Chapter 45 VT Exchange
"Are you a professional theft team? How many people are there in the team?"
While waiting, Zhang Ailun also asked about the industry they were in.
"We are not professionals. In addition to us, there are two other people in the team. We are only responsible for keeping watch on weekdays, while the other two are responsible for stealing. We have only done it two or three times."
"We have a partnership with the owner of a second-hand car dealership on the black market. He runs a modified car shop and a scrap recycling station. He also does some vehicle reselling business on weekdays and has transactions with many street gangs. He often hires others to participate in errands, such as stealing some bicycles, zombie cars and mortgaged cars that have been parked on the roadside for a long time without being claimed."
The homeless man answered timidly and told out all the inside information he knew.
Zombie cars are basically cars that have been abandoned on the roadside because of problems at the owner's home, or cars that have been put in and cannot be left. They are mortgaged cars, stolen vehicles, or vehicles abandoned by criminals after committing a crime.
It is a waste to park the car on the roadside for a long time, so they will choose to drive the car away or call a tow truck to take it away for recycling. If the car is in good condition, they will refurbish it and modify it. If the car is in bad condition, they will directly dismantle it and sell the parts.
The modified vehicles can be re-disguised and re-registered and sold to other places or the countryside.
There are still many people on the streets who specialize in this business. Some of them even have no moral principles. No matter whether your car is a zombie or a mobile car, they will just smash the window and drive away.
Cleaning up zombie cars will not violate the law and will not easily get you into trouble, but if you blatantly rob or steal a car, you will be in big trouble, even more serious than illegal gun possession in California.
"In that case, the used car dealer's boss has quite a bit of power and business?"
Zhang Ailun thought about it and asked, "Are you familiar with the boss? Where does he often do business?"
"He rarely shows up on weekdays. He owns a modification shop in the suburbs. We have only met him twice and we are not familiar with him."
The homeless men were a little embarrassed. They looked at each other and answered honestly, "We can tell you the location. In the city, there is a place called Mike's Scrap Collection Station. In the suburbs, there is a car cemetery. Use Google Maps to search. From here, you can basically drive to it in an hour and a half."
"In the suburbs? Never mind."
Zhang Ailun's brows relaxed. He didn't have the time to travel such a long distance to the car cemetery.
It takes an hour and a half to drive there, and it would take at least two hours to ride a bicycle even if he broke the wheels. It would be dark by the time he made the round trip.
The danger level in the suburbs is very high. It is a high-risk wild area. Not only are there wild beasts such as coyotes and cougars, but there are also various criminals who take advantage of the fire to rob gas stations and kidney-sucking merchants who engage in illegal transactions.
The frozen garage that passes by you may contain someone else's heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys.
Although the poor streets in the city are dangerous, they are still somewhat under the beacon of civilization and are not so outrageously regulated. The suburbs are pure dark forests.
Zhang Ailun's previous small workshop was located in a mountainous area and an abandoned factory far away from the city. If he did not ship the goods in time, he would be fired. He still remembers this clearly.
Zhang Ailun asked the other party some more market details. Under the threat of his fist, the homeless man also told him everything he knew.
This line of work is very knowledgeable and requires constant improvement. Even if it is a zombie car, it is still necessary to determine whether the owner will not find it for a long time or there is no chance of finding it again.
If the owner of the car has only been in jail for a few months and you let someone else drive away the car, it will be very troublesome for the other party to call the police later. It is better to find a zombie car that is completely dead, rather than one that is half-dead.
If it is an old car that does not have much value, and the parts on the market have been updated and it cannot be used, matched and sold, then it has no recycling value.
Valuable zombie cars basically won't be parked in the community or on the roadside for more than a month, because once it is confirmed to be a zombie car, it will be driven away the next day. People who do this business are also very competitive.
Mobile vehicles are easy to identify, as their license plate numbers and environmental protection logos have been updated in the past few years. Even if it is an old and dilapidated vehicle, you only need to look at the tire wear, brake discs, and the color of carbon deposits in the rear fuel pipe to determine whether the owner has started the vehicle recently.
