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Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

justice.gov

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Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#251

Post by serf »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #176
catiopatio wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It basically mandates KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures for companies that buy or sell catalytic converters, and it makes buying or selling a catalytic converter without documentation that it was obtained legally a crime. This is worse than the original problem. When did we become so comfortable with the government mandating presentation of papers and tracking of private transactions? Effective, privacy-preservin…

Ever been to a pawn shop? Everything in a legit operation runs through this process. >> The choice is between law enforcement actually doing their job, or invasive and ineffectual laws like this. I'm on guard for overreah all the time, but I'm OK with showing ID to buy alcohol, drive a car, fly on a plane, sell items that should rarely be done in bulk outside of rare conditions, like a bunch of catalytic converters.

>I'm on guard for overreah all the time, but I'm OK with showing ID to buy alcohol, drive a car, fly on a plane, sell items that should rarely be done in bulk outside of rare conditions, like a bunch of catalytic converters.

you should probably re-evaluate your ideas about personal ID with regards to travel if you're interested in over-reach. These laws are routinely used as an anti-immigration method by ICE and equivalents, and there is very little proof that they do much to make the world any safer.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#252

Post by Gibbon1 »

gpm wrote: post #111
TheLoafOfBread wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Batteries will get stolen for same reason.

I doubt it. Catalytic converters are stolen because they're valuable and easy to make off with . Car batteries are frickin giant, and if you try and take only a piece you get a giant fire instead of a valuable source of rare metals. They don't seem like a great thing to steal.

I'm pretty sure the organized rings salvage the ceramic out of cats and then ship that overseas via backhauled shipping containers.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#253

Post by nobody9999 »

catiopatio wrote: post #147
socialismisok wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's WAY worse to have to check the provenance of an article for sale than to have your catalytic converter stolen.

Yes, it is. The police can — clearly, as per this article — do their job without yet another intrusive privacy overreach being put permanently on the books.

>The police can — clearly, as per this article — do their job without yet another intrusive privacy overreach being put permanently on the books.

I'm a big proponent making police do actual police work to catch offenders.

In fact, police use of geo-fencing warrants, genealogical database mining, IMSI catchers and other invasions of privacy are all huge overreaches that should be slapped down hard.

That said, what reasonable mechanism do you suggest for police to use in identifying and deterring the catalytic converter (CC) theft market? Having "legitimate" businesses report on their interactions with CCs seems minimally invasive, as compared with other extremely invasive practices already being used by law "enforcement".

Given that (IIUC) most stolen CCs are broken down for the expensive metals they contain, rather than being sold in a black aftermarket, it's unlikely that police can just find a stolen CC and look at its serial number to determine whether or not it's been stolen.

Are you arguing that we should ignore the issue of stolen CCs because any action is worse, or do you have a reasonable suggestion as to how to address this issue? That's not a jab at you. You seem to have strong feelings about this (I don't), so I'd like to understand what potential alternatives might exist to the new law. If you'd expand on that, I'd be most appreciative!

While I don't disagree with the idea that police should do, you know, actual police work, rather than trample on the privacy of the population (e.g., all these calls for encryption back doors as well as the stuff I mention above), it's not clear to me what the issue might be here.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#254

Post by dendrite9 »

gpm wrote: post #151
scottdevries wrote: post #11

I wonder if the same amount of resources will be used to take down the Nationwide Bicycle Theft Ring as well.

Is there a national bicycle theft ring? I have a vague impression that it's mostly small groups. Steal a few bikes, maybe swap some parts around, sell them as used bikes, repeat. This takedown seems to have been possible because there was a central group that was moving hundreds of millions of dollars of stolen goods - maybe even billions if you take "cost to manufacture" instead of "resell value". Why would a bike t…

I doubt there is one, it seems to me that even with bikes being as expensive as they are the value isn't there. But, maybe? There was an interesting story a year ago about bikes being stolen from CO and popping up for sale in Mexico. The article is long but has a summary at the top of the page. https://bikeindex.org/news/closing-the-loop-a-deep-dive-on-a...

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#255

Post by renewiltord »

sokoloff wrote: post #221
renewiltord wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We currently successfully regulate freon emissions. How do we do that? It surprises me that it's possible but it seems to work.

On the ground, the situation with CFC refrigerants is probably a lot leakier (pun intended) than you think. There are a lot of AC systems repaired at stations that don't even own a recovery machine. (This is legal, so long as the system has already leaked out to nothing before starting the repair. I suspect that gets a wink and a nod a fair amount of the time.) Some refrigerants can only be legally sold to resellers…

Okay, well, so much for that idea! :D

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#256

Post by tetromino_ »

sebmellen wrote: post #237
andrei_says_ wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

What do these "unpacking" comments mean, and why are they getting progressively more common on HN? I don't feel they add much value.

Here "to unpack" is used in the school literature class sense of "to analyze in detail and discuss". Thus, "a lot to unpack" is a flippant suggestion that a comment could serve as a fruitful subject for discussion (meaning: for unfunny jokes, speculations about the commenter's mental state, socially disapproved activities, and/or political affiliation, etc.)

An "a lot to unpack" comment adds little value by itself. It's basically a verbal reaction emoji.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#257

Post by modeless »

somerandomqaguy wrote: post #182
kazinator wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's literally "going out of style". Gotta get all the cat converters you can before all the cars are electric!

I'd expect the charging cables to be the easy target then. EV owners, please correct me if I'm wrong but I can't imagine that the charging port would be able resist a cordless drill for more then 4 or 5 seconds. And from what I've seen of the CCS connectors, Home Depot probably carries big drill bits long enough drill into into and completely destroy the locking mechanism. Drill in, destroy the the charging port on t…

Why would you go for one that's plugged in to a car? There are plenty of unoccupied ones around and they don't have 800 volts running through them.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#258

Post by megablast »

squintychino wrote: post #177

They need to attack the root of the problem. Go after the recycling centers that buy these. Fine them into submission. Watch the market dry up.

The root of this problem, like the root of most problems like pollution, increased deaths, noise, suburbs is cars.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#259

Post by bdcravens »

labster wrote: post #219
chrisweekly wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mexico -> New Mexico, right?

Ah yes, for all of those thieves looking for a quick buck driving 1300 miles round-trip to Gallup instead of a quick hop down to TJ where they can grab contraband for the return trip. I guess instead of drugs, the New Mexico bandits can bring back some of those cheap (cheep) small-cage eggs back to California, but they’ll have to be fast, like Burt Reynolds did with his eighteen-wheeler.

Burt Reynolds drove the Trans Am. Jerry Reed drove the eighteen wheeler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_and_the_Bandit

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#260

Post by modeless »

judge2020 wrote: post #195
somerandomqaguy wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd expect the charging cables to be the easy target then. EV owners, please correct me if I'm wrong but I can't imagine that the charging port would be able resist a cordless drill for more then 4 or 5 seconds. And from what I've seen of the CCS connectors, Home Depot probably carries big drill bits long enough drill into into and completely destroy the locking mechanism. Drill in, destroy the the charging port on t…

This is already a thing in terms of Tesla superchargers being sawed off to be sold for scrap. Copper is pretty valuable. https://electrek.co/2022/02/07/tesla-supercharger-cables-sto...

I wonder if this is part of the reason the new superchargers have liquid cooled cables. Less copper. Also, supercharger cables are way shorter than any other charger.
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