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Thieves have figured out how to hot-wire the Portland fleet of the multinational car-sharing company Free2Move, according to a court filing by Multnomah County prosectors.
Nearly one dozen Free2move cars have been reported missing recently, according to the document, joining the nearly 1,000 cars that are stolen across Portland each month.
Free2move arrived in Portland in 2021 with a fleet of around 200 Jeep SUVs. The cars are rented by the minute using an app, which customers can use to walk up, hop in and drive away.
But at least one Portland thief has figured out a way to circumvent the system. The new theft technique was laid out by Multnomah County prosecutors in a probable cause affidavit filed this week.
On April 2, the Portland Police Bureau followed up on a stolen vehicle report filed by a leasing company in March, according to the affidavit. The stolen white 2022 Jeep Renegade was worth $24,000 and had “Free2move” logos on its exterior, the document says.
The investigating officer reached out to Joseph Zayas, a regional manager for Free2move, who said that 11 vehicles had recently been stolen.
“Zayas stated over the past few months the company have been having issues with the vehicles being stolen due to a workaround through the app that allows the vehicles to be started without authorization,” the affidavit says.
In a statement provided to WW after this post was published, Free2move denied that claim: “These vehicles were stolen with very primitive methods and the app did not play a role.”
The affidavit says the officer noted the last known location of the 11 stolen vehicles and issued a “dragnet flyer.”
The next day, Officer Sabrina Dobbs was on patrol in Northeast Portland when she saw a Free2move Jeep with a broken rear window. She pulled it over. The driver, 33-year-old Robert Fremont, told Dobbs that his cousin had rented the car and that the key fob was inside.
But according to the affidavit, Dobbs was unable to find the key fob. Instead, she found “two 2-inch computer chips with wires hanging out of them.” The affidavit says that Fremont admitted he’d used the contraption to start the car, “by holding them next to the start button.” Dobbs arrested him.
Free2move’s statement sent to WW on Apr. 17 reads: “As reported earlier, Free2move was the victim of theft in the Portland area, with eleven cars being stolen over the past few weeks. After an initial investigation, we can confirm the Free2move app was not compromised. These vehicles were stolen with very primitive methods and the app did not play a role. All data on the Free2move app has remained secure and no information was compromised. The vehicles have since been reacquired and have gone through complete maintenance tests to ensure they meet our strict safety standards.
While being booked in jail on charges of vehicle theft, Fremont said he used fentanyl daily and was living with his mother, according to the affidavit.
Eleven vehicles is a fraction of what’s being stolen from Portland streets each month. In January, 984 cars were stolen—a third of them Kias and Hyundais snatched by thieves who learned from TikTok how easy it is to hot-wire a Kia Soul.
Updated Apr. 17: Added statement from Free2move.