Get Wise, T.I.: When parked car horns blast

A lot of T.I.s report that when walking by or through a parking lot, unoccupied parked cars' horns will suddenly go off and continue to blast, even after the T.I. exits the area. Many T.I.s have wondered how this was possible.

Here's a news article that explains how one man did it.

Local Tech Wire

DALLAS ”A man fired from a Texas auto dealership used an Internet service to remotely disable ignitions and set off car horns of more than 100 vehicles sold at his old workplace," police said Wednesday.

Austin police arrested Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, on Wednesday, charging him with felony breach of computer security.

Ramos- Lopez used a former colleague's password to deactivate starters and set off car horns, police said. Several car owners said they had to call tow trucks and were left stranded at work or home.

"He caused these customers, now victims, to miss work," Austin police spokeswoman Veneza Aguinaga said. "They didn't get paid. They had to get tow trucks. They didn't know what was going on with their vehicles.

"The Texas Auto Center dealership in Austin installs GPS devices that can prevent cars from starting. The system is used to repossess cars when buyers are overdue on payments, said Jeremy Norton, a controller at the dealership where Ramos-Lopez worked. Car horns can be activated when repo agents go to collect vehicles and believe the owners are hiding them."

Many thanks to Debbie Newhook of http://osnanaimo.org/ for sharing this article. Here's hoping that A Word to the Wise T.I. is sufficient.