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A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

mrooding.me

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Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#221

Post by blensor »

mysterypie wrote: post #157
blensor wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually not hard to explain to your insurance or the police at all. This happened to me 5 weeks ago. The car was parked directly in front of my entrance door and the key was basically on the other side of that door. The scene of my car not being where it was supposed to be was so surreal that I did not even realize it was missing the first time when I walked out the trash. I basically walked around an invisib…

> Getting the car back (still ongoing) was so much hassle I'm very curious to know why was it was such a hassle? Unless the police were keeping the car as evidence in a truly major crime, why wouldn't they immediately give back your property?

Ok, I'll try to post a quick summary.

As a background info. The car was stolen in Austria and 5 hours later stopped in the Czech Republic close to the border to Poland. It is a leased car, so there is also the leasing company involved in all decisions.

Since it seems to have been part of a bigger operation (several cars stolen over the weeks prior) a special unit working on this case got involved (from the Austrian police).

When I contacted the insurance they had me sign a waiver that I will also take back the car if it takes longer than a month to return it. This should have rang some alarms bells but I was still optimistic, after all I could have basically taken a train to the Czech Republic and drove back on my own.

Then it was week after week of people shoving the responsibility back and forth.

The Austrian police wanted to get the car to do a forensic analysis, and wanted it to be hauled back on a truck instead of driving. The insurance company flat out told them no, because it is to expensive.

Then I had to send my key to Poland (kind of ironic since this was the intended destination of the car all along) because the employee of the company that would collect and return it was located there.

After 3 weeks the officer in the Czech police was on vacation (pro tip: don't let your car get stolen during the summer vacation period :) ). The following week the insurance company wanted to know if they can finally collect the car. The Czech police told them basically yes, but the Austrian police had not given their OK, and now the Austrian officer on the case was on vacation.

After the 4th week when everyone finally thought that it could be returned, the Czech DA said theNow it's week 7 and I at least have seen my car after it was hauled back to the car dealer where the insurance company has sent an adjuster to check what needs to be repaired (the y have cut the connection to the car telemetry unit and caused a few scratches on the front fender).

I am not yet allowed to drive it home since those things need to be repaired first.

So my expectation if that I will get it sometime later next week, which would then be 8-9 weeks in total.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#222

Post by hvidgaard »

jiveturkey wrote: post #172
drglitch wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are three components to my knowledge. below is my anecdotal knowledge so pls verify if needed :) - remote car monitoring/bmw connected app. this can be tweaked (its off by default) via idrive. I believe there is also some anonymized sharing with "parknow" and real time traffic apps. - maintenance notifications. this is on by default and can be disabled in bmw's new "my car" website. They also send you a postcar…

> If BMW ever shares the location data with third parties other than police, I would have major issues with all of this. By that time it would be too late. And the problem with privacy-related info (like location history) is that once revealed, it can’t be re-secured. So the only proper fix is to not collect it in the first place. Also BMW is a car company. Consumer data protection is not their core competency. Then…

GDPR is quite hard on the fact that you must opt in. It can be argued that using the services they provide is enough of an opt in, but the GDPR states that they must explain in detail what the collect and what they'll do with the data.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#223

Post by hvidgaard »

wjnc wrote: post #9
ashleyn wrote: post #2

Immediately, I'd be wondering what very powerful spy agency or organisation felt the need to break into my car, and why.

Nah, BMW-thieves are incredibly resourceful. They managed to steal parts of the dashboard and airbag from my neighbours car, without further damage, while in the driveway with the alarms not triggered on a modern 3-series. All the neighbour noticed was the dog barking a few times at night. We all sleep within 30 ft of that car. Practice makes perfect. Those parts are sourced to eastern Europe and are stolen on demand…

It's a widespread problem right now. It happens in waves, and if you go to BMW dealers in larger cities it's not uncommon to see 4-5 5 series missing the dashboard and airbags.

What I don't understand is what are they using it for? Can they upgrade older models with it?

