August 11, 2025 · The threat

Signal jammers: the new threat that leaves retail stores blind

A butcher shop in La Reina and a car dealership in Cerrillos were hit in the early hours by gangs that used jammers to disable their alarms. The cases confirm a pattern against retail businesses.

A new criminal pattern is taking hold in Chile: using signal jammers to completely disable the security systems of retail stores. This time the targets were a butcher shop in La Reina and a car dealership in Cerrillos, both hit by organized gangs in the early hours, with losses in the millions and no video record of the crime.

In the case of the Doña Carne butcher shop, the criminals broke in through a hole from a neighboring store and used a signal jammer to disable alarms, sensors and communications. The operation was clean, without triggering any alert system.

Days later, the Valenzuela & Delarze car dealership in Cerrillos was hit by a gang that took at least 10 new vehicles from its showroom. As management confirmed, the alarm was disabled with a signal jammer.

These cases are not isolated. They show a worrying trend: traditional security systems are no longer enough against technology born for electronic warfare. The gangs act with technical knowledge, go in at night and leave before anyone finds out.

A jammer cuts communication between the sensors and the monitoring center, and with that it renders alarms, panic buttons and even cameras connected over a wireless network or 4G useless.

Facing this invisible threat calls for a new generation of defense, one able to detect and identify interference attacks.

The expert's view

The Doña Carne and Valenzuela & Delarze cases are no coincidence: they show how gangs have evolved to operate silently and with technological tools. We are no longer talking about forcing a gate or smashing a camera: today alarms do not go off because they are disabled.
The most critical part is that traditional retail is not prepared for this. Most security systems rely on wireless signals: Wi-Fi, 4G, links to remote monitoring centers. All of that can go blind in seconds with a jammer. It is like leaving the store open at night without knowing it.
And it is not only the cost of what is stolen. It is the cost in future sales, customer trust, insurance premiums, reputation and the feeling of being unprotected.
At Tank, we have spent years developing a way to detect these attacks and guide the response. We have deployed it in malls, gas stations and casinos. But now we are concerned to see neighborhood shops and large stores being attacked without even understanding how the theft happened. The technology already exists. What is missing is awareness and action.

Cristian Tacchi CEO at Tank

Sources: BioBioChile · Chilevisión · T13 · BioBioChile

Signal jammers: the new threat that leaves retail stores blind

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