Stealing Korean cars for social media points
Ah, kids and technology, what could go wrong? If you live in Minneapolis, Milwaukee or LA you have a pretty good idea how their mischief can make your life exciting and miserable. These three cities have been the centers for following social media to steal Kia and Hyundai cars. There is nothing racial about it. It seems some enterprising young men have been putting out TikTok and other video social media posts showing how simple it is to steal these cars made between 2010 and 2021. If you follow their simple instructions, you can be driving someone else’s Korean car. It has gotten so popular that the thieves are not stripping the cars for parts, they may not even take the car far from where they got it. Some of the vehicles are stolen for profit, but many are just cleaned out of any loose change or other useful items and then taken for joy rides for neighborhood credit and abandoned. A YouTube video shows two teenaged members of the “Kia Boys,” a loose confederation of young car thieves in Milwaukee, who police say have stolen hundreds of Kia and Hyundai vehicles over the last two years. The boys tell their interviewer they don’t fence most of the cars they steal. Rather, they abandon them wherever they can, usually within a day. He says the thefts are simply for social media glory.
It seems that the manufacturers were able to save about $200 per car by not having and “engine immobilizer” as standard equipment. You can imagine the insurance companies as well as the Korean car owners are very emotional about this. So, if the ambitious youngster can handle a screwdriver and a flash drive, they can be the star of the block. So far this year, at least 1,634 more Kia and Hyundai vehicles have been stolen in LA, an 85% increase over the year before of thefts of just those types of cars. That is almost three quarters of the entire increase in stolen cars of all makes and models in LA. Police and auto experts suggest owners of older model Kia and Hyundai cars invest in steering wheel locks and other safety measures. “You can buy a battery disconnect item, very inexpensive, with a kill switch that links up to these cars. You can get that for 15 bucks,” he said. “And we’re encouraging people to lock their doors. Park in well-lit areas. After-market alarm systems work wonders.”
Korean TikTok
In kindergarten our son TJ became friends with an Asian boy named Thomas. One day TJ came rushing in after school, “Guess what, mom?” He said excitedly. “Thomas comes from Korea, and he still the first one at school every day.”
I took my school age daughters to a lunch with retired veterans and told them to ask questions. One of the men said that he had fought in Korean War. The girls were impressed and asked, “Did you fight for the North or the South?”
Joe Biden recently tried to get North and South Korea to stop fighting.
“What’s the big deal? You’re both Chinese, aren’t you?”
Which country has the highest number of “Parks”?
North Korea and South Korea.
September 7th Birthdays
1950 – Peggy Noonan, 1969 – Angie Everhart, 1943 – Gloria Gaynor, 1988 – Evan Rachel Wood
1936 – Buddy Holly, 1988 – Kevin Love, 1970 – Tom Everett Scott, 1967 – Toby Jones
Morning Motivator:
“I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”- Thomas Edison