A man from Washington state has captured a thief on surveillance camera easily breaking into his car using a mysterious electronic device.

Tom Dahl, 85, from West Seattle has shared the frightening video taken from his driveway to warn neighbors of the new ways criminals are hacking into cars.

The thief in the video is shown attempting to open the locked door of Mr Dahl's Honda Ridgeline, but is unable to so he takes off his backpack, holds it up to the window of the vehicle, and seconds later unlocks the car.

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A man from Seattle has captured a thief on surveillance camera easily breaking into his car using a mysterious electronic device (thief pictured above)

The thief in the video is shown attempting to open the locked door, but is unable to so he takes off his backpack and holds it up to the window of the vehicle, and seconds later unlocks the car

Tom Dahl (above), 85, from West Seattle has shared the frightening video taken from his driveway to warn neighbors of the new ways criminals are hacking into cars

The incident, which occurred last month, involved an unidentified 'key fob' to unlock the vehicle, Detective Patrick Michaud from the Seattle Police Department told Daily Mail Online.

Detective Michaud said police received reports of the break in on February 14 at 3am, and that the man seen in the video has not been arrested.

The man reportedly searched the contents of Mr Dahl's glove compartment and took a club that was on his steering wheel, as well as a few store rewards cards that were left in the car, Daily Mail Online was told.

While he is lucky that the car did not contain anything of value, Mr Dahl said he is concerned with how easy it was for the man to get into his car, according to Fox 13.

'You used to have a wire that you slid down the window, when it was mechanical. But now it's electronic,' said Mr Dahl.

The man approaches Mr Dahl's car and pulls the handles realizing the door is locked

He then removes his backpack and flashes a light into the car

The man holds the backpack up the door and within seconds it is unlocked

He gets into the vehicle and searches through the contents of Mr Dahl's glove compartment taking a club on the steering wheel as well as store rewards cards

Another victim of attempted car theft in January, Lars Carlson, said a thief used the same tactic when breaking into his car, according to an earlier report.

Mr Carlson had his car broken into two times before he installed a surveillance camera at his home.

'It's running through codes automatically or it's a button they're pushing or something is happening, but whatever it does it seems to trick the car into thinking he's got the legitimate keys,' Mr Carlson said at the time of the incident.

While he is lucky that the car did not contain anything of value, Mr Dahl said he is concerned with how easy it was for the man to get into his car (above Mr Dahl's Honda Ridgeline pictured in his driveway)

Captain Eric Sano from the police department said that it is apparent as technology adapts, criminals are adapting, so it is important for authorities to be ahead of criminals.

Scott Wagner, a special agent from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, said in January that he had knowledge of a special system being used.

He said: 'It’s a little black box. They can carry it in a backpack, when you hit your fob to unlock your car they can actually steal the codes to your keypad and then unlock your car later.'

Detective Michaud said there has not been a lot of similarly reported cases in the area over the years and that he is unsure of what kind of device is being used in the break ins.

Another victim of attempted car theft in January, Lars Carlson (above), said a thief used the same tactic when breaking into his car

Mr Carlson said: 'Whatever it does it seems to trick the car into thinking he's got the legitimate keys' (above a thief breaking into his car earlier this year)

'I've seen it both ways - a device in their hand as well as a device as big as an iron carried in a backpack,' he said. 'As technology moves on, the device gets smaller.'

As for how to stay protected as a driver as this mystery device looms, Detective Michaud warns drivers to keep valuables out of the car.

He said: 'We ask that people to not keep anything of value in the car. If you are going to leave your registration in the vehicle cross off identifying information, and let the officer know you crossed it off for security concerns.'

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.