The Viral ‘Kia Boys’ Car Theft Trend That’s Going Viral on Instagram

CYBER

VICE

Tech News, News & Politics, Technology, News

4 • 645 Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2023

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kias and Hyundais are being stolen in America at an alarming rate. Using a screwdriver and a USB cable, it’s trivially easy to steal one. Kia and Hyundai blame social media, but the problem is so overwhelming that several cities are suing the car manufacturer for creating a crime epidemic by electing not to build a $100 anti-theft device into some models.

This week on Cyber, Motherboard Reporter Aaron Gordon stops by to walk us through what’s really behind the viral crime wave.

‘Kia Boys’ Trend Fueling Nationwide Crime Wave Is Running Rampant on Instagram

What It’s Like To Own the Cars That Became a Viral Sensation To Steal

Kia and Hyundai Blame TikTok and Instagram For Their Cars Getting Stolen

U.S. Cities Have a Staggering Problem of Kia and Hyundai Thefts. This Data Shows It.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Taffin's got the code it's going to launch.
0:10.7	It's a unit system.
0:13.1	I know this.
0:15.1	It's how all the files of the whole park.
0:17.3	It tells her everything.
0:19.0	Sir, he's uploading the virus.
0:21.8	Eagle won.
0:22.6	The package is being delivered.
0:24.2	I said, I realized the, I realized a couple weeks ago that like none of the podcasts I like or listen to have an opening that sounds like it's from the Dick Cavett show.
0:43.2	I love that you know the theme song to the Dick Cavan Show.
0:46.0	I was just making that up as I was going along.
0:47.7	I don't think that's a theme song to anything.
0:53.6	I was just going with like generic opening talk show, like 70s talk show theme vibes.
0:57.8	From my exclusive knowledge and watch history of such programs.
1:02.2	There's a lot of Dick Cabot clips on YouTube, actually, for whatever reason.
1:04.3	There's a lot of Dick Cabot. There's a lot of William F. Buckley.
1:07.9	Oh, good. Thank God. That's been preserved.
1:13.1	Yeah. For a while, don't ask me why I know this. With a prime subscription, you could watch the entire run of the William F. Buckley talk show.
1:21.9	Like, the whole thing was up there, all 20, 30 years of it, or whatever it was.
1:27.3	Did it come with, like, a free subscription to National Review or something?
1:33.6	Yeah, but only, but they made you read like his denunciation of the John Birch Society first,
1:40.2	before you got into the modern national review.
	...

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