It's nighttime in Winnipeg, and a man walks up a residential driveway holding a mysterious device.
With his free hand, he easily opens the front door on one of the parked vehicles. It's as though he has a key, but it isn't his car.
The scene was captured by a home security camera in 2013, but the device remains a mystery.
Cars are becoming increasingly high-tech, and the thieves looking to steal them are, too. A CBC Marketplace investigation reveals modern car thieves can bypass even advanced built-in security systems.
Known as electronic car theft, this new crime is challenging police, who have sometimes been stumped by the sophisticated new methods.
"I think it's always been a sort of cat-and-mouse game," says York Regional Police Det. Sgt. Paul LaSalle, who heads one of the country's biggest auto-theft units.
But, he says, for those thieves who have access to the technology, it's getting easier.
Many of the devices they use are for sale online, though eBay has removed some from their site as a result of Marketplace inquiries.
