How thieves are using Bluetooth technology to find your electronics
Baltimore -- Most people know better than to leave electronic devices in plain sight, so they stick them in the glove box or under the seat.
Some of these devices are easier to find than others, though.
"We're aware of a trend where thieves are using Bluetooth technology to track down electronic devices that are being left inside cars," Tim Lendman of the Livermore Police Department said.
Thieves are using a common Bluetooth locater app, normally used for finding lost earbuds, for a different purpose.
"A thief would take a Bluetooth scanner, much like this, and walk up towards a vehicle and we can see changing signal strength on Bluetooth devices," Lendman said after he downloaded a common Bluetooth locator app. "And by walking around a vehicle, I can often target where that device might be located and its approximate signal strength, to know I'm going to steal from this vehicle, not another vehicle."
The solution to this problem is simple: turn off Bluetooth. Better yet, turn the device off completely because even laptops that are in sleep mode are still giving off a signal.