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#224

Post by disiplus »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #209
disiplus wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they also dont like tuners because cars engines are often made the same for multiple "trims" so the car with 110 and 160 hp have the same engine but different "map" in the ecu. and only with ecu reflash you can get more power that would cost you x amount of money. imagine a CPU where 6 and 8 core variants are the same but the 6 core is locked in bios and you can unlock it with some tuning software, its like that. and…

Except that CPU manufacturers DO like that, and will give out special unlocked versions of their CPUs and even sponsor overclockers, to see what people can do with their hardware. This also happens with car manufacturers, in racing and such. Tuners are more under the radar so they don't like that, as well as the warranty claims that were mentioned.

no, there is no software that i know of where you can as a consumer make your i3 an i5 with just a software unlock, that you can get for like 10 eur.

the difference on the base model mercedes c class between getting a less powerful engine and the one that is one level up is like 3.5-4k eur.

that is a lot of money. if i could unlock the bigger engine with just 400 eur i would buy the base model.

manufacturers don't want that, and is one part of blocking the touching of the ecu. the other is also that the navigation and a lot of other things is just disabled in ecu, and could be easily unlocked with software.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#225

Post by mrooding »

mobilemidget wrote: post #103

Hope he still went on vacation as planned, I kind of miss that information

We are actually. Not with the BMW as intended but with my girlfriends car. Currently driving from the south of France to Bretagne for our last week. The car has been fixed by now and will be picked up the 18th. I'll update the article later today too!

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#226

Post by jacobush »

woodman wrote: post #205
jacobush wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is different.

Where, in the Netherlands? I can't think of a way to say this that doesn't sound rude, so I'll just say it: how informed is your opinion? Roughly how big a company are we talking? Have you managed security, or managed security managers? I ask because a long time ago I worked at a multinational that had facilities all over Europe. I'd have remembered if we got pushback from local management on this matter, but then I…

In Sweden. I have worked at two of the largest companies, never seen anything like that.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#227

Post by Cthulhu_ »

avar wrote: post #27

Reading this article is honestly a bit of a domestic culture shock for me, where does this guy live in The Netherlands? Here in downtown Amsterdam we called the police because the rear window of someone's car had just been smashed outside our office, and the police's response was "Has anyone been hurt? Nope? Then we're not coming". Meanwhile, wherever this guy lives they're sending officers because some BMW call cent…

I know the guy, he lives in Utrecht, west of the A2.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#228

Post by mrooding »

Hi guys, very cool to see how this is being picked up over here. Shame on me, but I actually forgot to submit it to Hacker News.

The key fob method is out of the question for my car. I've known about it for a while and store my keys in special bags.

I see quite a few people asking why a sting wasn't organised. I of course shared the M.O. with the police and we actually had a few phone calls from them over the past few days. They are sharing the information with their colleagues but to be frank, they are not going to spend an entire night waiting around for a potential car theft.

We live in Ijsselstein, a city just south west of Utrecht, and car burglary and theft is quite a big issue in our area. My previous car, a BMW F20, actually got broken into twice in 2 weeks. Both times they stole the entire nav system. I've become quite adapt at filing reports but besides filing a report the police can't do anything for you.

The first time it happened they asked me whether or not I saw visible blood stains. Only then would they send a patrol car to do sample research. In any other case, they just ask you to file a report and be done with it.

Let me know if there are any questions you'd like me to answer while I'm at it.

I'm also interested in writing some follow-up articles about car security/theft prevention. If there's anyone willing to contribute, let me know!

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#229

Post by aetherspawn »

Zhenya wrote: post #204
King-Aaron wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just unclip my steering wheel, and pull out my main relay (dash mounted, race car spec). I don't think the car is going very far without those.

It'll go damn far - on a flatbed.

How do they move it onto the flatbed if the hand brake is on?

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#230

Post by mrooding »

vanous wrote: post #207

Would it be possible, that the order of actions was actually different? The thief first pushed thin tools through the door gasketing and actually cut the wires from the outside. Not sure how well and how successfully, but i actually presume that this wasn't as good cut as they tried to achieve. Then, they tried to break the window and continue with the theft, but the system reported them too fast anyways...?

I doubt that this is what happened. I'd like to see someone remove the jamb cover from the outside and also cut the loom from the outside. Not sure what kind of tool would be able to fit through the door and do these things. You can clearly see on the third image that they forcefully removed the cover with a screw driver or something else since it's completely bent
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