Thieves don’t even need to break into a car to steal it these days.
A group of ne’er-do-wells was able to steal MLB star Kris Bryant’s grey 2023 Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica by hacking into a car transport company’s system and rerouting the delivery address, according to The Denver Gazette. The theft triggered an investigation that has since led to the arrest of multiple people.
Bryant broke through with the Chicago Cubs, where he won a World Series and MVP award, but signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Colorado Rockies before the 2022 season. But his offseason home is in Las Vegas, so when the most recent MLB regular season wrapped up Bryant (or whomever manages these matters for him) arranged to have the $300,000 supercar shipped from Cherry Hills, Colorado, to Sin City.
The Huracán was picked up in early October, but never made it to its destination. It was reported missing to the Cherry Hills Village Police Department (CHVPD) on Oct. 2. This set-off a multi-agency investigation during which it was discovered that a “business email scheme” had been used to compromise the transport company’s system and change the delivery destination to another location in Las Vegas without authorization.
Working together, the CHVPD, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s VIPER Auto Theft Team, and Homeland Security Investigations, were able to trace the vehicle using license plate tracking technology. Authorities finally tracked down the Huracán on Oct. 7 and apprehended a man believed to have stolen it. They also uncovered a larger theft ring in which fake documents and VIN switching were used to steal and traffic luxury vehicles.
Along with the supercar, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan and GMC Yukon Denali were recovered. It has been reported elsewhere that multiple people involved with the ring have been arrested in the month since.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen hackers user similar means to steal luxury cars this year. This summer in Miami, another tech-savvy thief hacked into the driver’s portal of a different car transport company to reroute the delivery of a Cullinan and a Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600. Unfortunately, those vehicles, which are valued at a combined $500,000, were not recovered soon after being stolen.
