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Thief Who Stole Range Rover From Brickell Garage Believed to Have Cloned Key Fob

Miami Police say thieves can duplicate a fob using a computer by matching the car’s VIN number.

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New surveillance video shows the moment a Miami man says his car was stolen from the parking garage of a luxury high-rise in Brickell.

Miami police confirmed the car was reported stolen on April 23, and just a few days later, the car was found in Miramar.

Connor Wade believes the thieves duplicated his key fob.

"Took him about two minutes working on my car, and then he was out of there," Wade said.

Surveillance video from that Friday night shows a man walking into The Bond garage entrance — then, just two minutes later, Wade said the same man drove off with his Range Rover onto a busy Brickell Avenue.

"I don't think about my car being potentially stolen, especially out of my building," Wade said. "It is just a bit eye-opening."

Miami Police say thieves can duplicate a fob using a computer by matching the car’s VIN number. They say there's not much you can do to protect yourself, other than disabling their ignition with a kill switch when parking.

In this case, Wade's car was actually found in Miramar just two days later, and it was in one piece. Wade says police ran the plates and pulled the driver over.

"The police in the beginning kind of gave me very little hope," he said. "When these cars are professionally stolen, I thought this thing would be broken down into pieces and already on a ship somewhere, so they were blown away that it was haphazardly being driven around with New Jersey license plates still."

He says he was shocked to see the driver had a key similar to his own.

"He had a Range Rover key on him. I only have two keys, and I have both of them with me," Wade said.

Miami Police are still investigating but Wade says in Miramar the driver was at least detained. He says he’s just hoping it doesn’t happen again.

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