Police in Hanoi have concerns over the vulnerability of electric roller doors, after they recently uncovered a case in which a thief secretly obtained the code for an electric remote control of a roller door.
The thief then took control of the door as if he was the owner of the shop.
With nothing more than a simple digital device that can be ordered on the Internet, Nguyen Thanh Duong, 25, from Chieng Le Ward of Son La Town, in the northern province of Son La, was able to get the code for an electric roller door while its owner was using it and copy it.
Duong later opened the roller door of Digiworld Hanoi on Hang Bai Street on July 28 and stole goods worth VND650 million (US$31,000) in total.
Investigation
Initially, police thought that the culprit worked for the shop because the roller door, which is the only way to enter the shop, showed no sign of being forced open. However, this proved illogical.
On August 11, police began to suspect Duong, who was selling cameras and lens on Xa Dan Street.
He later confessed that he had stolen the goods from Digiworld.
While searching Duong’s house, police collected evidence of the theft and seized an electronic device used to obtain the shop’s door code.
On July 22, Duong admitted that he had bought a door remote and a device that could steal door codes from a Chinese national.
In order to carry out the theft, Duong stood five meters from the shop and turned on his electric decoding device while the owner was closing the door, said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Dien, vice head of the investigation unit of the Hoan Kiem District Police Department in the capital city.
The device detected the frequency and the code of the door within three seconds. Duong then copied the code for later use.
This is the first time such a decoding device has been detected in Vietnam, according to Lt. Col. Dien. It is dangerous because this device can also detect the codes of car doors and the electric ignition starters of expensive motorbikes.
The device is currently advertised on the Internet for VND120,000-350,000 ($6-17).
Unsecure roller doors
Most electric roller doors in Vietnam are made in Taiwan, Germany, and Australia.
A roller door has a motor that opens and closes, and an electric box to receive signals transmitted from a remote control.
According to a small survey of ten shops that use electric roller doors in Ho Chi Minh City, owners confirmed they can make an alternative electric door key if the primary key is lost.
The owner of a shop on Le Hong Phong Street in District 5 said he could import the electric decoding device into Vietnam if need be.
Thus, Dien, from the Hanoi police, recommended that home owners using roller doors should install manual locks for better security.
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Đăng ký: VietNam News