SAN DIEGO — Police are seeing a spike in car thefts in San Diego targeting Jeep Wranglers and Dodge Rams.
Janne Robinson's 2012 Jeep Sahara was stolen two weeks ago from her home in Cardiff.
“It was parked outside of my house, and I'm pretty sure it was stolen at 9 in the morning. I went to the beach for a couple of hours and came back and it was missing,” said Robinson.
It was one of many Jeep Wrangler thefts police have seen in recent months.
Surveillance video from La Mesa showed a Jeep Rubicon getting stolen a couple of nights ago. The owner did not want to speak on camera because the thief appears to be armed with a weapon.
Chuck Hattaway's 2014 Jeep Sahara was stolen from the street in front of his house in Santee early Sunday morning.
“It was locked up and had the alarm set. All we can figure is they've been stealing a lot of them from out here,” said Hattaway.
CBS 8 reached out to the Regional Auto Theft Task Force (RATT).
“The increase in thefts of Jeeps, Dodges and Rams is due to how easy it is to reprogram the key fobs,” said CHP Captain Charles Leonard.
“They have computer software to reprogram key fobs that they use to take over the brain of the vehicle,” said Leonard.
The vehicles usually end up south of the border where they switch the VIN number, according to Leonard. Then, the cars get resold in the United States and the fake VIN is not discovered until the new owner tries to register the stolen vehicle with the DMV.
“Lock your doors. Don't leave it open. Don't make it easy to access the vehicle. Car alarms. Park where it's well lit, or where there's cameras, or whatever type of deterrence you can use,” said Leonard.
Fortunately, Robinson and Hattaway both had comprehensive auto insurance that covered theft.
“I wish I would have had a geotag or cameras outside of my house,” said Robinson.
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