People in this business are also very smart. Basically, they will pay to install a car dealership software app called 'Vehicle transfer'.
The translated name is Vehicle Transfer, abbreviated as VT Exchange.
The prototype is a vehicle information software produced by the Los Angeles Traffic Management Department. Its function is similar to Traffic Management 12123. It is intended to facilitate car owners to pay tickets, confirm vehicle violation information and status, and call a nearby tow truck with one click. Later, it was hacked and stolen, and vehicle and customer information was leaked. A trading software App commonly used by second-hand car dealers in the black market was copied. As long as a vehicle has not moved for a long time, you will receive a prompt, and you can also pay to locate and query some relevant information and the status of the owner. But most of the information is not very reliable, similar to the Zhihu model of prize-winning questions and answers.
This app also often has delayed updates and smoke screens, and the information is lagging and not very accurate. Because it has to compete with the Los Angeles traffic police department, the website has been attacked and paralyzed, and sometimes it is forced to 404.
The situation is similar to that of the producers of paid gentleman film and television websites who are struggling to survive in the country, hiding their heads and showing their tails.
[Vehicle recycling LV0: Information related to recycling vehicles. ]
Zhang Ailun couldn't help but sigh that the West Coast is full of talents and business opportunities.
In the past, he often did vehicle recycling work in GTA, but he didn't expect that these people in reality would play more fancy.
Based on the link they sent and with the help of several homeless people, Zhang Ailun found the official website for downloading the software, registered an account using fake identity and driver’s license information, and passed the facial recognition.
However, you will also need to pay a membership registration fee of US$20 or equivalent value in USDT virtual currency.
Under the pressure of Zhang Ailun's eyes, several homeless people felt their scalps tingling, and one of them immediately stood up and said that he could pay the money on their behalf!
Zhang Ailun smiled instantly and patted his shoulder vigorously, what a good brother he is.
The homeless man forced a smile and quickly used his own virtual currency to help pay the 20 USDT.
Zhang Ailun held the phone, completely immersed in the process of understanding the software, and his good brothers beside him began to help him with guidance.
The homeless man who paid 20u walked to the side with a painful look, secretly pulled open his clothes and saw that his shoulders were blue and purple, and red as if he had been hit by a stick, and there were bruises in some places.
Damn, what a humanoid beast! It will take at least two days for this skin wound to heal!
The homeless man felt unwell all over and he was going to die!
I immediately took out a painkiller from my pocket, took a pill, and lit a Leaf brand cigarette. Instantly, I felt refreshed all over, the pain in my shoulders and legs was gone.
Morphine plus marijuana makes you feel as happy as a god.
In just a few minutes, Zhang Ailun mastered the usage of this app.
Simply put, the software has two modes: free version and paid version. The free version only has ordinary vehicle information that can be refreshed, which is not of much value. The positioning system can be used as navigation software.
The paid version will have vehicle transaction information and other template functions, as well as a chat window.
Some people will post employment information on it, for example, if they need a car, they will pay them if they help them get it.
Zhang Ailun saw that someone had posted an errand task three blocks away from him, requiring a newly launched skateboard from etnies.
But his good friend told him that it was a phishing message! It was posted by the police and you would be caught if you went there.
You need to switch to stealth mode first, open the police activity track, and then look for the task list in detail.
Zhang Ailun did as they said, and sure enough, he saw many map signs showing buildings, shops, and police activity. He and a few people next to him were small gray avatars.
When the other party also starts the stealth mode, those little avatars disappear, and only you are left on the map. After both parties add each other as friends, the gray little avatars turn into transparent light green.
Damn, what is this Waze enhanced version?
Waze is a navigation software similar to Amap and Baidu. It has real-time road traffic information and cameras, as well as Killer's real-time positioning. You can find information about nearby stores and whether police officers are active nearby from the software.
The original intention was to be able to seek timely help from the police in the event of a driving accident, but now this technology has been stolen by hackers, and its functions are used in various black market software, and can even effectively avoid police patrols.
(End of this chapter)
