Motorists are being warned not to leave high-tech gadgets in their cars to prevent them falling victim to a new breed of sophisticated criminal dubbed the 'Bluetooth bandits'.
Criminals are believed to be using Bluetooth technology to pinpoint the location of items such as portable sat navs and mobile phones left in unattended vehicles. Once a device is detected, the vehicle is targeted and broken into.
Hampshire Police reported that in just one night last month, seven incidents of theft from cars were reported in the Eastleigh area, which they believed involved the use of Bluetooth technology.
You see if you leave your device switched on with Bluetooth activated a thief will be able to pinpoint it to within ten metres. And he doesn't need anything more sophisticated than a mobile phone.
So the advise is obviously not to leave anything of value in your car but if you have to, make sure they are kept in a locked glove compartment with the Bluetooth device switched off.
You should also make sure you change the name of your device as soon as you get it via the service settings of the device, be it a mobile, satnav or laptop and re-name it with a name you will recognize.
What is this sad world coming to?
FemaleFirst Jackie Violet