USA Facts: “Car thefts started rising last summer in Baltimore, Cleveland, and other cities across the country. In fact, from December 2021 to December 2022, reported thefts rose 50 percent in Atlanta and El Paso, Texas. They doubled in Chicago. They tripled in Dayton, Ohio. Some cities have blamed the auto manufacturers Kia and Hyundai for the rising thefts. Hyundai has pointed to a “coordinated effort on social media” as the reason for the change. In June 2022, videos by a group dubbed the “Kia Boys” demonstrating how to start some Kias and Hyundais using a USB charger went viral on TikTok. TikTok has since removed such videos from its platform, but they could still be having an impact on the physical world. To understand why car thefts rose in 2022 while other types of crime fell, USAFacts compiled data from hundreds of police departments and requested more specific data about Kia and Hyundai thefts from over 60 departments nationwide.”