JBL Bluetooth speakers give car thieves the va-va-voom

Updated on: 15 November 2023

Damien Black
Senior Journalist

Car thief jemmying door of car — Image by Shutterstock

Clever crooks in France have figured out how to steal supposedly cybersecure vehicles made by the likes of Peugeot and Toyota in less than a minute, using a modified JBL Bluetooth speaker to break past their defenses.

The discovery was made accidentally by police near Paris, in Seine-et-Marne, during an arrest of two suspected car thieves. A search of the stolen 2008 Peugeot revealed a Bluetooth speaker made by JBL that contained a ‘quick start key’ that allowed the suspects to start the vehicle.

This gerry-rigged device can be obtained from other digital crooks on the dark web for €5,000 – not a small investment, but one that can be quickly recouped by stealing cars that can retail upwards of $20,000 each.

The modified JBL speaker-cum-digital skeleton key even comes with a helpful YouTube video that shows enterprising thieves how to use it, connecting it to the car’s speaker with a USB cable.

Crooks themselves have reportedly bragged that said device can also be used to hack into cars made other top-notch brands such as Toyota and Lexus.

This does not appear to be an isolated development. Car thieves have recently been detected using fraudulent software to unlock, start, and steal vehicles without having the original key.