My car was stolen. Yours might be just as easy to take. | Opinion

After a week of social media tips, Ring camera videos and sleepless nights, my stolen 2012 Audi A5 coupe turned up abandoned about a mile and a half from my house.

For a moment, I felt relieved. Then I saw what was left of it.

Sometime during the week it was gone, the people driving my Audi led police on a high-speed chase and left it a mess: The driver's seat was broken; the passenger side was scraped and gouged; and, to add insult to injury, a box of dog treats that didn't belong to my pet were strewn over the back seat.

The damage topped $6,000. The car had been missing only seven days, but it felt much longer. Every time I heard sirens or learned of another police chase, I wondered if officers were chasing someone in my car.

That thought stayed with me day and night. Once I saw the car, a small part of me wished the insurance company had declared it a total loss.

However, the damage wasn't the hardest part. It was wondering what happened while my car was gone and learning about the frighteningly effective techniques used to steal it.

Teens treated my car like it was disposable

Through videos people sent me on social media, I watched teenagers, some who didn't look a day over 17, driving my car through Milwaukee in the middle of the night.

One video showed my Audi sitting in an alley about 3 a.m. Several young people climbed out and appeared to be going through other vehicles in driveways.

Watching strangers treat my car like it was disposable made me angry. It also taught me something I didn't know before my car was stolen: Most of us are behind the times when it comes to protecting our vehicles.

Police believe whoever stole my Audi used electronic equipment to bypass its security system and program a blank key fob, allowing them to drive away without damaging the steering column.

That realization may be the most unsettling part of this experience. If this technology is that easy for thieves to get their hands on, every driver should be paying attention.

This was about more than losing my Audi. They took part of my life.

The vehicle was stolen on June 23 in broad daylight near Milwaukee Area Technical College while I was interviewing for PBS' "Black Nouveau" show.

Ironically, I was talking with media personality Vivian King about how her annual White Party brings people together and helps change perceptions of Milwaukee. Imagine that: Just three blocks from a police station, teenagers were stealing my car.

This was about more than losing a vehicle. It felt like someone had stolen a part of my life. My house keys were in the armrest, so was my work laptop. We changed the locks on our home, but the fear lingered. If someone is willing to steal your car, what keeps them from showing up at your house?

I posted photos of my car on social media, asked friends to share them, filed a police report and spent days looking for it myself. Tips started coming in. Some people genuinely wanted to help. Others offered to recover my car for a fee. That made me angry.

I watched social media reports of police chasing a black Audi A5 before officers called off the pursuit because it was being driven so recklessly. Friends kept sending me photos and videos of what appeared to be my car in different parts of the city.

The thieves weren't trying to hide what they were doing. They replaced my license plate with another plate from a scrapped vehicle. Just when I had about given up hope, my wife and I received a message from a man who said he had seen my car.

He told us he didn't want to get involved, but because of the work I do in the community, he wanted to help. He only asked that we bless him with a few dollars.

He told my wife the Audi was parked near some bushes in the 4900 block near 38th and Stark Streets.

She drove over to check but didn't want to get out of her car to investigate if it was our car. She was understandably nervous, so she came home and called me at work. I left work, picked up my gun for protection (I have a Wisconsin concealed carry weapon permit) and we drove back together.

The car was so dirty and badly damaged I wasn't sure it was mine until I checked the VIN (vehicle identification number) on the dash. Then I called police. They told me not to get inside the car.

Thieves reprogrammed the key fob. It's happening elsewhere.

When officers arrived, they dusted the inside for fingerprints. They explained that prints on the outside door handle or trunk wouldn't mean much because anyone could claim they simply touched the car. Prints inside the vehicle would be much harder to explain.

When they asked me to start the car with my key, I couldn't help but laugh. The thieves had changed my radio to an obscure opera station. The chuckle didn't last long.

The engine would crank, but the car wouldn't go into gear because the thieves had reprogrammed the key fob.

Police told me thieves are increasingly using electronic devices to bypass a vehicle's security system. In some cases, they amplify the signal from a legitimate key fob so the vehicle believes the key is nearby. In other cases, like mine, thieves broke a window, connected a tablet-like device to the car's computer and programmed a blank key fob. Within minutes, they had a working key.

Police in Ohio have broken up a car theft ring and recovered blank key fobs along with electronic equipment used to create duplicate keys.

Modern car thieves no longer reach for a screwdriver or a shaved key. All they need is the right technology. That means almost any vehicle, including high-end models, can become a target.

Want to protect your car from theft? Learn from me.

The one good thing to come from this experience is that I can share what I learned and maybe help someone else avoid becoming a victim.

There are a few simple steps that can make your car a less attractive target: A hidden tracking device may help police recover your vehicle if it's stolen; an old-fashioned steering wheel lock can be enough to persuade a thief to move on to an easier target.

Police also recommend storing your key fob in a metal container or an RFID-blocking pouch when you're at home (RFID stands for radio-frequency identification). Keeping your keys away from doors and windows can make it harder for thieves using signal-amplifying equipment to intercept the signal.

I wish we didn't have to think this way, but that's our reality. I still have questions. Why are devices capable of programming key fobs so easy to buy? Who is teaching teenagers to use this technology to steal cars? And why aren't more people being warned that this is happening?

Before I end, I want to thank everyone who reached out. People called to check on me, offered rides and even let me borrow their vehicles while I was without mine.

I'll never forget that kindness.

My Audi was stolen, damaged and abandoned.

My faith in people wasn't. In the end, that's something no thief could take away.

James E. Causey is an Ideas Lab reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where this column first appeared. Reach him at jcausey@jrn.com or follow him on X: @jecausey

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: My car was stolen. Yours might be just as easy to take. | Opinion

Reporting by James E. Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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This story was originally published July 18, 2026 at 4:02 AM.