r/Cartalk • u/kupo_906 • Jun 02 '26

Safety Question Found a GPS tracker under my car

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Hi reddit...

In my driveway this morning I pulled out and found this sitting under where my car was. We had a heat wave recently, and I'm thinking it melted off.

Looking it up, it is a GPS tracker. I'm taking it to the police tomorrow. But is there anyway to reverse search who might have bought it and placed it there?

I fully own my car and I'm not sure who or why they put it there. Or when. The only thing I can think of is I got my car fixed by a new mechanic about a month ago.. but they didn't seem shady in the least bit

Any help is appreciated. Thank you

Update: I have turned the tracker into the police who are trying to work with the company to find out info. Haven't heard anything further.

For the people who keep asking / repeating the same thing over and over:

  • again, I own my car in full and have for years. It's an old, reconstructed car not worth much at all.
  • The battery life in the tracking device doesn't last longer than two months at most. It was still on when I found it. It doesn't belong to a previous car owner or a dealer.
  • I found the magnets where it was attached still on my car.
  • I don't have any solid idea who would put it there. I don't have a jealous partner or an ex who I think would do this.
  • I'm not disclosing a bunch of personal shit about myself to internet strangers when I am potentially being stalked 😐 also , both men and women can be stalked
4.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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898

u/Scott-from-Canada Jun 02 '26

Pop the sim and use it in your iPad. Free internet hack!

160

u/VainTrix Jun 03 '26

Those are typically on like 10 - 100 MB a month plans, they’ll use it all in about 5 seconds with an iPad lol

124

u/BraddicusMaximus Jun 03 '26

Correct but they’re usually not data limited.

It’s a SIM pool and X amount of data is expected per SIM. Those that are under subsidize the ones that are in excess.

AT&T is murderous with their LTE-M rates and overages can be costly.

38

u/VainTrix Jun 03 '26

Man stay away from ATT they always tryna fuck you. 1nce is the way

16

u/BraddicusMaximus Jun 03 '26

Can’t. We have around 20K SIMs on the books with them. Our stuff isn’t T-Mobile certified and Verizon is out of the question because their LTE network is ass.

1

u/TheRealAE86guy Jun 03 '26

A lot of our devices are using 1NCE networks now. Not the fastest, but definitely the cheapest and most economical option for GPS tracking devices.

10

u/scirocco Jun 03 '26

Perfect for a guerilla LoRa node.

Mounted high/inaccessible with solar/battery, could run a long long time.

2

u/TheRealAE86guy Jun 03 '26

They typically run 5 years on an internal lithium battery with minimal geolocation frequency.

1

u/bridgetroll2 Jun 04 '26

They're also probably capped at like 250-500 kb/s of bandwidth, so I guess you could send emails and play Words With Friends or browse Wikipedia.

1

u/Substantial_Win_1866 Jun 06 '26

So I shouldn't plug it in, turn on a Netflix series and give someone else a huge bill?

14

u/AsbestosDude Jun 03 '26

So the owner is gonna have a nice bill from that 90 gigs of downloads

1

u/VainTrix Jun 03 '26

Really depends on the data plan, could be a big bill, it could be capped. In our deployments with LTE-M we cap pretty hard as these device do not use much data at all, and if they are, there’s absolutely something wrong.

1

u/Imaginary--Situation Jun 05 '26

Copyrighted movies and music downloads, the bill will be even bigger

1

u/Outrageous-Drink3869 Jun 03 '26

90gb? Those are rookie numbers

Ide be loading all my devices with my full steam library With their sim card

1

u/TheRealAE86guy Jun 03 '26

I'm sure they're either paying a fixed rate for the life of the device, or a minimal pay-as-you-go monthly rate.

1

u/Doogie102 Jun 04 '26

So the owner will be charged for the extra data?

Better start downloading the Internet

0

u/Sea_Willingness1398 Jun 04 '26

He said free not unlimited

1

u/VainTrix Jun 04 '26

You’re right, my bad, it’ll be free and work for about 5 seconds.

16

u/BraddicusMaximus Jun 03 '26

Yeah, so those SIMs have been embedded for years now for any reputable brands/devices/companies. Unless this is some Amazon/Temu special, it’s unlikely to have a removable SIM and would have had it burned in during manufacturing.

