How to catch a cloned plate scammer?
Discussion
donkmeister said:
Whilst it would be tempting to start nicking the cloners plates from time to time, any chance of asking a local police station (if such a thing still exists in your area) if they can come down and have a look? If not, what about the PCC, seeing as they love anything that makes it look like they are doing something worthwhile.
Had a look at the time and couldn’t find one but have done since. Might try that if the police don’t do anything…Ian Geary said:
I couldn't believe using false plates isn't against the law, so googled it quickly.
Loads of info about £1k fines for incorrect spacing or characters, but nothing about using a (legal) plate that isn't your vehicle's reg.
It is indeed ridiculous, the guy doing it is a scumbag, but then you think he's saving a load of cash and can obviously sleep at night...
I get the police have resource constraints, but my Facebook is full of tvp or Mercia police etc pulling car with show plates, making a big deal about how safe they're making the roads. It seems traf pol still go for low hanging fruit.
I can feel a petition coming on.Loads of info about £1k fines for incorrect spacing or characters, but nothing about using a (legal) plate that isn't your vehicle's reg.
It is indeed ridiculous, the guy doing it is a scumbag, but then you think he's saving a load of cash and can obviously sleep at night...
I get the police have resource constraints, but my Facebook is full of tvp or Mercia police etc pulling car with show plates, making a big deal about how safe they're making the roads. It seems traf pol still go for low hanging fruit.
Seems like something of a gateway crime that needs to be acted upon. I imagine having a car parked on the road with SORNed (cloned) plates or ULEZ evasion might get the police to look into this more seriously than the actual plate cloning. Hence why I’ve spelled out all the offences for the police so they can take their pick and hopefully act on one of them.
Can’t think of any legitimate reason why you’d put cloned plates on your car bar show plates on private land, which is pretty easy to distinguish from everyday cloners.
vikingaero said:
If there's a car with my registration on it, then I would probably be a t
t and rip the plates off the car. After all it's "my reg"? What's the scammer going to do? "Officer that mean man, ripped his cloned plates off my car".
Did think about it, but car is already on the next set of cloned plates. If you went with a screwdriver - just in case - you can be sure you’d get charged with ‘going equipped’ for something. The law really does seem to be weighted in criminals’ favour half the time…t and rip the plates off the car. After all it's "my reg"? What's the scammer going to do? "Officer that mean man, ripped his cloned plates off my car".Mercdriver said:
Why not suggest to the police the car may not be insured? If he is driving on a cloned plate he has no need to insure it as it will show up on dvla as insured by you
Agreed. Have done that and spelled out how the police should be able to establish whether the car’s insured, taxed and MOT’d from the VIN, as well as who the registered keeper is and where they live (in theory, at least).The fact the car is now on SORNed plates might cause it more immediate problems in terms of being stopped. Here’s hoping.
I had a one year old golf R (2018) from a vw dealer, about 2 weeks after I got it I was stopped by a marked up police car and informed that my plate was cloned, he told me that if I got any fines etc just to go to the police and explain and they would deal with them.
He also said that the cloners often drive around dealers stock taking photos to choose which plates to clone.
The next day I went to the dealership and they made up plates for my private plates and fitted them free of charge and I went online to dvla and assigned the plate to the golf.
He also said that the cloners often drive around dealers stock taking photos to choose which plates to clone.
The next day I went to the dealership and they made up plates for my private plates and fitted them free of charge and I went online to dvla and assigned the plate to the golf.
RoVoFob said:
RazerSauber said:
Would removing the fake plates from the cloned vehicle be a good idea since you know where it is? Destructively or not, at least your plate is removed.
They’ve progressed from my plates onto some more cloned ones now.Wonder if you can claim ‘ownership’ of a number plate and remove it, even from someone else’s car, if it’s on the road…?
vikingaero said:
If there's a car with my registration on it, then I would probably be a tt and rip the plates off the car. After all it's "my reg"? What's the scammer going to do? "Officer that mean man, ripped his cloned plates off my car".
He wouldn’t go to the police, he’d just stab you or beat you to a pulp with a baseball bat if he caught you. t and rip the plates off the car. After all it's "my reg"? What's the scammer going to do? "Officer that mean man, ripped his cloned plates off my car".Are all the plates used so far just off AT? Or might they also be looking on more anonymous, free selling platforms like Gumtree? I’m thinkink fake adverts for the right model and colour with photoshopped plates from completely different makes, models and colours. They clone them without checking then get pinged wearing a plate for a red Astra or whatever. Might be a lot of effort but if someone has the skills, time and inclination…
Unfortunately I’m not volunteering as I can’t do picture editing or I’d be happy to do some!
Unfortunately I’m not volunteering as I can’t do picture editing or I’d be happy to do some!
