A Greer man is offering a $15,000 reward for information after his 2023 Ford Raptor disappeared from his driveway on Bessie Court overnight, taking with it a wallet, passport, watch, golf clubs and his grandchild's golf clubs. The owner says he discovered the truck missing when he went to drive his grandchild to school, and the total loss — vehicle and contents combined — comes to roughly $140,000.
The owner told FOX Carolina News that his keys never left the house, and that he had only had the company vehicle for three weeks before it vanished. “I was in complete shock,” he said of the moment he realized the truck was gone. Surveillance video from the property reportedly shows a person approaching the Raptor, apparently unlocking it, climbing in, and driving off — all without ever appearing to hold a physical key.
Police say the truck was taken without keys, a detail that lines up with how thieves have increasingly targeted keyless push-button vehicles nationwide. In a so-called relay attack, thieves use two electronic devices to capture and amplify the passive radio signal a key fob emits from inside a home, tricking a parked vehicle outside into unlocking and starting even though the key never leaves the house, according to Standard Auto Part. The same research notes these attacks take under two minutes and leave no broken glass or damaged locks behind — consistent with a theft that left no obvious signs of forced entry.
A Vulnerability Now Facing Federal Litigation
The Bessie Court theft lands amid a wider legal fight over keyless entry security. A federal class-action lawsuit filed against Ford Motor Company this month alleges that the Intelligent Access Key system used on models including the F-150 and Bronco contains known vulnerabilities that let thieves exploit relay signal amplifiers or reprogram vehicles through the OBD port, according to Claim Depot. The suit claims Ford has known about these weaknesses since 2011 while continuing to market push-to-start convenience to buyers, the same source reports.
People with information about the Greer theft are asked to call Greer police, per the FOX Carolina report. It remains unclear whether investigators have identified any suspects or whether automated license-plate-reader systems used by Anderson County agencies played any role in this case.
Auto Thefts Are Falling, But High-End Trucks Stay Targets
The theft comes even as auto theft trends move in the opposite direction almost everywhere else. U.S. vehicle thefts dropped 23% in 2025 to 659,880 incidents, following a 17% drop in 2024, marking the lowest national total in decades, according to a March report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Locally, motor vehicle thefts in nearby Greenville fell from 284 incidents in 2023 to 227 in 2024 and dropped again to 152 in 2025, per the City of Greenville, while statewide larceny offenses fell 10.7% in 2024 to 82,736 cases, contributing to an overall 11.8% drop in property crime, according to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division data cited in Hoodline's coverage of a nearby work truck theft. Even so, high-end trucks like the Raptor remain prime targets for organized theft rings because of their resale value and keyless vulnerabilities, per Claim Depot's filing.
Property crime in Greer itself runs slightly above national averages even as violent crime stays low, at roughly 2.97 cases per 1,000 residents in 2026, with theft concentrated around commercial corridors and suburban subdivisions, according to the Expert Real Estate Team.
What Owners Can Do to Guard Against Relay Theft
Security analysts recommend storing keyless push-to-start fobs inside signal-blocking Faraday pouches or metal boxes overnight, which use conductive mesh to shield the fob's radio signal from would-be relay devices, according to Carwow. Ford also offers an app-based Start Inhibit feature on connected late-model trucks that lets owners remotely disable the ignition, preventing the engine from starting even if a signal is detected, per Whiteface Ford. Restoring the truck's ability to start again requires entering a passcode on the dashboard, the same source notes.
Under South Carolina law, larceny penalties are based on the value of the property taken. Stealing property worth $10,000 or more is a Class E felony carrying up to 10 years in prison, according to Justia Law, a threshold the roughly $140,000 Bessie Court loss clears many times over.
