Auto security expert explains how thieves are stealing Ford F-150s in Edmonton, and why

After more than a dozen Ford F-150s were stolen in Edmonton this past weekend, a vehicle security expert explained to CTV News Edmonton how thieves are stealing the pickup trucks and what they're doing with them.

On Sunday, city police warned Ford F-150 owners with 2018, 2019 and 2020 models with a push-button start to park them in garages or well-lit, high-traffic areas.

More than a dozen truck were stolen over the weekend by thieves who used "sophisticated technology," the Edmonton Police Service said in a release.

HIGH-TECH TACTICS

There's two ways thieves steal these vehicles, a vehicle security expert told CTV News.

"One person will be in the driveway or the parking lot where the vehicle is parked and the other person will be up near the door of the home with an antenna or a receiver," said Lockdown Security owner Jeff Bates. "And basically what they do is they boost the signal of the factory key fob, they increase its range, and they make the truck think that the owner is who is starting the truck."

But the most common Ford F-150 theft goes this way, according to Bates.

"They have a device or a tool that goes in through the OBD2 port, the onboard diagnostic port. And essentially it boosts the truck into thinking a new key is programmed for the vehicle. They can do that in matter of minutes."

HIGH DEMAND FOR FORD F-150s

Ford F-150s are popular and hard to find due to worldwide chip shortages, Bates said.

He added the trucks are typically shipped to other countries and resold, or stolen for parts.

"What happened there in Edmonton more than likely those trucks are gonna be loaded on a railcar and probably they're gonna go to B.C., get loaded on a container vessel and shipped to various different countries overseas."

'EVERYTHING WAS IN THERE'

Mitch Makokis was one of several people who had their Ford F-150 stolen in Edmonton over the past few days.

He was in town to play in a hockey league and stayed in a west-end hotel.

"I woke up at about 9:30 in the morning and I was trying to start my truck from the hotel," he told CTV News from his home in Saddle Lake. "I thought I parked close enough and I didn't hear it starting and the red light was flashing on my fob. So I went down and I looked where we parked and the truck wasn't there."

His brother's pickup was stolen, too, as well as some other guests'.

"Everything was in there, we were always on the road," Makokis said. There was $3,000 worth of hockey equipment that belonged to him and his daughter, his wife's engagement ring, IDs, mail, and pictures of his late brother.

Aside from parking in a garage when possible, Bates recommends anti-theft technology to protect your vehicles, like car alarms, GPS tracking and vehicle-recovery systems.

"There's a number of layers of technology that you can put on these vehicles to stop or to enable the vehicle to be returned to you or recovered."