This week saw a car in Raleigh burglarized due to nothing more than its make. According to the owner, their car was targeted due to being part of the ‘Tik Tok Kia challenge’ which is sweeping the city. While this may sound like some kind of parody – sadly it’s not, and it’s costing locals a lot of time, energy and money.

So, how does this work? According to the challenge, thieves target Kia cars built from 2011-2021 due to their lack of immobilizer, which makes stealing the car significantly easier. Soon enough, criminal gangs showed their crimes on Tik Tok, with videos appearing such as ‘Kia boyz’ whereby they showed how to steal these vehicles. Such was the chaos caused by the challenge, Kia ended up paying $200 million to car owners in 2023 to victims of this crime.

Returning to Raleigh, this crime happened in Morrisville and the car was a 2013 Kia Optima. Apparently, the thugs were spooked when a neighbor let off their car alarm which made them flee. Thankfully, the victim only suffered a broken window, however it could have easily been a lot worse.

According to locals, it was just Kia’s though – with one person saying: “Watch out if you live downtown. I’d say over 60 cars have been broken into in my parking garage this year. 22 in one night alone. 10 more two nights ago.” As ever, this is a reminder to stay vigilant and never keep valuables in your car. Similarly, deterrents such as wheel locks are also a good option. Sadly, it also says a lot about our society when videos are encouraging car theft.