https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/01/europe/russia-farm-vehicles-ukraine-disabled-melitopol-intl/index.html

Russians plunder $5M farm vehicles from Ukraine -- to find they've been remotely disabled
By Olexsandr Fylyppov and Tim Lister, CNN

Updated 10:30 PM ET, Sun May 1, 2022

(CNN)Russian troops in the occupied city of Melitopol have stolen all the equipment from a farm equipment dealership -- and shipped it to Chechnya, according to a Ukrainian businessman in the area.

But after a journey of more than 700 miles, the thieves were unable to use any of the equipment -- because it had been locked remotely.

Over the past few weeks there's been a growing number of reports of Russian troops stealing farm equipment, grain and even building materials - beyond widespread looting of residences. But the removal of valuable agricultural equipment from a John Deere dealership in Melitopol speaks to an increasingly organized operation, one that even uses Russian military transport as part of the heist.

CNN has learned that the equipment was removed from an Agrotek dealership in Melitopol, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early March. Altogether it's valued at nearly $5 million. The combine harvesters alone are worth $300,000 each.

CNN is not naming a contact in Melitopol familiar with the details of the case for their own safety.

The contact said the process began with the seizure of two combine harvesters, a tractor and a seeder. Over the next few weeks, everything else was removed: in all 27 pieces of farm machinery. One of the flat-bed trucks used, and caught on camera, had a white "Z" painted on it and appeared to be a military truck.

The contact said there were rival groups of Russian troops: some would come in the morning and some in the evening.

Some of the machinery was taken to a nearby village, but some of it embarked on a long overland journey to Chechnya more than 700 miles away. The sophistication of the machinery, which are equipped with GPS, meant that its travel could be tracked. It was last tracked to the village of Zakhan Yurt in Chechnya.
The equipment ferried to Chechnya, which included combine harvesters -- can also be controlled remotely. "When the invaders drove the stolen harvesters to Chechnya, they realized that they could not even turn them on, because the harvesters were locked remotely," the contact said.

The equipment now appears to be languishing at a farm near Grozny. But the contact said that "it seems that the hijackers have found consultants in Russia who are trying to bypass the protection."

"Even if they sell harvesters for spare parts, they will earn some money," the contact said.

Other sources in the Melitopol region say theft by Russian military units has extended to grain held in silos, in a region that produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of crops a year.

One source told CNN that "the occupiers are offering local farmers to share their profits 50% to 50%." But the farmers trying to work in areas occupied by Russian troops are unable to move their produce.

"Not a single elevator works. None of the ports are working. You will not take this grain from the occupied territory anywhere. "

So Russian forces are simply taking the grain, the source said. "They steal it, take it to Crimea and that's it."

Last week the mayor of Melitopol posted a video showing a convoy of trucks leaving Melitopol allegedly loaded with grain.

"We have clear evidence that they unloaded grain from the Melitopol city elevator. They robbed the elevator along with private farms," the mayor told CNN.

Jesus christ Russians are retarded

Fuck the Russian looters, but why does John Deere have the ability to shut anything off remotely?

Can't wait to hear more of this happening in the US and with EVs as well...

So they stole like 1.5 combines?

How do you say "Right to repair" in Russian?

Funny the things they accidentally uncover in the midst of their virtue signaling isn't it? What's next? Republican farmers? Farmers the gov wants to shut down?

Some wiz will get them working.

Fuck any/all of that remote bullshit...

If I was a farmer, I would not want to own a piece of equipment that a 3rd party could render inert by pressing a button

Not just EVs.
Our benevolent government have passed a law mandating this ability be built into every new car.
Along with monitoring your behavior, and if the car AI decides that you are not looking right, it will stop the car and call the cops.
Oh - and a built-in breathalyzer in every car too.

Don't you read the news??

https://www.motorious.com/articles/features-3/kill-switches-new-cars/

You'll own nothing and you'll be happy.

I mean fuck Russia and thieves but that's disturbing.

Russia today, US citizens tomorrow.

Credit where due, based on some of the stuff you see operating there, they'll probably either figure out how to hack them or strip the electronics off and use them without the computers or they'll strip them and sell the parts .  Same thing as countries like Pakistan, India, China, etc.- they'll figure a way to get it going.

I forgot about the breathalyzer shit...

Yep, Russians will hack their firmware and we'll have a black-market JD scan tool available in the near future.

This, the fuck?

