So I test drove a Skoda today and whilst doing so I noticed I the sat nav were not sat in place properly and upon asking I were told they take these out as people steal these as the chip inside can provide free Sky TV??

 

Has anyone else heard of this or am I being led down the "garden path"?

 

**********If this is possible please do not post how, I am just wanting to know if I am getting the old sales man bu**    *****************************

 

 

Ermm I severely doubt the Sky TV bit just steal able and sellable if anything

Ermm I severely doubt the Sky TV bit just steal able and sellable if anything

 

Well its funny because I have heard this from VW and Skoda now - So when you test drive a car the device is not fully pressed into the dash. 

 

I have been told it is only the columbus devices that generate interest.

Well its funny because I have heard this from VW and Skoda now - So when you test drive a car the device is not fully pressed into the dash.

I have been told it is only the columbus devices that generate interest.

Not surprising when you look on ebay at the costs of them! One night for a thief at a dealers with say 5 cars that are done over if new cars that can easily be £3-£5k for a nights work!

people steal these as the chip inside can provide free Sky TV

 

I LOLed

I LOLed

 

So did I... Kind of... when I told but when told by two dealers the same story it really does make me wonder...

I smell something funny

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Really - this sounds like the biggest load of silliness ever. Absolutely people nick them, but because they have value on the 2nd hand market, not for their magical abilities to decrypt Sky's digital satellite signals.

 

Shows how gullible some salesman can be - a silly story goes around the dealer network and they actually start to believe it.

Exactly they are nicked to sell on for a quick bit of cash to fuel the scumbags drug habit

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Sky encoding is changed every second or so, hence needing an internet connection/phone line to make the current generation of Sky boxes to work. (Premium channels - the "free" channels arent encoded the same way).

Both the local Skoda dealer, and the one by my parents remove the satnav units from their stock parked outside. Even brand new cars have them removed. They will only be put back in, if a customer or potential customer wants a drive or to check over a used car.

 

Its because of theft, nothing to do with Sky TV. The Columbus is the most stolen headunit currently as it fetches good money and the security code is easily obtained or changed with the right tools.

Sky encoding is changed every second or so, hence needing an internet connection/phone line to make the current generation of Sky boxes to work. (Premium channels - the "free" channels arent encoded the same way).

 

That's not how legit Sky boxes work. You're thinking of dreambox / openbox cccam card sharing setups.

 

Legit Sky Digital boxes have in theory been required to be connected to a working analogue phone line for "box office" and other purchases and interactive "red button" services. This also enabled the box to call sky to confirm it's location. Many people who didn't bother connecting their box to a phone line didn't get any grief from Sky though. Most interactive services have now been updated to use the ethernet / wireless connectivity so the horrible legacy dependency on the analogue phone line has almost gone away. 

Legit Sky Digital boxes have in theory been required to be connected to a working analogue phone line for "box office" and other purchases and interactive "red button" services. This also enabled the box to call sky to confirm it's location. Many people who didn't bother connecting their box to a phone line didn't get any grief from Sky though. Most interactive services have now been updated to use the ethernet / wireless connectivity so the horrible legacy dependency on the analogue phone line has almost gone away. 

Yep - 100% correct!

Sky TV is very difficult to decrypt. A car satnav certainly wouldn't help.

The older Sky boxes will work without a connection, but AFAIK, the newer Sky+ boxes wont; if I am wrong, I will stand corrected.

 

I have never had Sky, so I am only going by what occasionally turns up about them on the tech. forums.

The early Sky analogue boxes weren't hard to crack.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VideoGuard

 

The combination of key cards tied to toughened security hardware make it one of the most hardened systems out there. If it could be cracked easily someone one would since the market for pirate cards would be pretty lucrative.

 

Tricky to find much info but I assume the way it works is that even if you could get the resource and technology to crack the encryption you'd only unlock it for one box, you wouldn't break the whole system. so it's not worth the effort.

 

Still you can be sure the guys at GCHQ/NSA probably crack this regularly for target practice.

Heard the same thing at a client's site last week (a well known hotel chain) - I was called in to check their cctv system over because 5 VAG cars (mix of VW, Audi & Seat) had been broken into for their columbus units.

When I suggested it was the resale value of the units the manager told me the police officer he reported it to had said the theives were likely after "the chip for decoding Sky TV".

I didn't like to say I thought this was utter *******s so kept quiet and did some digging on the Internet...

Apparently the same rumor appeared a couple of years ago but with Ford units (this was debunked at the time).

Vag units go walkies quite often.

Most were stolen from the continent by eastern European gangs, and now the same gangs have come over here to steal units and send them back.

This gets better. Loving this rumour. Qudos to whoever started it.

Vag units go walkies quite often.

Most were stolen from the continent by eastern European gangs, and now the same gangs have come over here to steal units and send them back.

Precisely. If you're going to abandon your morals and buy an eBay Columbus at least have the good sense to have it sent to an address where you don't keep your car.

I can't believe how long this joke's been going on....

 

http://www.snopes.com/crime/mootloot/radio.asp

 

How have I not heard this before?!

Edited 29 September, 201411 yr by Nick P

Unfortunately any damage done by a misinformed idiot thief is just as costly

They're very easy to steal which doesn't help.

 

I very much doubt it has anything to do with free Sky TV though!

 

Phil

With the replies I am sure the sales man were talking bull!

 

Thanks guys for replying - Going to put this one to bed.