[Icarium81]

So I made a post about our car being freshly wrapped, not 30 hours after getting it home, the wife went shopping and caught a guy in the front seat, just about ready to take off in the car.

The single bmw shop is denying any possibility whatsoever that another person's key fob would ever work for a car that wasn't the one specific car it was coded to.
Now I'm not an idiot and fully understand that car theft happen and that keyless remotes make the thiefs job easier in some aspects.

I've sent an email to bmwusa requesting that I have my cars code changed (I'm assuming that such a thing is possible), I couldn't find bmw north America as an actual listed site, so if someone could provide a direct email or web pag link, that would be appreciated.

Second, what can i do to make it harder to have a repeat occurrence. Having such a distinctly colored car, there are literally only 2 bmws this color that I know of in the local city (roughly 450k pop), I'm very concerned that this guy will have multiple attempts at spotting and potentially stealing our car.

A bit more info, the cop that responded to the 911 call didn't make a report or case number, since technically nothing had been stolen, and he checked the guys bmw (also a 2018 330 series) for any obvious signs that the guy was just a professional thief and found nothing.

Not sure what else is relevant but I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability.
Thanks in advance for any help provided.

[eff32fl]

Get a Faraday box for home and always keep your fobs in it.

There are also Faraday pouches you can get for keeping your fob in your pocket.

These will prevent man in the middle attacks if that's what the thief was doing and didn't somehow get a copy of one of your fobs or unless the door was left unlocked (and the car wasn't able to be started).

[toxik]

kies have been promoting this dahler accessory fairly heavily:

https://www.kiesmotorsports.com/prod...er-power-pedal

[eff32fl]

Originally Posted by toxik

kies have been promoting this dahler accessory fairly heavily:

https://www.kiesmotorsports.com/prod...er-power-pedal

That works well for manual cars and DCTs I'd assume but automatics it will still allow the car to move because of the torque converter but the gas pedal won't work. A thief could load your car onto a trailer if they were determined enough.

[toxik]

Originally Posted by eff32fl

That works well for manual cars and DCTs I'd assume but automatics it will still allow the car to move because of the torque converter but the gas pedal won't work. A thief could load your car onto a trailer if they were determined enough.

i honestly figured the opposite, that it's mostly made for ZF8, I've seen Kies advertise it on their G80 M3 more than any other car which use a regular ZF auto trans.

[schernov]

Who did your wrap? Did you leave the key with them?
It's very easy to clone a key if you have one that works.

[fe7565]

For now, I would place an Apple I-Tag (or similar Android) in the car. If you do not disable the speaker in the I-Tag, then place it in the trunk so the asshole stealing it cannot hear it.

Was the car locked for sure? Did he open the car electronically?

[Icarium81]

The guy had his own key fob, for his car, it also unlocked and started our car. The guy hadn't gotten to starting ours yet, the seat was still adjusting position.
The cop however did take his fob and try to start our car, and it started.
I've personally tried doing just this with our key fob literally just outside of the door by a few inches, and the car recognized that the fob wasn't close enough to allow it to start, so no my wife wasn't just standing close enough when the cop tried the other guys fob for starting the car.

I don't see how a Faraday cage will stop anything, the guys fob is literally going to work regardless of what our fob is doing.

Yeah we did leave the fob with the guy wrapping the car, we've been dealing with them as our indy shop for a couple years, 2 at least, possibly 3, ever since the car ran out of warranty coverage, and whilst you can't know everyone you deal with, I don't suspect them of any wrongdoing or wanting to end up stealing our car.

Kies doesn't work for our car for some reason, I've tried it a few times and it recognizes the car and that's as far as it goes. It doesn't allow for any changes or programming or anything.

[eff32fl]

Originally Posted by Icarium81

The guy had his own key fob, for his car, it also unlocked and started our car. The guy hadn't gotten to starting ours yet, the seat was still adjusting position.
The cop however did take his fob and try to start our car, and it started.
I've personally tried doing just this with our key fob literally just outside of the door by a few inches, and the car recognized that the fob wasn't close enough to allow it to start, so no my wife wasn't just standing close enough when the cop tried the other guys fob for starting the car.

