Santa Clara Student Finds FBI Tracking Device on His Car

It sounds like something ripped from a movie script. Man finds suspicious device under car, tells his friends about it then gets a visit from gun-wielding FBI agents in black SUVs.

That's the snapshot version of what recently happened to a student in Santa Clara -- minus the Hollywood glitz.

Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old business marketing student at Mission College in Santa Clara, recently took his car to an auto mechanic for an oil change. When the mechanic raised the car on the garage's lift, Afifi saw something that raised his alarm.

There it was, behind the right rear wheel and exhaust -- a device with a wire sticking out. The mechanic was able to pull the device off of the car with no trouble, as it was only attached to the chassis with a magnet. Afifi was surprised to see the wire revealed a battery pack and transmitter.

Afifi, a U.S. born Egyptian-American, showed the device to his friend, Khaled, who snapped pictures of it and posted them on Reddit.com. They asked if anyone recognized the device and whether it meant the FBI was after them. [link to www.nbcbayarea.com]