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Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

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Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#61

Post by humanistbot »

Test0129 wrote: post #4

This is happening more and more frequently in my locale. Several of my friends and many of my neighbors have had their catalytic converters stolen. It's good to see something is done. Let's hope this steamrolls into a nationwide manhunt for these criminals. They should also consider targeting and auditing shops that buy used car parts. Making it extremely difficult to fence these things will be practical and useful b…

> They should also consider targeting and auditing shops that buy used car parts. Making it extremely difficult to fence these things will be practical and useful because they aren't sold and reused as is

California just passed a law to this end, which is pretty straightforward and effectively turns the grey market into a black market. A black market will still exist, but it will be a lot harder for legitimate junkyards, auto repair shops, and recycling facilities to look the other way.

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. It won't completely eliminate the problem, and it'll be harder unless Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico also take similar steps. But it should also enable more targeting and auditing. One part of this case was filed in California, so I bet they had some kind of sting operation that was made a lot easier when they can lean on a low-level junkyard dealer to testify against the people higher up in the black market.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-25/newsom-s...

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#62

Post by jakogut »

reustle wrote: post #38
oblib wrote: post #29

I think taking down the buyers is a the best tool we have right now for this issue. And there are things we could do to make that easier, like putting a serial number on the converter on new cars and replacement parts. Requiring the make, model, and serial number of the car it was removed from, and a web site with a DB that has the ID number of cars they've been stolen from so buyers could check it. Make those who bu…

People would grind off the serial numbers and sell them on the secondary market, or for the metals. With motorcycles, for example, motors and frames have vin numbers stamped to help prevent this, but you’ll sometimes see cheap parts for sale with the vin cleaned off.

In case anyone thinks this is cost prohibitive or the tooling is rare, a $100 battery powered grinder you can buy from Home Depot will do this in five seconds. If you have a little less money and a little more time, a $5 flat file will do the same thing in a few minutes.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#64

Post by kelnos »

oblib wrote: post #29

I think taking down the buyers is a the best tool we have right now for this issue. And there are things we could do to make that easier, like putting a serial number on the converter on new cars and replacement parts. Requiring the make, model, and serial number of the car it was removed from, and a web site with a DB that has the ID number of cars they've been stolen from so buyers could check it. Make those who bu…

I don't think serial numbers would help in this case, as the converters are stolen, precious metals extracted, and then those metals are sold. The bit that would likely be stamped with a serial number is likely discarded.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#65

Post by bhawks »

oblib wrote: post #29

I think taking down the buyers is a the best tool we have right now for this issue. And there are things we could do to make that easier, like putting a serial number on the converter on new cars and replacement parts. Requiring the make, model, and serial number of the car it was removed from, and a web site with a DB that has the ID number of cars they've been stolen from so buyers could check it. Make those who bu…

I thought the main selling point was scrapping the catalytic converter for the platinum and palladium inside. In that model a ID system for the catalytic converter itself isn't going to put to much friction on illicit activity.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#66

Post by spullara »

Nullabillity wrote: post #40
TEP_Kim_Il_Sung wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people seem to use "killing" and "murder" interchangably, though they are different in more than legal ways. A building collapsing can kill a person, as can a landslide, and an uncontrollably skidding car. A lion attacking a human and eating his organs is no murderer, and neither is that human for defending themselves by killing that lion before he can finish his attack. One human killing another does not ne…

GGP is talking about intentionally killing people. That's murder. Please consider applying the correct word to the context you wish to discuss.

For it to be murder it has to be unlawful.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#67

Post by oblib »

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #21
notch656a wrote: post #9

It should be legal to run a straight-pipe if your cat gets stolen through no fault of your own. The economics incentives of the black market are there in the first place largely proximal to policy. As it stands .gov gets to light the candle from both ends, going after those failing emissions while also going after the cat thieves. Edit: Love the helpful comments though telling poor people just to move out of the city…

Move out of the city. Many rural areas don't require emissions testing, so there's no way to stop people from omitting them. Beware noise ordinances, though.

As someone who lives in a rural area I and most of those who live in such places around here tend to frown on that sort of thing. We put a high very value on our clean air.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#68

Post by rdtwo »

Nullabillity wrote: post #40
TEP_Kim_Il_Sung wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people seem to use "killing" and "murder" interchangably, though they are different in more than legal ways. A building collapsing can kill a person, as can a landslide, and an uncontrollably skidding car. A lion attacking a human and eating his organs is no murderer, and neither is that human for defending themselves by killing that lion before he can finish his attack. One human killing another does not ne…

GGP is talking about intentionally killing people. That's murder. Please consider applying the correct word to the context you wish to discuss.

It’s not murder if it’s legal. Just like killing in war isn’t murder. The guy stealing your catalytic converters defiantly deserves it more than the random dude in Iraq.

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#69

Post by [deleted] »

kazinator wrote: post #8
Test0129 wrote: post #4

This is happening more and more frequently in my locale. Several of my friends and many of my neighbors have had their catalytic converters stolen. It's good to see something is done. Let's hope this steamrolls into a nationwide manhunt for these criminals. They should also consider targeting and auditing shops that buy used car parts. Making it extremely difficult to fence these things will be practical and useful b…

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

[deleted]

Re: Justice Department announces takedown of catalytic converter theft ring

#70

Post by fswd »

55555 wrote: post #28

I may be misreading this but the margins look insane. DG Auto paid like 38 million USD for stolen converters, performed a simple extraction process, then sold the precious metals for 550 million USD. Wow.

Wow. I googled DG Auto, and they even have an app for thieves to check prices.

https://dgauto.app/

Really wish the cops would download a list of who installed this app and find their location data on top of a map of reported thefts...

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