Increase In Suburban Car Thefts

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Car thefts in Chicago suburbs have been on the rise with reports made in Aurora, Naperville and Burr Ridge.

In the last few weeks, in each incident a car has been taken from the driveway of an owner's home and police later recovered it somewhere in Chicago, WBBM's Mariam Sobh reports.

Marc Loftus, Burr Ridge Deputy Chief of Police, said while Burr Ridge only had one theft, it does constitute an increase because it follows the pattern of thefts in other nearby suburbs.

"What's happening, and what happened in our one instance," Loftus said. "Is that the owners leave their wallets in their cars and the offenders use this to go hit fast foods restaurants and use their credit cards to make purchases."

The thieves are not breaking or damaging the cars, Loftus said. They often find them unlocked with the keys inside.

Some towns are also reporting that offenders are finding garage door openers in the car and are using those to open the garage door to find other keys inside, Loftus said.

The Burr Ridge police issued an alert, due to the recent string of thefts, reminding people to not leave their keys inside their car or doors unlocked. Valuables should also not be left out in the car where thieves can spot them.