New Delhi [India], July 3 (ANI): A dangerous and highly cruel social media prank has taken over the streets of the national capital. Tech-savvy youngsters and pranksters are using a mobile application named BAT-BMS to scan for nearby Bluetooth-enabled lithium battery packs on e-rickshaws (locally nicknamed “tirris”), using the connection to instantly flip the discharge switch and disable moving vehicles mid-transit.
Because many low-cost, Chinese-manufactured battery units are deployed with no default security protocols, passwords, or authentication steps, anyone standing within a 10-15-meter range can hijack the motor’s power flow, leaving drivers completely stranded in heavy traffic.
The malicious trend has faced intense blowback after digital content creators began exposing the immense human toll behind the digital “prank.”
Speaking with ANI, social media influencer Amaan Siddiqui detailed a heartbreaking encounter with an affected driver.
“I saw a man tying up his rickshaw to another in order to move it,” Siddiqui shared. “I suspected this app to be behind it. I brought my vehicle behind it and tried connecting my app to the rickshaw. Once it connected, I asked him to stop and told him that his rickshaw would now restart.”
He added that the driver, who had rented the vehicle, lost an entire day’s earnings due to the issue. The driver allegedly said he had been facing difficulties since morning, with losses of around ₹400-₹500 for the day.
“He broke down and told me that he had lost an entire day of earning. He had taken the rickshaw on rent. I got emotional too. His rickshaw had been at the same spot for an entire day. What is being done by people is wrong…”
The digital exploit has officially caught the attention of the commuters. Unsecured Bluetooth connections allow third parties to completely clear out an e-rickshaw’s digital dashboard display, disabling the ignition until the battery parameters are toggled back on by the app user. Drivers, completely unaware of the digital vulnerability, have reportedly been paying bystanders or mechanics out of pocket to “fix” their suddenly dead vehicles.
The Delhi Transport Department has launched an urgent investigation into the mobile applications BAT-BMS and Epoch Li-ion following a surge in viral pranks that remotely cut power to moving e-rickshaws.
Transport Minister Pankaj Singh and department officials are currently verifying the technical risks of these applications, weighing potential restrictions on unsecured Battery Management Systems (BMS) to preserve commuter safety and protect drivers’ livelihoods.
The ongoing disruption exploits a critical security gap in low-cost, third-party energy systems widely used across the capital’s electric fleet. E-rickshaws fitted with aftermarket, Bluetooth-enabled lithium battery packs that lack adequate authentication or password protection are completely exposed. Factory-secured or proprietary major-brand systems remain safe from interference.
Anyone within a standard 10 to 15-meter Bluetooth range can use the apps to pair directly with the unencrypted battery firmware, triggering the master “discharge” toggle to instantly kill the vehicle’s ignition.
Beyond creating sudden traffic hazards on congested Delhi roads, the digital exploit locks drivers out of their vehicles for hours, forcing vulnerable gig workers to lose their daily wages or pay for unnecessary mechanical towing. (ANI)
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