Chicago woman's car stolen after thieves replicate key fob signal while it was inside her home

A Chicago woman was stunned when car thieves were able to steal her vehicle by replicating their key fob's signal while it was still inside her home.

Among the hundreds of cars sitting in the City of Chicago Auto Pound in Humboldt Park is one stolen from Ravenwood Manor Monday night.

"It was not there. It was just a long stretch of no cars," said Eileen, who did not want to share her last name.

Eileen said police told her the thieves were able to steal her car by grabbing the information from key fob while it was inside her home, then replicated it onto a new key which they then use to open the car.

The method is called a relay attack. Video from a different theft shows how easily it's done, with the one thief standing on a front stoop to catch the radio signal and the other opening the door.

"So one guy transmits, another guy receives, they touch the door handle, and the vehicle thinks the key's next to it," explained Steve Lobello of S&A Security Specialists.

Lobello and his business in River Grove installs state-of-the-art after-market systems that prevent vehicle theft. He said some owners are even able to temporarily turn off their key fob's radio signal.

"On a Toyota or a Lexus Key, you literally just press and hold the lock button, and then tap the unlock button twice, and you'll see an LED light start to blink. But on the older keys like this one, it doesn't work. The newer Lexus models, it does," he explained.

But the cheapest and easiest solution could be in your kitchen: tinfoil. Aluminum foil blocks the radio frequency.

Eileen said she's open to all options so her car doesn't end up in the impound lot again.

Vehicle thefts overall are on the rise in Chicago. So far in 2026, Chicago police have received reports of about 9,000 thefts, which is 600 more than at this time in 2025.