NEW legislation has come into force to crack down on gangs using high-tech gadgets to steal cars in England and Wales.
These devices can be picked up cheaply online and are routinely passed between organised crime gangs.
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Between April 2024 and March 2025, there were nearly 122,000 reported cases of car theft in England and Wales Credit: Alamy
Until now, simply having one of the gadgets in your possession wasn’t a crime – only using one was.
The new Crime and Policing Act 2026 has made it illegal to make, own, import, modify, supply, or offer to supply any electronic device capable of being used to steal a car.
Anyone caught with such a device faces an unlimited fine, up to five years behind bars, or both.
Police have also been granted new powers to enter properties where stolen goods have been electronically tracked.
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Signal relay, repeater and amplifier devices work by hijacking the signal from a keyless car’s fob and copying it, tricking the car into thinking the genuine key is nearby.
Signal jammers scramble the signals from key fobs and built-in vehicle trackers, masking the car’s location after it’s driven off.
CAN bus injection devices, which are plugged into a car to send fake signals straight into its software, allowing the vehicle to be unlocked and started without the key being nearby, are also covered by the new law.
In its factsheet on the Bill, the Home Office said: “A significant proportion of vehicle theft is driven by organised crime groups, which costs hundreds of millions of pounds in social and economic harm each year.
“There is a demand for stolen vehicles, which means this is a highly attractive and lucrative area for criminals to gain profit from selling stolen vehicles and vehicle parts.”
Data from the House of Commons Library revealed there were almost 122,000 reported cases of car theft across England and Wales between April 2024 and March 2025 – with no suspect identified in over 92,000 of these.
