Jennifer Shannon was on RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline today speaking about the car theft she experienced last week.
Jennifer said that at 3.45am she woke to hear her daughter screaming saying there was somebody in their home.
Searching the house, Jennifer quickly realised there was nobody inside but rather outside the house.
Looking out her window, she saw multiple men wearing hoodies trying to break into her car.
CCTV footage captured the moments these men jumped into her car and drove off, all without the use of a key.
The men were seen to be waving what looked to Jennifer like a chopping board but an expert told the show that it was more likely an aerial receiver.
The car uses a push start function as many modern cars do.
There is a password that is sent between the key and the computer in the car which tells it you are ready to go.
This password is unique to your key-car combination.
The aerial receiver they used enhanced the signal between the keys which were inside Jennifer’s house and the car which was parked outside.
This enabled the thieves to start the car by repeatedly pushing the start button until the signal was strong enough for it to work.
In five minutes the men were gone with Jennifer’s BMW.
Guards arrived within minutes to the scene very close to the M50.
“We were absolutely shocked by what we saw looking back at the footage.” Jennifer said.
Posting the CCTV footage on Facebook, Jennifer is still waiting to see if she will ever get her car back or find the men who took it.
This is apparently becoming a more and more common way for thieves to access and start a car with push start functions.
You can see the CCTV footage in Jennifer’s post below.
