Protect Your Home: How Burglars In New Jersey Are Outsmarting Security Systems

😮 Terrifying new trend in home burglaries in New Jersey

😮 Burglars are using new tech to stop you calling for help

😮 Burglars can also wirelessly disable security cameras

A rise in high-end car thefts is driving a similar increase in home invasions as car thieves search for vehicle key fobs.

In a growing number of these home invasions, residents have been home at the time of the break in.

Now, burglars are employing tech that can render your phone inoperative and prevent you from calling for help. Criminals are also able to wirelessly disable security and surveillance cameras on your property.

Police in the Morris County town of Florham Park are warning residents about criminals using Wi-Fi jammers in home invasions.

Florham Park Police Chief Joseph Orlando posted an alert on Facebook.

"While Wi-Fi jamming devices are not new to the criminal underworld," Orlando says, "It is the first we have seen or heard of such devices being utilized in Morris County.”

The police chief called it "an alarming technological advance in the criminality being employed by these groups.”

How widespread is this trend?

It is not clear how widespread the use of Wi-Fi jammers is in New Jersey or if they are being employed by car thieves who break in looking for key fobs.

In Florham Park, the use of the devices has been linked to a South American theft ring.

This particular criminal enterprise isn't interested in cars, they want your stuff.

These particular burglars target homes in affluent neighborhoods and often take high-end jewelry, accessories and cash. They typically strike when residents are out of town, but there was a recent case where the resident was home.

In the basement when the burglars broke in, he heard movement upstairs are tried to use his cell phone to call police, but it was not working.

He was able to flee the home and get a signal.

Another alarming trend in home burglaries

In addition to using Wi-Fi jammers to knock out phones and cameras, bad actors are also placing their own surveillance cameras in some neighborhoods.

They use the hidden cameras to scope out the best homes to break into.

The burglary ring’s surveillance cameras can be camouflaged in various ways, police said, "Including false utility boxes, planters, tree stumps, rocks and boulders, and even those funny owls with moving heads that are supposed to keep critters away."

Residents are being advised to check their yards and common areas. If there is anything that looks out of place, call police.

"You know what is in your yard or front landscape area to kind of know what doesn’t belong to you," police said.

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