[adminu]

I wonder what the thieve does with the car after stealing. Will you always need that Nokia to start it or is there some kind if aftermarket for counterfeit keys?

[kotaKat]

Once it's been started you get it out of the area, then connect onto the OBD/diagnostics and run the OEM "all keys lost" procedure with cracked dealer software, which lets you program brand new keys into the system.

Then they end up in a container ship bound for West Africa.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/car-stolen-from-an-ontario-street...

The cost of these devices is out of the 'simple criminal' pricerange, but is a minimal expense to a crime ring that can export a boatload of stolen cars at a significant profit as these cars go for significant price premiums overseas.

[numpad0]

I believe many of the cars are disassembled for parts and scrapped, most of its value needlessly destroyed. Some are exported to third world countries. Most thefts are not value-adding or preserving operations, literally doesn't pay(well).

[gambiting]

Yep. A person I know had his Mercedes A45 AMG stolen, thanks to the tracker he was able to find it in the middle of a forest somewhere, went there with a police officer to find two guys in the middle of taking apart his car to pieces, their excuse was "officer we just found it like that". I don't know if they were able to pin the theft on them or not in the end, but the insurer ended up scrapping the car and paying for a new one because the main wiring loom was cut and Mercedes wanted an absurd amount of money for replacing it.

Apparently quite common with Teslas as well, there is no way you can sell a whole functional car to anyone(well, not in any developed country anyway), but stripping them to pieces and selling them elsewhere is relatively common.

Volvo took really aggressive steps basically making sure that every component in the car that has any kind of electronic chip inside it has to authenticate with the car's VIN or it won't work at all - really annoying for the 2nd hand parts market but hopefully also annoying for thieves.

[sidewndr46]

It's counter intuitive but some vehicles are worth more as parts anyways. The market for used vehicles is only willing to pay so much for a vehicle. The market for people who happen to need a part and will pay for it is much larger.

[snthd]

https://kentindell.github.io/2023/04/03/can-injection/

>Ian’s sleuthing found that mostly these cars are destined for export, sent via shipping container to places in Africa

"These cars" might specifically mean things like the RAV4 and that other cars more reliant on good roads have less of a market in "places in Africa".

There must be a noticible flow of parts (eg headlights) to patch up damage caused by the theft. Likely the car manufacturers know, but it's not in their interests to talk about it.

[newsclues]

Used for crime locally and dumped.

Or chopped up for parts.

Or shipped overseas complete in a container.

[m00dy]

why would you use a Nokia ? Raspberry could be a better option.

[LastNevadan]

The thieves want plausible deniability if they are caught possessing it.

If a policeman suspects you of being a car thief and catches you with a Raspberry Pi, that looks pretty suspicious.

The same policeman wouldn't think anything suspicious about (what appears to be) a Nokia cell phone.

[Ballas]

It's not a actually Nokia, it only looks like one. All the parts on the inside will be replaced with parts specific to this purpose.

[andyjohnson0]

> why would you use a Nokia ? Raspberry could be a better option.

Deniability if searched by police.