locators.
A bait car, also called a decoy car, hot car, or trap car, is a vehicle used by law enforcement agencies to capture car thieves or thieves who steal items from cars. The vehicles are modified with audio/video surveillance technology, and can be remotely monitored and controlled. Those set up to catch car thieves may include GPS tracking. A "kill switch" may be installed in the vehicle allowing police to remotely disable the engine and lock all doors, preventing escape. A car set up to catch thieves who steal items from cars may be disabled so that it cannot be started and have specially prepared "bait property".
A car key or an automobile key is a key used to open and/or start an automobile. Modern key designs are usually symmetrical, and some use grooves on both sides, rather than a cut edge, to actuate the lock. It has multiple uses for the automobile with which it was sold. A car key can open the doors, as well as start the ignition, open the glove compartment and also open the trunk (boot) of the car. Some cars come with an additional key known as a valet key that starts the ignition and opens the driver's side door, but prevents the valet from gaining access to valuables that are located in the trunk or the glove box. Some valet keys, particularly those to high-performance vehicles, go so far as to restrict the engine's power output to prevent joyriding. Recently, features such as coded immobilizers have been implemented in newer vehicles. More sophisticated systems make ignition dependent on electronic devices, rather than the mechanical keyswitch. A number of these systems, such as KeeLoq and Megamos Crypto have been demonstrated to be weak and vulnerable to cryptanalytic attacks.
A remote keyless system (RKS), also known as remote keyless entry (RKE) or remote central locking, is an electronic lock that controls access to a building or vehicle by using an electronic remote control (activated by a handheld device or automatically by proximity). RKS largely and quickly superseded keyless entry, a budding technology that restrictively bound locking and locking functions to vehicle-mounted keypads.
In the United States, VIN etching is a countermeasure to motor vehicle theft, that involves etching a vehicle's VIN onto its windows to reduce the value of a stolen vehicle to thieves. The Federal Trade Commission includes VIN etching on a list of upsold services including extended warranties, service and maintenance plans, payment programs, guaranteed automobile or asset protection, emergency road service, and other theft protection devices, and warns consumers about the practice of upselling when buying a vehicle.
Joyriding is driving or riding in a stolen vehicle, most commonly a car, with no particular goal other than the pleasure or thrill of doing so or to impress other people. The term "joy riding" was coined by a New York judge in 1908.
A chop shop is a business, often mimicking a body shop, that illicitly disassembles stolen motor vehicles and sells their parts. Chop shops are often linked to car-theft rings as part of a broader organized crime enterprise.
An immobiliser or immobilizer is an electronic security device fitted to a motor vehicle that prevents the engine from being started unless the correct key is present. This prevents the vehicle from being "hot wired" after entry has been achieved and thus reduces motor vehicle theft. Research shows that the uniform application of immobilisers reduced the rate of car theft by 40%.
KeeLoq is a proprietary hardware-dedicated block cipher that uses a non-linear feedback shift register (NLFSR). The uni-directional command transfer protocol was designed by Frederick Bruwer of Nanoteq (Pty) Ltd., the cryptographic algorithm was created by Gideon Kuhn at the University of Pretoria, and the silicon implementation was by Willem Smit at Nanoteq Pty Ltd in the mid-1980s. KeeLoq was sold to Microchip Technology Inc in 1995 for $10 million. It is used in "code hopping" encoders and decoders such as NTQ105/106/115/125D/129D, HCS101/2XX/3XX/4XX/5XX and MCS31X2. KeeLoq is or was used in many remote keyless entry systems by such companies as Chrysler, Daewoo, Fiat, GM, Honda, Toyota, Volvo, Volkswagen Group, Clifford, Shurlok, and Jaguar.
Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, or some other benefit. This may involve force, or the threat of force, in cases like robbery or extortion. Since these crimes are committed in order to enrich the perpetrator they are considered property crimes. Crimes against property are divided into two groups: destroyed property and stolen property. When property is destroyed, it could be called arson or vandalism. Examples of the act of stealing property is robbery or embezzlement.
An anti-hijack system is an electronic system fitted to motor vehicles to deter criminals from hijacking them. Although these types of systems are becoming more common on newer cars, they have not caused a decrease in insurance premiums as they are not as widely known as other more common anti-theft systems such as alarms or steering locks. It can also be a part of an alarm or immobiliser system. An approved anti-hijacking system will achieve a safe, quick shutdown of the vehicle it is attached to. There are also mechanical anti-hijack devices.
Construction equipment theft, is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal construction equipment, including all type of heavy equipments. Construction equipment theft has been recognized as a significant problem in the United States and elsewhere in the world, including Canada, Australia, Europe, and Japan.
Bait Car is an American television series that aired on the truTV network. The show depicted police officers targeting criminals with a high-tech bait car, rigged with hidden cameras and radio trackers. Footage is shown from in-car cameras, police car dashcams, and film crews with the police officers. The show holds a TV-14 rating due to strong language, although most of the profanity is censored.
Bicycle theft is the crime of stealing a bicycle. It is a common crime due to the relative ease of reselling bicycles, which have a large second-hand market. This makes the crime attractive to those needing to obtain currency quickly, such as people with substance addictions. Bicycles are also easily accessible, often being locked up outside in public places in urban areas. Despite the developed market of bicycle locks, it is estimated that millions of bicycles are stolen every year. Thieves use a variety of methods to bypass locks, including taking advantage of bicycle owners' poor locking practices. Bicycle owners can take action to reduce the chances of theft, including utilising facilities such as bicycle lockers and parking racks.
Automotive hacking is the exploitation of vulnerabilities within the software, hardware, and communication systems of automobiles.
The Kia Challenge is a viral TikTok trend attributed to a series of motor vehicle thefts targeting Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the United States manufactured between 2011 and 2021. The trend, which began in October 2022, has led to eight fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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