Burglars Use Lock Bumping To Enter Homes

Using Internet resources, criminals are learning how to make keys that will allow them to open most household locks.

Lock bumping is an old locksmiths' trick that's getting new life online.

Colleyville locksmith Bob Lemmon said a crook could insert a specially cut key into a lock and then tap the key. When the lock is bumped, he said, it causes the pins inside to line up, allowing it to open.

Some Internet sites now offer instructions for making the keys and using them, and some even sell premade keys for a few dollars a piece.

Lemmon said that when done properly, the technique leaves no sign of a break-in and makes little to no noise.

He said most household locks are vulnerable.

To prevent the threat, homeowners can purchase high-security locks that are virtually bump-proof and that come with keys that are nearly impossible to alter, Lemmon said.

Such locks cost about $130 -- four times the cost of a typical lock.

Some local police departments told NBC 5 they had never even heard of bump keys.

NBC 5 reported that it is not known whether the technique is being used in North Texas because it leaves no evidence.

Some police departments are concerned. In fact, Irving police recently issued a warning to neighborhood groups alerting them to the threat, NBC 5 reported.