Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images Picture this: It’s a gorgeous Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and you’re ready for another day at the office. You grab your laptop, your homemade lunch , and, of course, your car keys. But gasp! When you step outside, you see nothing but an empty parking space where you thought you’d parked your car the night before.
Sigh. City living, I thought: The price we pay to live and gentrify at the center of it all! As a born-and-raised New Yorker currently navigating the hellscape that is first-car ownership, my understanding of the frequency of car theft was limited. But this theft seemed a bit odd even to me from the start: The ten-year-old Kia hardly seemed like the car to go for on a block that generally has a Tesla, a Lexus, and a few Toyotas with notoriously easy-to-nab catalytic converters.
And like any good TikTok trend, the barrier to entry for this “challenge” is minimal. According to the many, many videos I’ve watched, it seems as though anyone with absolutely zero hot-wiring experience could cruise off Kia style in under a minute. Per these tutorials, which can be found with a simple “Kia Boyz” Google search, one needs only to use a trusty screwdriver to break open the [redacted], crack a [redacted], and grab a USB cord, using the plug end to turn on the ignition.
Wait, and actual kids are doing this? Yes. Like, really young kids. One 11-year old boy in Ohio even got caught stealing two cars within one week. According to most reports, the trend has gained traction mostly with kids between 11 and 17 years old, meaning the majority of Kia Boy–content creators are absolutely not licensed to drive.