This is going to be a big step over the PERSEC line...

There is WAY more to the story than simply deeming the machines need to be disabled.

I know the guy who was, partially, responsible for making this happen and it's a truly 1-off situation. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that the optics of doing something like this, outside of extraordinary circumstances, would mean market suicide for Deere.

Fuck Russia, but yeah. They shouldn't be able to shutdown your property.

We have the propaganda contradicting itself. On one hand we have the Russians without the ability the transport food, fuel and munitions for their troops,  on the other hand they have the transport to haul off hundreds of thousands of tons of grain and a large amount of farm equipment.

I bet Putin is getting a piece of two.

Anyone who thinks they can't make em work...

Well... the farm equipment self-propelled and normally pulls things soooo.

Love your innocence. Never lose it

My 2 excavators have Volvo Care capability. You have to pay monthly, basically they can diagnose or send a program to fix a computer issue or they can determine a code problem. With that, they know where the machines are and can shut it down if they wanted.
That service is too damn expensive and I don’t use it. I have it disabled.

Farmers?

I just bought a Bobcat Skid Steer.  It came with a user agreement where you acknowledged that Bobcat had remote access, monitoring and reporting back.  It further gave them the right to use the data for any purpose from warranty to marketing to selling the information.

They are machines that run on internal combustion. There is no way a bypass isn't possible.

That will control food production and the people nicely once they do it here.

Sounds like there was some local aid needed to shut off the machines then.

fuck russia fuck john deere.

THIS!!!!

There aren’t enough freak emojis to cover the weird irrational thoughts that pop into your mind.    It’d be easier if you just didn’t type them out.

Just about ANY equipment that’s computer controlled from Farm Equipment to CNC machines can be tracked and turned on/off remotely.A former employer moved about 50 Mazak CNC machines to a new facility and none of the machines would would work after the move.Even though the machines were owned outright Mazak still kept monitoring them and disabled them because they were moved.Mazak said it was to prevent theft and export to countries that aren’t allowed access to 5 axis CNC technology.Kinda scary when you don’t have full control of your $500,000 or more paid for piece of equipment.

This can't be said enough.  Same goes for new cars and trucks.

There was a story on here a while back about a guy buying a Tesla plaid and them remotely disabling the performance package since he wasn't the original buyer- no idea if it was true.  OnStar and probably the other onboard computers can shut your stuff off too.

I'm really like my 1983 toyota 4x4 more and more every minute.

$5 million is about 10 pieces of equipment

New? We had a car stolen off the lot and Benz shut it down remotely. That was 2006 or 2007? None of this is new.

Deere does this domestically on leased equipment if payments arent made. Kind of mixed feelings on it tbh... Deere still owns that equipment until its paid off in full per the contract.

I would love to see a company come along and sell kits to bring the electronics into an open standard that doesnt phone home.

So Russians stealing $5mil from Ukraine is news but silence on Ukraine stealing billions from American taxpayers

who is next

I think all manufactures have this in new machines. I know JD isn't the only one.
Besides, without the right oil and filters, those tractors and combines will junk in 3 years.

They better hope they don't need parts. Our local JD dealer always asks for serial numbers when we need parts.

Sounds more like JD did it this time, but promise they won’t do it again.

To be fair, our media usually doesn't report our politicians stealing from us either.    

Went old school about ten years ago expecting this to happen. So therefore, as technology had increased, some had a plan to effectively decrease away from it. When they say run this way, it is prudent in many an instance to stop and walk back the other way. And a country boy can survive. Simplify and you will make due. The training part has been successful so far. So much to know and become familiar with. It is hard work which is what they don't want you to become proficient and knowledgeable about. They want you lazy, and therefore soft.

They can always call on those Paki or Indian guys who cast functional parts while working in a shop that would give an OSHA inspector a stroke.    

I've always been honestly impressed with the ingenuity of people in some of these places when it comes to keeping equipment running.  Russia definitely has the technology to reverse engineer the equipment as does China, India, etc.  New model Mahindra tractors coming soon to a Northern Tool near you!  

Welcome to last week...

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Russians-plunder-5M-farm-vehicles-from-Ukraine-to-find-they-ve-been-remotely-disabled/5-2549609/

Pretty much everything sold for many years now both transmits vehicle telemetry and can receive updates over cell, so I would assume they all can be shut down remotely.  I'd bet it's just as easy to brick a modern ICE vehicle as an EV.