Man always had ‘pleasant contact’ with neighbour, but then their teenager flashes a mysterious device at his Ring camera

Redditor InquisitorDan shared a freeze-frame from his Ring camera showing his teenage neighbor holding a small device with an antenna. InquisitorDan captioned the post, “Just happened a few minutes ago. Looked pretty sus while doing it. I have no clue what that device is. Never had anything but pleasant contact with them so far.”

One response said, “I’m not sure I have the right device, but make sure you keep your car keys far away from your door. If your car has remote start or uses a key fob to start the car and not an actual key.” The commenter added, “People can use a device to scrape the signal of key fobs to unlock cars and steal them.”

Other comments offered a more likely explanation for what InquisitorDan’s young neighbor was up to, but the “remote start” comment is still good advice, and the device in the picture does look similar to signal relay/amplifier devices used in what are called “relay attacks.”

What are relay attacks?

In a relay attack, two thieves work together. One stands close to where your key fob is, such as near your house or your porch. The other stands by the car. Together, they use small handheld radio devices to relay the signal from your key to the car, tricking the car into thinking your key is right next to it, even if it’s many feet away.

This can let them unlock the car and even start it without ever touching your key, and with no sign of forced entry.

It’s likely a camera/bug finder

Though the device in the Ring cam picture does look similar to a relay-amplifier device, another comment solved the mystery, identifying it as a camera/bug finder with a link to the product, essentially an RF detector.

The comment said,

Might be a chance she was calibrating it as she wanted to get a ‘positive’ hit from something obvious and at this point she was just messing around with it on different devices. She may suspect there’s a hidden camera in her room or house, which is implicitly very sad.”

A camera or bug finder is a small handheld device sold to consumers to help detect hidden surveillance equipment, including spy cameras, wireless microphones, and GPS trackers.

These tools are popular with travelers and privacy-conscious users in hotel rooms or rentals. They are limited and will not reliably detect well-hidden, shielded, or dormant devices.

So, this time, InquisitorDan’s car seems safe, but in follow-up comments on the relay attack warning, users reiterated the risk. “This, cloning keys is a big thing,” one comment said. “I’d also start keeping keys far away from doors or in a box. Not saying this person is doing it but yeah.” Another added, “You can buy Faraday bags or boxes for your keys that aren’t very expensive. We have a box in the entry.”