Bump keys openly sold everywhere
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Bump keys are sold openly throughout the city, widely touted as capable of picking any lock within 5 seconds!
Thanh, a locksmith on Quang Trung street (Go Vap Dist.), showed us 3 sets of bump keys of different shapes and sizes, assuring us that each of them can open 8 different locks on one type of motorbike.
After examining the lock on our reporter’s SYM motorbike, Thanh claimed he can make a key to start the engine as easily as snapping a finger.
“I can easily make bump keys for Honda or Yamaha motorbikes without seeing the original keys. They’re 80% accurate,” he said.
Thanh proved it by starting our SYM motorbike with the new key he just made in less than 5 minutes.
That bump key too could unlock and start another SYM bike, though not as smoothly as it did the first one.
Thanh said bump keys that can open up to 10 locks cost VND200,000-500,000 a key.
He also introduced a picklock kit that can open any lock. The kit, which costs VND2 million, includes a Z-shaped torsion wrench to put in the keyhole and 10 other hook picks to push the pins in the lock.
You can use this to pick any locks of any motorbikes currently on the market, he said.
Linh, another locksmith working on Pham Hung street (District 8), gave us the price of each item in his own “trademark” kit: VND50,000 (US$2.5) for a hook pick; VND100,000 (US$5) for a set of hook picks and tension wrenches; VND1 million (US$50) for a full kit. The higher the price of the bump key, the more locks it can open.
Linh then put before us a set of 10 hook picks to crack open the safes.
“Each set of bump keys can work with only one type of safe, so you need to buy many sets to open all types of safes”, he explained.
One set of safe-crackers is sold at the price of VND6 million, 4 million if purchased in large amounts.
A bump key vendor in Xom Chieu, District 4 even sells a special toolkit to work against anti-theft locks.
He demonstrated the effectiveness of his tools by activating the alarm system on a scooter and touching it for the alarm to sound. He then stopped the alarm by putting two speakers with big magnets inside the scooter, demagnetizing the inductor to detect vibration with an object and finally unlocking it with a bump key.
“You can buy as many as you want. Order delivered after 3 days, VND10 million a set”, said the locksmith.
Nguyen Thanh Huyen, head of the anti-theft and anti-fraud division of HCMC Police, says 30-50 cases of motorbike thefts are reported each month, most of which is done with bump keys.
It is hard to curb bump key selling since the police cannot arrest these individuals or subject them to any legal proceedings unless they can clearly prove their intent of selling the keys for illegal purposes.