I don't see how a Faraday cage will stop anything, the guys fob is literally going to work regardless of what our fob is doing.

Yeah we did leave the fob with the guy wrapping the car, we've been dealing with them as our indy shop for a couple years, 2 at least, possibly 3, ever since the car ran out of warranty coverage, and whilst you can't know everyone you deal with, I don't suspect them of any wrongdoing or wanting to end up stealing our car.

Kies doesn't work for our car for some reason, I've tried it a few times and it recognizes the car and that's as far as it goes. It doesn't allow for any changes or programming or anything.

The Faraday box and pouch is if the guy was using a man in the middle attack rather than a cloned/working fob.

I don't see how it's possible for a fob from one car to be working for another car.

[fe7565]

A BMW FOB should not be able to work from one car to another.

Either the physical FOB was cloned (some one had it about 20-50cm max away from an inductor loop + cloning setup, or directly inside of it.

Or, the "man in the middle attack" that eff32fl is talking about, where the FOB signals between the car and the FOB (or near the FOB while the car is in remote control range) are captured so the car cannot register them, and then retransmitted later to the car as if coming from the original FOB. Looks like the thief got a free ride this time.

[sspade]

How did the cop end up with the thieves FOB, so that he could test if it started your vehicle?

“The cop however did take his fob and try to start our car, and it started.”

[Icarium81]

Originally Posted by sspade

How did the cop end up with the thieves FOB, so that he could test if it started your vehicle?

“The cop however did take his fob and try to start our car, and it started.”

When the cop arrived the guy was still in the front seat and claiming the car was his.
Despite the fact that the cops first words upon arriving on scene, to my wife were "hey Tina, I see you got your car wrapped".
The cop asked for the registration and the guy of course said that he was missing it.wife spoke up with exactly where in the car and what kind of card holder it was in.
Cop finally has the guy get out and he takes the fob from him and sat in our car and started it.
Whilst the wife is well outside of the car with her fob.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by Icarium81

I've sent an email to bmwusa requesting that I have my cars code changed (I'm assuming that such a thing is possible), I couldn't find bmw north America as an actual listed site, so if someone could provide a direct email or web pag link, that would be appreciated.

If your BMW has a maple leaf on its VIN label…contacting BMW USA will get you no where. You live in Nova Scotia…if your BMW is a Canadian import…you would need to contact BMW Canada…not BMW USA.

To get two new remotes with a different encryption would require more than just the remotes. The remotes have encryption for not just central locking but for EWS (immobilizing system). The VIN specific 128-bit encryption is written to multiple modules like the BDC/CAS/FEM/DME…so those components would need to be replaced (if they are write-once only) or updated (if the encryption can be re-written to it).

A google search for BMW Canada gets this:

BMW Canada Inc. can be contacted at: 50 Ultimate Drive, Richmond Hill, ON L4S 0C8, customer.service@bmw.ca and 1-800-567-2691.

Here’s a screen shot of their web page:

[Qsilver7]

Here’s some info about the EWS features of your car in regards to looking into changing the encryption since it appears to have been compromised.

To get new remotes and coded components with different encryption would require going through a local BMW dealership to order the new components based on your VIN. The new encryption key codes would then be changed in the BMW database so that if you needed or a new owner needed additional remotes or coded components in the future..they would be able to get them with the correct (and current) encryption.

[fe7565]

There are 10 remote FOB “slots” for each car. Best (and priciest) to have a dealer get a new FOB and disable the one that was compromised. (It may be a one time compromise, or a complete cloning by the thief ). The new FOB would be added to one of the slots other slots.

