Fake plates scam - buying a clone of your own

Published Jun 6, 2006

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London, England - Car cloning is big business and it's getting bigger. Police and motoring experts are becoming increasingly alarmed at the rapid rise in vehicle-identity theft that is helping to finance organised crime in drugs, human trafficking and even terrorism.

Last week Stephen Ladyman, Britain's roads minister, announced the introduction of "theft-proof" number-plates intended to crack down on car crime and reduce the estimated 33 000 plates stolen during 2004.

The new plates, expected to be available towards the end of 2006, are said to be resistant to theft and have been designed in response to the growing problem.

Many such crimes go unreported as victims either dismiss their loss as vandalism or don't feel it's worth reporting. However, for some, the loss of a number-plate is just the beginning of a nightmare as they start receiving speeding tickets or parking fines from places they - and the car - have never been.

Cloning is where criminals either steal or copy the number plate from a legitimate vehicle and attach it to an identical one which is then either sold to an unsuspecting buyer or used in other crimes ranging from the theft of fuel from filling stations and avoidance of congestion charges to armed robbery and drugs deals.

Cloning can also be used to mask a vehicle illegally put back on the road after a crash. It is estimated that, at some time, one in six motorists has bought a "cut-and-shunt" - two cars welded together and sold as one.

"We're seeing a lot more cloning these days," says Phil Swift of Claims Management and Adjusting which specialises in vehicle theft investigation. "There's a lot of money to be made by crooks.

"About five years ago around 500 000 cars a year were stolen in Britain. The police did a cracking job and we got about 70 percent back but that still meant about 150 000 cars were never seen again.

"Now the number of stolen vehicles is down to about 360 000 a year but police are recovering less than half of them. We are still losing about 180 000 a year which we never see again.

"Car security has improved so fewer are being stolen but, if we are getting fewer back, where are they all going? Breaking for parts accounts for some and a few are possibly exported so most are probably being cloned."

Somebody duped every day

UK police estimate there are thousands of cloned cars on Britain's roads but, because the only way of confirming the identity of each one is to compare the licence plate with the vehicle identification number (VIN) on the chassis - which the more sophisticated crooks will also attempt to forge - the scam is almost impossible to expose.

Roger Powell, general manager of My Car Check, one of the UK's leading vehicle-data agencies, says there is not a day goes by without people being duped.

"Often people pay thousands for a new car only to find it has been stolen and given a false identity," he said. He recently heard of a car that appeared to have been cloned at least 14 times.

"The only way to check is to make sure the registration plate matches the Vehicle Identification Number on the chassis and elsewhere."

Chassis codes have 17 letters and numbers and at least the last four are unique to a vehicle. My Car Check is the only company to provide the last four digits of a car's VIN to help buyers check thoroughly.

Internet dealing makes it worse

"If there are fewer or more than 17 characters, or if there is any suggestion the numbers have been tampered with in any way, people should immediately be suspicious," says Powell, whose company uses data supplied by the DVLA, the police and the Association of British Insurers to confirm the identity and history of vehicles.

The huge growth in Internet trading has made the problem worse as more cars are sold on a national, rather than local, level, making it harder for police to trace a "clone" that has been sold.

As a result, gangs operating throughout the UK are believed to be making fortunes from the scams.

"Some buyers find it very hard to resist a luxury car offered at two-thirds its book value," says Detective Inspector Jim Henderson, head of Strathclyde Police's stolen-car unit.

"We recently heard of a Porsche worth around £70 000 that was sold for £8 000. People are so keen to get a bargain that they leave their brains at home, often agreeing to buy a car from somebody in a hotel car park or a back street," he added.

"Sometimes victims take out loans to buy the cars and end up losing everything while the crooks run off with the money." - The Independent, London

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