The Latest Viral TikTok Problem is Stealing These Common Vehicles
TikTok is known for its many viral challenges. A few of them are innocent – dancing or lip synching to a sure tune or filming earlier than and after glam periods. Nonetheless, others are downright harmful and even lethal. Some contain consuming or consuming issues that no human ought to ever digest (Tide Pods included!) whereas others have individuals holding their breath till they black out, kicking in individuals’s doorways, and even lighting themselves on fireplace. Nonetheless, the newest TikTok problem might land you in jail: Individuals are stealing these manufacturers of automobiles to be able to obtain social media cred.
In response to experiences, younger teenagers are stealing sure fashions of Hyundai and Kia automobiles as a part of a TikTok problem. Regulation enforcement brokers throughout the nation are reporting a lot of these kinds of automobile thefts, sustaining that the pattern is surging. Hold studying to see the video.
In response to CNBC individuals are utilizing a USB twine to help of their grand theft auto crimes. Why Kia and Hyundai automobiles? Sure makes and fashions manufactured between 2010 and 2021 require a mechanical key to start out the automobile. Per the problem, individuals are breaking into the automobiles after which taking off the steering wheel column. Subsequent, they scorching wire the automobiles utilizing a USB cable.
In response to legislation enforcement officers, a whopping one-third of all automobile thefts in St. Petersburg, Florida is said to the problem. In Los Angeles, there was an 85{7e44665ad31c7163a3225b5cdeca12ae8e1ba5a9651d05b2285576263eb8f3ac} enhance in Hyundai and Kia automobile thefts. Identical in Chicago. “In our jurisdiction alone, [thefts of certain models are] up over 800{7e44665ad31c7163a3225b5cdeca12ae8e1ba5a9651d05b2285576263eb8f3ac} within the final month. We see no finish in sight,” Cook dinner County Sheriff Tom Dart mentioned. “The viral nature of how this has taken off on social media — it is accelerated this like we have by no means seen. [The perpetrators are] doing it in 20 to 30 seconds. It actually is as old school as you’ll be able to think about.”
Per Dart the thieves are primarily younger teenagers, a lot of them too younger to even drive. Most of the stolen automobiles are used to take pleasure rides or to commit different crimes. Ultimately, they’re deserted. “We had an 11-year-old who was one in every of our most prolific stealers … the notion that they will drive is a fantasy,” Dart mentioned.
The hashtag getting used? Kia Boys, which has amassed over 33 million views on TikTok. One Milwaukee-based filmmaker is documenting the viral pattern on his YouTube channel Kia Boys Documentary. “That is what they do for after-school leisure,” Tommy Gerszewski informed CNBC. “They do not actually have a lot of a sympathy for the individuals that they are doing this to.”
Some Kia and Hyundai homeowners are going after the automobile firms, with Ken McClain, an lawyer in Missouri, representing purchasers in school motion lawsuits. To date he has purchasers in California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas. “We’re receiving dozens of calls a day,” McClain mentioned. “The producer[s] must be paying for this.”