I am not sure, but you may also be able to disable your FOB (remove it from your 10 slots) using ISTA+. Just cannot add a new FOB without pricey equipment. The last "cheap" FOB clonings were possible with CAS4++ and below...for about $100 in equipment. But FEM and BDC cars require tools costing $500-1000 minimum and involves a requirement for access to the car (or the FEM module, etc).

[MidtownMike]

This is a peculiar incident. Picking a BMW in clear daylight in a small town (the police officer knows your wife's name), taking your time to start it, waiting for the police to arrive, claiming it's his car, leaving an identical car behind. Also sounds like he was cooperating with the police. Not exactly the behavior you would expect from a thief.
Did they try if his car started with your wife's fob?
What color is your car wrapped and what color was his?

If it's really a fob problem, this sounds like something Joe Biden could have done.

[Icarium81]

Originally Posted by MidtownMike

This is a peculiar incident. Picking a BMW in clear daylight in a small town (the police officer knows your wife's name), taking your time to start it, waiting for the police to arrive, claiming it's his car, leaving an identical car behind. Also sounds like he was cooperating with the police. Not exactly the behavior you would expect from a thief.
Did they try if his car started with your wife's fob?
What color is your car wrapped and what color was his?

If it's really a fob problem, this sounds like something Joe Biden could have done.

Not exactly a small town, Halifax/dartmouth Nova Scotia is our provinces only city, but by the standards of comparing it to a US city, we're tiny. Population roughly 450k.
The officer knows my wife's name because she has the luck of the Irish with attracting every last lunatic and wack job on the planet.
--She's gone to a hardware store and patiently waited for some senior citizens in front of her to move down an aisle, only to have some impatient guy go from running into her with his cart, to grabbing her ass and shoving her..... he got throat punched.... subsequently 5 cop cars show up.
-- she's gone to McDonald's and gotten her food, gone back up to get something she forgot, some guy sat down and started eating her food. She confronted him and made a scene. The guy is known to the employees for doing such things. He then follows my wife into the bathroom and tried to assault her. He got knifed lightly in the throat... little more than a cut that was able to bleed. Of course cops were called.
-- she's patiently waited half way out of a parking lot exit and directly before a cross walk, and waited for an old lady to cross the road. Guy behind her lays on the horn and parks, gets out, and tries to drag her out of the car and cause a scene. She stepped out with a tire iron in her hand.
Guess who shows up in record time with someone possibly brandishing a weapon...

In none of these instances did she instigate any of the violence, but she also won't back down from bullsh1t.
There are usually a few instances per month, so yeah, the cops of the city do know who she is and what our car looks like. It was silver, common bmw color, we just got it wrapped in an atomic teal color. Audi has a color similar to it in their lineup (at least I think it's one of their regularly offered colors)

The cop tried the other guys fob whilst sitting in our car as stated, the wife then tried unlocking the other guys car and it didn't even do that much (he was parked at the end of the parking row, roughly 100 or so meters away)
The guys car was silver or white, she told me but I have a poor memory.

[Icarium81]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

If your BMW has a maple leaf on its VIN label…contacting BMW USA will get you no where. You live in Nova Scotia…if your BMW is a Canadian import…you would need to contact BMW Canada…not BMW USA.

To get two new remotes with a different encryption would require more than just the remotes. The remotes have encryption for not just central locking but for EWS (immobilizing system). The VIN specific 128-bit encryption is written to multiple modules like the BDC/CAS/FEM/DME…so those components would need to be replaced (if they are write-once only) or updated (if the encryption can be re-written to it).

A google search for BMW Canada gets this:

BMW Canada Inc. can be contacted at: 50 Ultimate Drive, Richmond Hill, ON L4S 0C8, customer.service@bmw.ca and 1-800-567-2691.

Here’s a screen shot of their web page:

Thank you. Bmwusa was helpful with providing the same email as a contact point. I was exhausted and had simply clicked the first thing that came up when I searched for "bmw north America" whilst understanding that north America continentally means everything above Mexico, but more literally it only means the top half of America and leaves Canada out.

[fe7565]

The first one is a code grabber.