Johannesburg - South Africa is one of the world's hot spots for hijacking and vehicle theft. Alarmingly, many car owners are also robbed of their possessions by criminals breaking into vehicles.
A growing trend among criminals is the use of car-remote jamming; a technique used by criminals whereby a signal blocks attempts to lock your vehicle via your alarm remote.
We've included videos revealing car-jamming tactics in SA as well as valuable advice for motorists.
Signal Jamming
Pro-Active managing director Ryno Schutte said: "The increase in incidents where signal jamming devices are used during vehicle and cargo theft is one of the prominent challenges that the South African transport industry is facing today. Any standard GSM and GPS telematics devices used to track vehicles and cargo may be susceptible to illegal signal jamming by criminals."
What is signal jamming?
He said: "A signal jammer prevents telematics devices from communicating their position to the vehicle tracking service provider. Criminals acquire illegal GSM and GPS jamming devices on the black market, which are then used in the hijacking of vehicles and trucks. These devices can be small hand-held units or large industrial briefcase-size jamming devices.
"Most jamming devices are simply plugged into the vehicle’s cigarette lighter jack-socket and then block all tracking signals. This results in the control centre losing contact with the vehicle. The vehicle tracking system merely shows the last position of the vehicle before the signal was lost."
'Don't be complacent'
He said: "Many different types of devices are susceptible to signal jamming, including smartphones, remote controls, and tracking devices. The signals these jamming devices emit on the GSM or GPS frequencies prevent tracking devices in the vehicle from receiving and transmitting messages, thereby blocking the positioning signal. The tracking device may be disabled without the driver even being aware."
"The fight against crime is every citizens responsibility. Don’t be complacent in thinking that it won’t happen to us."
Four ways to guard against remote-jamming
1. Physically check that your vehicle is locked, even if you've locked it with via your remote.
2. Keep valuables out of sight and if possible within your vehicle’s boot.
3. Stash your valuables before you park; place them in the boot before you start your journey, not once you arrive at your destination where someone may be watching.
4. If for some reason you are unable to lock your vehicle, move to different location.
Have you been a victim of car-jamming? Email us or reach us via Facebook and Twitter.
See videos below of car-jamming in SA:
WATCH: SA car-jammer steals from unsuspecting driver
WATCH: Car-jamming - Just make sure you're locked