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Comment by matteotom | Hacker News Reader

If your car has a smart key, it can be over $100 to replace and another $100 to have a dealer or locksmith re-program it.

Edit, more things that are expensive:

- if you live in an apartment with nfc entry, they might charge an arm and a leg to replace it, even if the actual device is only a few dollars

- IDK how much it costs to replace an apartment mailbox key, but I've been warned that if you lose one they need to re-key the whole mailbox

- maybe you don't feel safe with a house key in the wild and need to re-key your house (same for your car/s)

- if you have work keys, they might over-charge to replace lost keys

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> if you live in an apartment with nfc entry, they might charge an arm and a leg to replace it, even if the actual device is only a few dollars

That's just theft — plain and simple. The only half valid argument I've heard is to discourage carelessness leading to loss of the key and weakening of the building security. But that's moot in places where the garage gate is broken and left open half the year (my current place) or where people can casually wait for someone to walk in and tail gate them without anyone complaining.

By the way, I purchased a proxmark a long time ago to play with and to date, it has paid for itself many times over, by allowing me to carry my building keys the way I like to (cards vs bulky key fobs) by duplicating them where otherwise it would cost $100 or impossible.

Can't wait for keys on Apple Wallet to become mainstream.

At first I thought you bought the proxmark with the purpose of dating. Also, how does the proxmark work? Does it store the signal of a card key or something like that?

It reads content of RFID tags. Once you have the content, you can write it onto another tag and essentially duplicate the key.

Some tags are easier to read than others. But so far, with a bit of digging around the net, I've been able to read various key cards and copy them.

Unfortunately, it's accurate. Theft is what I'd call the racket that is management companies in London.

In my case, with a London apartment, it's an "Administrative Fee", £150 to replace your lost fob.

Then for my costs as an individual, it was not only that fee, but also new locks for external door(s) and mail box, another administrative fee for the communal meter cabinet/room key, new Kensington lock and a car key/fob when my wife's keys were "lost in a known location yet never again found".

That is to say, "losing" those keys is a £300-500 affair.

- USB drives

- U2F authentication keys

- really expensive AirTag holders (https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMN73AM/A/airtag-herm%C3%...)

And the AirTag is another $30!

Don't forget the $349 Hermès AirTag holder

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMN73AM/A/airtag-herm%C3%...

To be fair, that includes an AirTag :)

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