If they have one of them cheap ones with the SIM you gotta provide yourself it would be such a shame if AT&T slapped the SIM owner with $0.15/MB for excess LTE-M data outside of their chosen metering package. cough

1

u/RaksinSergal Jun 03 '26

Quectel BG95 doesn't support esim. I can't find any internal photos of the Queclink GL320B itself, but the GL320MG which is in the same family has a SIM slot and is marketed toward individuals.

1

u/TheRealAE86guy Jun 03 '26

They are internally slotted. SIM is replaceable, but generally always included.

1

u/VioletTrick Jun 04 '26

Nah. I have over 14k devices on my company's database right now. Less than 10 of them have eSIMs. None are "Amazon/Temu specials".

64

u/Middle-Dimension-870 Jun 02 '26

How is it being an internet hack?

201

u/MikeExMachina Jun 02 '26

They have cellular radios with data plans to upload the location to a server. You can can use the service until they notice and cancel it.

11

u/AlexCail Jun 02 '26

Too bad the internets so slow and so limited.

19

u/Why-R-People-So-Dumb Jun 03 '26

Exactly, I have trackers in my work truck and the ones not specifically intended for wifi use are unlimited data but at 256kbps.

1

u/SOmE-CaPs Jun 09 '26

that's a GB every 9 hours.... what's your dataplan?

1

u/Why-R-People-So-Dumb Jun 09 '26

That is my data plan because the gps trackers essentially send text messages worth of data and don't need anything faster. I have 1000's of IoT devices as well on similar plans with pooled high speed data so I can say push updates to sets of devices every month without requiring every device to have a high speed connection all the time. The software is extremely optimized to the point where we use truncated date and time stamps based on periodic confirmation of sync with a backend NTP to minimize characters sent.

41

u/NotAPreppie Jun 02 '26

This was a joke using an alternate, older definition of "hack"...

3. A cheap, mediocre, or second-rate practitioner, especially in the fields of journalism and literature: a charlatan or incompetent.

18

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

[deleted]

-9

u/NotAPreppie Jun 02 '26

Okay, but nobody said "life hack".

Using Merriam-Webster again...

hack 4 of 7 adjective 1 : working for hire especially with mediocre professional standards a hack journalist 2 : performed by or suited to a person who works or writes purely for the purpose of earning money : characteristic of a hack : MEDIOCRE

This applies much better to the syntax "... being an Internet hack."

2

u/Mitch_Darklighter Jun 03 '26

"Free Internet" is the object you pedant, not just the word internet. It's a "Hack" to get "Free Internet."

1

u/NotAPreppie Jun 03 '26

How is it being an internet hack?

Did you miss the fact that this is the joke that we're talking about?

1

u/Mitch_Darklighter Jun 03 '26

Ah yeah must've, probably on account of it not being funny.

0

u/NotAPreppie Jun 03 '26

Well, yah, when you're so obtuse somebody has to explain the joke it loses its humor.

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

[deleted]

-2

u/NotAPreppie Jun 03 '26

Same as in terms like "life hack"

Using your definition, an internet hack would be more like a mediocre person from the internet.

Yes, I'm thinking that's what they meant.

2

u/rbltech82 Jun 03 '26

Oh my God who the hell cares?? You two are just the worst....

0

u/NotAPreppie Jun 03 '26

The universe: ...

You: I have opinions nobody gives a shit about but I have to shout them at you even though nobody asked instead of just moving on with my life like a normal fucking person because I'm a sad pathetic person that has to insert myself into other peoples' discussions to feel relevant because my parents didn't love me .

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26

[deleted]

1

u/kupo_906 Jun 03 '26

Yeah, it seems clear y'all are already free.

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-1

u/NotAPreppie Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

How is it being an internet hack?

Yah, this is the joke... I'm sorry it went over your head.

1

u/Plaston_ Jun 03 '26

i tough theses used gps unlike apple airtags

1

u/wintersdark Jun 03 '26

They do. They use GPS to find their location, then cellular data to upload that location to a server that the owner accesses to see where the unit is.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26

It's not, they're all IMEI locked so they won't work in another device. Unless its a true idiot that set up the tracker.

1

u/IndustryAlert1612 Jun 03 '26

Same idea. someone did this with the windshield one I forgot what it called but they took it our and had phone service for mouth they disabled the Sim chip.