Sneaky car dealers

Ed Pawlowski · 2010-03-22T02:21:33+00:00

I saw this on an auto newsgroup and fund it interesting.And dangerous too! dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative torepossessing vehicles that haven't been paid for. Operated byCleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install asmall black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issuedthrough a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. Thedealer can disable a car's ignition system, or trigger the horn to beginhonking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop arunning vehicle.Texas Auto Center began fielding complaints from baffled customers the lastweek in February, many of whom wound up missing work, calling tow trucks ordisconnecting their batteries to stop the honking. The troubles stoppedfive days later, when Texas Auto Center reset the Webtech Plus passwordsfor all its employee accounts, says Garcia. Then police obtained accesslogs from Pay Technologies, and traced the saboteur's IP address toRamos-Lopez's AT&T internet service, according to a police affidavit filedin the case.