Mark Rober Secretly Steals JasonTheWeen’s Giveaway Car And Records Everything
Mark Rober has revealed that he secretly stole JasonTheWeen’s giveaway Hyundai as part of a relay attack experiment. The project later followed the car after it was stolen again, using hidden trackers and cameras to monitor what happened.
A livestream giveaway turned into something completely different after YouTuber and engineer Mark Rober revealed that he was the person behind the disappearance of a car connected to Twitch streamer JasonTheWeen. The reveal came in Rober's latest video, where he explored how modern car theft techniques work and why vehicles with keyless entry systems can be vulnerable. Instead of starting with a random test vehicle, Rober picked a car that already had an audience attached to it: a brand-new 2026 Hyundai Sonata that was being given away by JasonTheWeen. What looked like an ordinary giveaway vehicle soon became the center of an experiment designed to show how quickly thieves can gain access to certain cars without ever touching the owner's keys.
How Mark Rober managed to take the car while JasonTheWeen was live
Before carrying out the test, Rober purchased a relay attack device from a black-market seller named Dimitri for $12,000. He later studied how the device worked and built a much cheaper version himself using parts that included components from a 2004 video baby monitor. According to the video, the homemade setup cost roughly $100.
The actual test happened while JasonTheWeen was streaming inside the former FaZe house. Rober and CrunchLabs employee Ian walked onto the property and approached the driveway. Security camera footage captured them moving toward the house before using the homemade relay device on the Sonata.
Within moments, the car unlocked and started. Jason remained unaware of what was happening until his manager contacted him and explained that the vehicle was gone.
Why the stolen Hyundai was left on one of Los Angeles' riskiest streets
Taking the car wasn't the final goal. Before the theft, Rober had already hidden 12 GPS trackers and multiple cameras inside the Hyundai. After driving away with it, he parked the vehicle in an area of Los Angeles that he described as having the city's highest auto theft rate.
The wait didn't last long. At around 2:15 a.m., a teenager took the Sonata and spent the night driving it around. The trackers continued sending location data, allowing Rober and his team to follow the vehicle's movements over several days.
Five days later, the GPS trail led to an unexpected ending. The Sonata had been impounded after receiving a parking violation.
What happened to the giveaway after the experiment ended
Once the project was over, Rober informed JasonTheWeen about everything that had happened. The original Hyundai was no longer part of the giveaway, so Rober replaced it with a brand-new 2026 Rivian for Jason's audience. The replacement giveaway moved forward with ten finalists competing during a livestream held on June 28.
The video ended with Rober sharing a few ways people can reduce the risk of relay attacks, including keeping key fobs away from front doors and storing them inside a metal container or wrapped in a single layer of aluminum foil. The project also joins a long list of crime-focused engineering experiments from the creator, whose glitter bomb package traps have previously been used to catch porch pirates on camera.