The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that havent 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 cars 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.
Ramos-Lopezs account had been closed when he was terminated from Texas Auto Center in a workforce reduction last month, but he allegedly got in through another employees account, Garcia says. At first, the intruder targeted vehicles by searching on the names of specific customers. Then he discovered he could pull up a database of all 1,100 Auto Center customers whose cars were equipped with the device. He started going down the list in alphabetical order, vandalizing the records, disabling the cars and setting off the horns.
Omar was pretty good with computers, says Garcia.