In Kenya, stories of vanished cars are becoming alarmingly common. Owners park their vehicles, only to return and find them gone. Calls to tracking companies often end in disappointment: the car cannot be traced.

Behind many of these cases is a growing tool of the criminal trade — the signal jammer.

A New Age of Car Theft

Car theft is not new. What has changed is the method. Criminals are now exploiting technology to stay a step ahead of tracking devices that once gave owners peace of mind.

Thieves often work with corrupt officials to alter registration documents or forge logbooks, selling stolen cars to unsuspecting buyers. Some vehicles are dismantled and sold as spare parts.

But the most worrying tactic is the use of jammers.

How Jammers Work

Signal jammers are illegal in Kenya unless authorised for government use. Still, they have found their way into the wrong hands.

These devices transmit stronger signals on the same frequencies used by mobile phones, Wi-Fi, or GPS. The effect is to drown out legitimate signals. Phones stop working, navigation systems freeze, and vehicle trackers fall silent.

Once a jammer is activated, a car fitted with a GPS-based tracker can vanish in minutes. On monitoring systems, it looks as though the vehicle has been wiped from existence.

Criminals also employ GPS spoofers, which trick trackers into receiving false location data. By the time the truth is discovered, the car may be long gone.

Outsmarting the Thieves

Experts say drivers are not powerless. Technology is evolving to counter these tricks.

Some modern trackers come with anti-jamming sensors, which detect interference and immediately alert owners or control centres. Others allow remote immobilisation of the vehicle, preventing movement once tampering is detected.

Systems that include inertial navigation — sensors that record a car’s movement even without GPS — can fill in the gaps once the signal is restored. Data buffering works in a similar way, storing location data internally during outages and uploading it when connection resumes.

Another layer of protection is redundancy. Drivers can install multiple trackers, including discreet battery-powered backups, so if one is disabled, another can still transmit. Advanced devices also use dual SIM cards, radio frequencies, or even satellite links to reduce dependence on a single GSM connection.

More Than Just Technology

Still, experts caution that gadgets alone are not enough. Community vigilance remains a critical line of defence.

Neighbourhood watch groups, social media platforms, and car owners’ associations have become important tools for sharing information quickly after a theft. The more people looking out for a missing vehicle, the greater the chance of recovery.

As one Nairobi-based security consultant put it: “Technology buys you time. Community gives you reach.”