"More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments. Police with Austin’s High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday arrested 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off last month, and allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the dealership’s four Austin-area lots...The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that haven’t been paid for. Operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a car’s ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a running vehicle." - bob

yikes, that is unbelievable! - Susan Beebe

Cleveland-based? Does anybody know someone who works there? - Gabe

Are buyers told that the car they purchase is equipped with this? - Robert Felty

Rob: I don't know if the buyers are aware, but no doubt these are the sort of buyers who would otherwise be unable to get credit to buy a used car. - Gabe

Lots of cases in the horizon, I see. - Özkan Altuner

What was the "hack" here? Company fire's a guy and doesn't change the password.... move on nothing to see here. - Stuart Woodward

This almost seems like an Onion news story. :) - Space Cowboy