Victoria car theft crisis: High-tech thieves target Toyotas as police urge old-school security

A young Melbourne man who poured his hard-earned savings into a Toyota HiLux says he was shattered when it mysteriously vanished just one week after he bought it — as Victoria Police urges motorists to install old-fashioned steering-wheel locks to combat increasingly high-tech car thieves.

Mahad Islam, 24, had barely driven his HiLux SR5 when he walked outside to leave for work on Friday morning to discover it gone from outside his Craigieburn home while he still had all the car keys.

The theft comes amid an extraordinary technological shift in vehicle crime, with Victoria Police estimating more than 10,000 cars a year are now being stolen using electronic devices capable of cloning or mimicking keys.

Police intelligence suggests the technology is being used in up to 40 per cent of vehicle thefts, allowing offenders to override the security systems of modern cars without obtaining the physical key or breaking in.

And as thieves exploit increasingly sophisticated technology, police are urging motorists to fight back with decidedly low-tech defences, including steering-wheel and on-board diagnostic port locks.

“Car thefts remain a significant concern for both police and our community — which is why we continue to relentlessly target and arrest offenders,” Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Bob Hill told The Nightly.

“Our intelligence estimates more than 10,000 cars per year are now being stolen by offenders using devices which clone or mimic your car keys.

“Police are seeing on-board diagnostic devices showing up more frequently during search warrants and during intercepts of suspicious vehicles.”

More than 1100 of the devices have been seized since the beginning of 2025 during search warrants targeting suspected car thieves and intercepts of suspicious vehicles.

The days when a thief might prise open a car door with a wire coat hanger and hotwire the ignition are rapidly disappearing.

Relay devices can capture and extend the signal from a key fob inside a home, effectively convincing a keyless car its owner is standing beside it. Other devices can mimic or clone keys or exploit a vehicle’s on-board diagnostic system to program a new one and start the engine.

Using sophisticated methods to access a car’s locking system, a theft can be over in less than two minutes.

For Mr Islam, the threat became painfully real just days after making the biggest purchase of his life.

He had poured $45,000 into the used 2022 HiLux and owned it for only a week when it was stolen.

“I put all my savings on it,” he told The Nightly.

“It’s very expensive. Not that easy to buy.”

After discovering the ute missing, Mr Islam contacted police and Toyota, which was able to track the vehicle and provide its location to police.

The HiLux was recovered in nearby Roxburgh Park on the weekend but Mr Islam’s relief was short-lived when he saw its condition.

The thieves had trashed it before it was abandoned.

Its tyres were flat, lights and other components were damaged and parts of the vehicle had been ripped out.

Mr Islam has so far missed four days of work while waiting for his insurer to provide a hire car and now faces potentially thousands of dollars in repair costs.

His Third Party Fire and Theft insurance policy covers only $10,000 in damage. On top of his almost $900 excess, he will have to pay any remaining repair bill himself.

No one has been arrested or charged over the theft. It is not known how Mr Islam’s HiLux was stolen.

His experience comes as Victoria cements its unwanted position as Australia’s car theft capital.

The latest Crime Statistics Agency data shows 31,851 vehicles were stolen in the past year – the highest figure since 2001-02 and more than double the number four years ago.

Insurance figures reveal an even more striking divergence between Victoria and the rest of the country.

Motor theft insurance claims in Victoria surged 25 per cent from 2024 to 2025 and their cost jumped 37 per cent, according to Insurance Council of Australia analysis released in June.

More than 12,500 claims cost insurers $243 million — more than the combined bill across all the other states analysed.

While Victoria’s claims climbed, they fell 15 per cent in Western Australia, 14 per cent in South Australia and 12 per cent in Queensland and remained relatively stable in NSW. Without Victoria, motor theft claims nationally would have fallen 10 per cent.

“A car is stolen or broken into every 42 minutes in Victoria. This level of crime is not acceptable,” Insurance Council chief executive Andrew Hall said.

“Each year, Victoria’s numbers stand apart from the rest of the country, and that gap is widening.

“While every other state is effectively reducing car theft, in Victoria the volume of claims and the costs involved remain at unacceptable levels and that sustained pattern is what’s most concerning.”

The vehicles thieves target are changing too.

Holden Commodores remain the most commonly stolen model but thefts of several Toyotas have exploded.

LandCruiser thefts increased from just 89 in 2022 to 846 last year, while Corollas rose from 149 to 676 and HiLuxes from 140 to 592.

RAV4 thefts increased almost tenfold, from 47 to 467, while Subaru Impreza thefts jumped from 31 to 445 — more than 14 times the 2022 figure.

Police say thieves target models that are easier to access electronically, including modern push-start vehicles that do not require a traditional ignition key.

Toyota acknowledged the escalating problem but stressed it extended across the automotive industry.

“The escalation of car theft is an industry-wide issue, driven increasingly by sophisticated criminal activity and the importation of electronic devices used to override vehicle security systems,” a Toyota Australia spokesperson told The Nightly.

“These technologies are being deployed across a wide range of makes and models.”

Toyota said it had progressively enhanced security across its range, including further upgrades to new HiLux, LandCruiser 300 and LandCruiser Prado vehicles in 2025, and is developing an additional factory-approved immobiliser.

But the car giant wants governments to act too.

Toyota is seeking a ban on electronic devices that have no legitimate purpose other than facilitating vehicle theft, regulation of locksmith and diagnostic devices used by automotive professionals, and stronger surveillance of outbound shipping containers amid concerns stolen vehicles are being exported.

Motor vehicle theft has moved well beyond the opportunistic suburban thief.

Police are confronting organised syndicates, manufacturers are battling imported technology designed to defeat vehicle security and stolen cars are being shipped overseas. But the response also raises the question of where responsibility lies.

Police are targeting prolific offenders and large-scale syndicates while liaising with manufacturers over potential remedies.

Toyota, while upgrading its vehicles, says theft is an industry-wide problem and wants governments to restrict the technology criminals use and strengthen scrutiny at the border.

Increasingly, the burden is also falling back on motorists themselves.

As thieves use advanced electronics to steal modern push-button cars, owners are being advised to reach for physical deterrents from decades ago.

Police recommend OBD port locks, steering-wheel locks, engine immobilisers, bonnet locks and battery disconnect switches.

Owners of keyless vehicles can also store key fobs in RFID-blocking Faraday pouches or boxes to prevent thieves capturing or relaying their signals.

About 70 per cent of stolen vehicles are recovered, with more than 5000 recovered so far this year through Operation Trinity.

But Deputy Commissioner Hill said police could not solve the problem alone.

“While the majority of stolen vehicles are recovered by police, as a community it will take all of us working together to reduce car theft,” he said.

“We implore the community to take preventative measures to protect their vehicles such as installing on-board diagnostic port locks, parking off the street where possible and always ensure vehicles are locked, even when at home.”