Robberto said:
Are all the plates used so far just off AT? Or might they also be looking on more anonymous, free selling platforms like Gumtree? I’m thinkink fake adverts for the right model and colour with photoshopped plates from completely different makes, models and colours. They clone them without checking then get pinged wearing a plate for a red Astra or whatever. Might be a lot of effort but if someone has the skills, time and inclination…
Unfortunately I’m not volunteering as I can’t do picture editing or I’d be happy to do some!
Just thought this through, that’ll mean some other poor fUnfortunately I’m not volunteering as I can’t do picture editing or I’d be happy to do some!
ker starts getting tickets. Number plates from Copart/scrappies might work though?Stevorocket said:
I had a one year old golf R (2018) from a vw dealer, about 2 weeks after I got it I was stopped by a marked up police car and informed that my plate was cloned, he told me that if I got any fines etc just to go to the police and explain and they would deal with them.
He also said that the cloners often drive around dealers stock taking photos to choose which plates to clone.
The next day I went to the dealership and they made up plates for my private plates and fitted them free of charge and I went online to dvla and assigned the plate to the golf.
How did they know your car was the one that had been cloned?He also said that the cloners often drive around dealers stock taking photos to choose which plates to clone.
The next day I went to the dealership and they made up plates for my private plates and fitted them free of charge and I went online to dvla and assigned the plate to the golf.
Dogwatch said:
Interesting exercise for the miscreant in trying to prove that plates with the number for another car that he has no connection with actually belong to him. “I wuz robbed officer!”
Indeed. Didn’t have that dilemma in the end, since the crim has progressed into the next set of plates…
Robberto said:
Are all the plates used so far just off AT? Or might they also be looking on more anonymous, free selling platforms like Gumtree? I’m thinkink fake adverts for the right model and colour with photoshopped plates from completely different makes, models and colours. They clone them without checking then get pinged wearing a plate for a red Astra or whatever. Might be a lot of effort but if someone has the skills, time and inclination…
Unfortunately I’m not volunteering as I can’t do picture editing or I’d be happy to do some!
The two I know about are both on AT. The new clonee came up pretty much top once you add the colour filter,Unfortunately I’m not volunteering as I can’t do picture editing or I’d be happy to do some!
If anyone wants to buy my car, I’ll keep the ad up and Photoshop on some plates from a Chiron.
Spoke to a council parking person yesterday who told me they had a Lamborghini driving around on Peugeot 205 plates recently. Imagine that was relatively conspicuous…
Robberto said:
Just thought this through, that’ll mean some other poor fker starts getting tickets. Number plates from Copart/scrappies might work though?
Surely the apt thing to do would be to find the registration for the car with cloned plates fitted and chalk up fines for that.ker starts getting tickets. Number plates from Copart/scrappies might work though?No doubt it has no insurance, MOT or tax, so getting a knackered s
tbox and parking that on the road with their plate might do the job…?RoVoFob said:
Someone must be able to find out the plate with the VIN.
Thought it was a ULEZ dodge, too, but the current cloned plates fitted are from another non-ULEZ diesel, so maybe not. Or they’re stupid. Absolutely, I’m 99% sure there won’t be insurance, road tax or MOT.
Not sure why the police auto-response is so, ‘Yeah, cloned plates are fine, don’t-worry-about-it’. Imagine someone will sit up and take some notice if I’ve done most of the homework for them and they can see multiple crimes stacking up.
Lightbulbfun, on autosThought it was a ULEZ dodge, too, but the current cloned plates fitted are from another non-ULEZ diesel, so maybe not. Or they’re stupid. Absolutely, I’m 99% sure there won’t be insurance, road tax or MOT.
Not sure why the police auto-response is so, ‘Yeah, cloned plates are fine, don’t-worry-about-it’. Imagine someone will sit up and take some notice if I’ve done most of the homework for them and they can see multiple crimes stacking up.
te.comRoVoFob said:
andyA700 said:
I don't know how to solve the problems of cloned plates, but I do know there have been around a dozen thefts of plates over the past few months in my large village.
Actual physical plates being stolen? I find this weird. The criminals are then opening themselves up to easy-to-prove theft claims, surely…blueg33 said:
I am about to confess something that only my childhood best mate knows
When we around the age of 10, we went down our street and switched the number plates on about 20 cars. Some were still wrong a couple of years later, especially where the model and colour were the same - I recall Hillman Avenger in white x 2 and brown Ford Cortina x 2 that took a while to notice
We didnt do that.When we around the age of 10, we went down our street and switched the number plates on about 20 cars. Some were still wrong a couple of years later, especially where the model and colour were the same - I recall Hillman Avenger in white x 2 and brown Ford Cortina x 2 that took a while to notice
We just swapped all the wipers to different cars.
Big cars got mini wipers, mini wipers onto big cars
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