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The Wheels Definitely Aren’t Coming Off This One: Anti-Theft App, Project Overlord

anti-theft app

As the technology to prevent and fight crime gets better, criminals have to get creative. I have to admit, I’m kind of impressed with their ingenuity on occasion, though I think they could find better outlets for their talents. In recent years, we’ve developed ways to track our vehicles, our computers/laptops, and our phones if they’re stolen. But what about wheels?

 

Car have become harder to steal, so car thieves have revived an old tactic – stealing the wheels from vehicles – as a way to profit instead. Modern technology, coming to the rescue again, has delivered on a solution in the form of Project Overlord, an anti-theft app for vehicle wheels.

 

ProjectOverlord

 

Project Overlord, which will be available on both Android and Apple marketplaces this fall, was founded in 2014 by DC native Terry Gaskin. He had launched an automotive customization shop in Texas when he became aware of the growing resurgence of car wheel theft. Realizing that the one product he couldn’t offer in his shop was a solution to this problem, he teamed up with some former Nokia department heads to pave the way in anti-theft technology with a new anti-theft app specifically for wheels.

 

The app works in tandem with an actual device that you attach to the tire and pay to have monitored. Services for this tracking system are currently listed at $65/year or $6.99/month, which is pretty cheap when you consider the price of rims and tires. If the system detects that the vehicle is being lifted or tampered with, it responds in three ways, aside from alerting you on your phone app: first, it starts tracking the wheels via GPS (to within 10 feet); second, it sounds an alarm to scare the thief away; third, it alerts local police.

 

The tech will apparently even work for bikes, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, construction equipment, and farm equipment. While I’m not sure wheel theft is a major issue here in Vermont yet, I do know a lot of bikers and farmers who might find this app awfully handy, especially given how rampant bike and bike wheel theft are in these parts.

 

ProjectOverlordCell2

 

Project Overlord is in the middle of an Indiegogo campaign and has raised $3,420 out of their requested $750,000. Currently, their featured perk is the early bird Indiegogo special – one of the first release Project Overlord Redrum Systems for Auto/SUVs. At only $299 (with free shipping) instead of the $329 retail price, it’s a steal of a deal if you want to protect your wheels.

 

Photo Credits

Simon Law | Project Overlord

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