It’s midday and a young man walks past the brand new, more technologically advanced car and appears to be playing the popular game Tetris on his gameboy – the famous portable gaming console. As soon as he gets next to the car door, he opens an antenna and it unlocks. The young man gets into the car and drives off with it like a… gentleman, as the owner, desperate, runs after him to catch up with the thief. This almost surreal car theft scene has become commonplace in almost every corner of the globe. Recently in Greece too, as – according to the available evidence – the first cars were stolen using the “Gameboy method”, as it is called internationally. The last one, last week, a KIA EV6 GT, worth about 70,000 euros, which was nevertheless found, as its owner had taken the precaution of leaving a geolocation device in his car.

How it works

The machine that unlocks some of the latest cars is so popular that in the United States there have even been mass thefts of the famous gaming machine that would be used by gangs who hijack cars. The issue has gone viral internationally, with car owners threatening to take legal action against automakers over the security loophole, and police authorities issuing warnings to owners of specific models that are more vulnerable to theft.

It is a machine that, unlike the systems previously used by gangs of thieves, does not clone the key or badge, but mimics it. Until now, the most common method has been for thieves to redirect the signals of exposed keys using a laptop or some other software device. In most cases, all the thief needed was to get close to the key or close to the lock/unlock process to hijack the signal being sent, clone it and unlock it.

“Gameboy” is a key emulator that does not require a laptop or an actual key nearby. It is called a Gameboy precisely because it is the same shape and size as the well-known game console, and its lid is used so that its identity is not betrayed in the event of a police check. Some of these devices not only have the appearance of the Gameboy but also display the game Tetris on their screen so that suspicions are not aroused. So how does this device work?

Essentially it mimics the function of the vehicle’s master key and is designed to simulate its operation so that the car’s brain believes that one of its keys is being used and works as it would with the owner. The process by which it does this takes seconds and gives the thief full access to all of the car’s functions. The handheld device has a small antenna, which the thief has to touch or get very close to the door handle of the car he has targeted.

The device then starts looking for the codes used by the owner’s key, steals them from the car and returns them to the car within seconds, mimicking the operation of the key. Now the thief can unlock the car, get in, start it up, and drive away as if he has the key with him, as if he were the owner. As it mimics the operation of the factory key, the car does not realize that an attempt is being made to break into it. Thus, neither the alarm is activated nor the immobilizer immobilizes it.

After the car is started, the thief, as he has access to all functions that the owner has, can disable the GPS functions, preventing geolocation of the vehicle and all security functions, as many models allow remote immobilization and tracking of the car.

For this purpose, the gangs have another, more powerful device. These are GPS Jammers, devices that usually resemble large magnets and are placed near the roof of the car, blocking the GPS signal. For… sure results, the stolen cars are abandoned for a few days in other areas to determine if they are wanted and there is a chance of tracking them down, and are often taken to underground parking lots where they are either broken into parts or repainted and exported to foreign countries to be sold as legitimate, with new VINs, etc.

If, however, there are any downsides to said Gameboy, it’s that it doesn’t work in all types of cars, and it has a high black market acquisition price. Their prices range from $16,000 to $30,000 depending on their effectiveness, as new models are constantly appearing, which can unlock more and more car brands.

Security measures

As security flaws have been identified in some automakers’ models that make them easier than others to breach, the companies are, at least for now, trying to figure out how their security systems are being breached by the Gameboy and are content to send out general cautionary instructions to their enraged, often, as some say they will take legal action against the automakers.

And because the tricks that owners have been using so far to prevent the theft of their keys’ badges (special badge-blocking boxes in which they put the keys or even wrapping them with… foil), some automakers are going a step further, adding a rather simple security procedure to that of unlocking their cars. On some automakers’ models, the owner not only has full access at all times to the status of their car (which means they receive a notification on their cell phone or even live camera footage of the car if someone approaches it or attempts to break into it, and can thus lock it back up or order it to be completely immobilized), but they can also use a PIN.
Just as with bank cards or mobile phones, some models use a unique PIN number to unlock. Because until now the number was based on the car’s vehicle identification number (VIN), thieves could bypass this security process as well, as the VIN is easy to read on the car’s windshield.

Thus, some companies have launched the ability to set a PIN by the owner. There are several options on the market to make this work. On some Tesla models, for example, it is impossible to start and drive the car if the owner’s PIN is not previously entered. On some Ford models, unlocking is done by typing the code onto a hidden screen, on the door pillar, or by using a mobile phone instead of a key through the company’s app. This option, of using a unique PIN set by the owner, currently appears to be the most effective method of deterring theft.

The tracing

“The thief,” they say, “is always one step ahead.” As his goal is to develop next-generation technology that he will use to cancel out the most modern security systems available to automakers and alarm manufacturers, several owners have found a way to keep them one step ahead of the thieves. And in ways that are inexpensive and don’t require the installation of special equipment.

In addition to GPS Tracker devices, for which there are countermeasures, many owners have been able to track their stolen cars using tags. These are devices created to locate items that are frequently lost (e.g. keys) and tag them via geolocation on the owner’s mobile phone. While this signal can also be jammed, it has the advantage of being a very small device that can be hidden anywhere in the car, making thieves believe that geolocation is not possible.

Another relatively widespread method is to hide an old mobile phone device, with a working phone number with a SIM card. This method is used for more expensive cars, as it has the advantage that – by using the mobile phone antennas – it can show the points it has passed through and where it has stopped, but it has a major disadvantage. To trace the mobile phone signal, the competent authorities must be mobilised, and they, in turn, must obtain a prosecutor’s order to do so. This process is not exactly quick and easy in our country, which means that it is likely that the existence of the device will prove to be useless.

There are also more sophisticated security devices that play the role of the GPS Tracker’s guardian. These are automatically activated when a magnetic device is detected that blocks the geolocation signal or when they detect that for some reason the GPS Tracker is not working. When the system goes offline for whatever reason, this device (which usually has a SIM card, usually) alerts the car owner of suspicious movement in their vehicle by sending them an SMS with the last coordinates given by the GPS Tracker before it goes offline. Thus, the owner can intervene immediately by notifying the authorities.

The solution from the old days

Another particularly widespread solution of late comes from… the past. These are “sticks”, iron structures that lock (either using a conventional lock or a rolling code) the steering wheel to the dashboard, the gear lever, or the steering wheel to one of the pedals. In theory, the thief cannot move the steering wheel or move the car with this low-cost device.

In practice, the device is useless if the car is loaded by crane onto a truck to be stolen (a method which is used quite often), and with special tools thieves can open it relatively easily. The rationale behind its use in 2025 is that it will delay thieves for even a minute it will take until they can cut the iron with a hacksaw or pick their conventional lock, in the hope that the extra time it takes will act as a deterrent.

At the end of the day, however, the conclusion reached by car security experts is that the perfect system for preventing car theft does not exist. Even if it’s locked up in a guarded parking lot, with any sophisticated or unsophisticated system, the car risks falling into the wrong hands. The only safe solution, they say, is good theft insurance. Possibly a little luck, too.