From school busARRIVE police car even the gods Wienermobileit looks like catalytic converter thieves between no sacred means. BuzzFeed News have an incrediDive into how a once petty crime turns into a nationwide crime syndicate with the potential to rake in half a billion dollars in just three years.
In case you lost it:
The problem of cat adapter theft has exploded in the US since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the prices of precious metals found in car parts. Thieves can slide under a car and use a saw to remove a cat in less than a minute. It was a risky move, because thieves were suspected was crushed by a car on a vibration stand or shot by angry at the car owner but the skyrocketing price of palladium and platinum makes it extremely valuable:
Prosecutors brought charges against 21 defendants in five states in the first major federal criminal case to expose the vast scope of the catalytic converter black market and its role in the global supply chain stretching from California to New Jersey and Japan.
Demand for catalytic converters stems from one of their essential ingredients: palladium, a rare metal that has become one of the most valuable minerals in the world. From early 2016 to early 2019, the price per ounce of palladium tripled from about $500 to $1,500, exceeding the value of gold for the first time in nearly two decades. Over the next three years, the number of catalytic converter thefts skyrocketed in the United States: State Farm reported that its insurance claims for that crime increased by 400% from 2019 to 2022; The National Insurance Crime Bureau announced that its data shows an increase of 1.215%; Law enforcement agencies in San Francisco, Tulsa and New York City have reported spikes, as have police departments in Chiba, western Japan and London. A single catalytic converter can hold up to 7 grams of palladium, as well as 7 grams of platinum, whose value has been around for years at around $1,000 an ounce, and 2 grams of rhodium, whose price-per-ounce has skyrocketed. from about $650 in 2016 to $2,500 in 2019.
The palladium boom has sparked a catalytic converter craze that car owners, local lawmakers and law enforcement are struggling to contain, as the cost of living increases. Rising growth and stagnant wages continue to push people into desperate situations with no clear path to the top. Hundreds of pages of court documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News reveal that stolen catalytic converters are not simply the start of an underground supply chain, but a link in a self-sustaining cycle. : the palladium inside is extracted and eventually resold to the automakers that need it to make more catalytic converters, which are in growing demand due to these thefts.
The ouroboros nature of these thefts is what makes me—the catalytic converters are filled with precious metals, leading to their theft, which leads companies to often use those metals to make multiple converters. more catalytic exchange. Theft of catalytic converters is now common across the country, but owners of older models Prius cars are badly affected as those vehicles contain more precious metals in their cats than most means. In Los Angeles, the backlog for Prius owners who want a replacement vehicle is up to 9 months. LA Times report.
For a complete (and I mean complete) report, check out the BuzzFeed News story This.
