As the holiday travel season kicks into high gear, reports have emerged of a disturbing trend across the county — car thefts at airports have dramatically spiked this year.

A criminal theft ring has been accused of targeting major airport hubs across states like Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. They have reported vehicles totaling millions being boosted from parking lots and car rental facilities by an elaborate car theft ring. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has been hit particularly hard with the ring stealing nearly $5 Million worth of cars since 2023, according to NBC 5 DFW.

With international ties, the Houston-based ring stole cars from DFW airport from early 2023 to October recently. A search warrant executed earlier this month in Tarrant County helped investigators identify 14 suspects who stole 52 cars, with three arrested, including the leader of the ring who used Autel devices, which are automotive diagnostic tools, to reprogram key fobs to gain access to a specific vehicle.

According to the documents, the car bandits would alter the Vehicle Identification Number, illegally retitle the cars and either sell them or take them across the border into Mexico, reports NBC 5 DFW.

The unnamed theft ring is also believed to have swiped a large amount of vehicles from airports across the Southeast, including other airports in the Lone Star State as well as Salt Lake City, Utah where a group of men were spotted scoping out potential targets in the economy parking lot of Salt Lake City International Airport back in July, according to KSL-TV. When officers searched the men’s hotel room, they found laptops and a cache of blank key fobs ready for reprogramming.

Car thefts have also risen at all the major airports in the New York City area. According to data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, they have increased over 50 percent this quarter alone.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has seen a staggering number of cars stolen from its parking deck, with 300 boosted in 2024, over triple the amount stolen in the previous year, according to a recent report from Fox 5 Atlanta.

Atlanta Police Major Kelly Collier said at a recent press conference that technology like the Autel device is fueling the surge.

“You can buy that equipment on the internet, Amazon. It’s a small device you plug into the reader under the dashboard, and you can program a key fob within five minutes,” he said. “We have over 35,000 parking spaces at the airport. A couple of them [thieves] in a car, they start the car, create the key, and then drive out. They will tailgate the car they came in with.”

“It’s a manufacturing issue that has now become a law enforcement issue.”