They were more interested in joy rides than test drives.
Investigators say that a pair posing as potential customers visited dealerships in Connecticut for more than a year beginning in 2024, where they sought high-end models, such as a GMC Sierra 2500HD Denali Ultimate pickup truck.
Once they zeroed in on the vehicle they wanted, an unidentified male suspect would ask a sales staff member if he could start the vehicle.
In some cases, the man swapped the key fob for an inoperable dummy one while a female suspect distracted a member of the sales staff by being “playful,” the authorities said without elaborating.
In other cases, she would — in about one minute — make a copy of the key fob.
In each case, the targeted vehicle’s key fob was swapped, or cloned, and the same vehicle was later stolen or an attempt was made to steal it, said Chief William Onofrio of the Old Saybrook Police Department, which led the investigation.
After learning of the cases in Connecticut, about a dozen police departments in New Jersey and New York reported nearly identical thefts, Chief Onofrio said.
He said evidence developed by Old Saybrook detectives directly helped in arrests in those states, after detectives elsewhere identified a consistent pattern.
Investigators identified at least 20 vehicles with a combined value of more than $2.4 million that were stolen or targeted by this group across the three states.
The police in Old Saybrook have not identified the male suspect. But the authorities in Connecticut charged Tiffine Kyte, 37, of Johnstown, Pa., with larceny and conspiracy charges related to the thefts.
She was arrested in Warren County, N.J., and brought to Connecticut on Jan. 15. She posted a $275,000 bond after she was arraigned the next day in State Superior Court, according to court records. In a case in Greenwich, she was released after posting a $100,000 bond.
A lawyer for Ms. Kyte was not immediately available for comment on Sunday. It was not clear if the stolen vehicles were recovered.
Chief Onofrio said her arrest was a result of her visits to dealerships in Connecticut towns, including Coventry, Fairfield, Glastonbury, Greenwich, Ridgefield and Old Saybrook.
On Feb. 5, 2025, police officers responded to Vachon Buick GMC, a dealership in Old Saybrook, after a report of two stolen vehicles. The investigation determined that the vehicles were stolen one day after Ms. Kyte had visited, the authorities said.
The sales manager reported that two GMC Sierra 2500HD Denali Ultimate pickup trucks with a combined value of $177,210 were stolen from the lot, the police said. But neither of the key fobs were stolen, they said.
Detectives learned of a method of cloning key fobs by plugging in a hand-held tool into a vehicle’s diagnostics port. An expert at the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, told detectives that the clone can be made in less than 60 seconds.
A pair fitting the same description visited Monaco Ford in Glastonbury on March 12, 2024, the authorities said.
They looked at a 2024 Ford F-450 pickup valued at $86,515. The male suspect was given a key fob to start the truck, detectives said. The pickup was stolen the next day, and this time the police believed that the man swapped out the working fob for a dummy one.
A detective from the Keyport Police Department in New Jersey told Sgt. Eric Williams of Old Saybrook, who was leading the investigation, about a similar crime there in May 2025. A key fob to a 2025 Ford pickup valued at $115,000 was discovered missing, and there was an attempt to steal it.
Investigators linked Ms. Kyte’s cellphone to towers in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut that corresponded with dates and times when the vehicles were stolen.
Key fobs send an electronic code to a vehicle, so it can be started at the push of a button, or by inserting the fob into an easily accessible slot on the dashboard. The word fob is believed to be related to the German word fuppe, meaning pocket.
The 1990s encryption technology was introduced, in part, to frustrate thieves from making quick getaways, shifting security from the mechanical level to the digital level.
Adeel Hassan, a New York-based reporter for The Times, covers breaking news and other topics.
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