How to catch a cloned plate scammer?
Discussion
Thanks to Creation’s valuable help, I now know that the crim’s car has no insurance and have confirmed that it has no road tax or MOT either - along with cloned plates from multiple vehicles, ULEZ fraud, ban-level speeding, bus lane infringements and using a SORNed vehicle’s plates while parked on a public road…
And this is why cloning plates should be a crime. There’s no innocent reason to try to hide your car’s identity.
Now I know the cloned car’s plates, what’s to stop me fitting a set of those to my car and racking up tickets in their name? My car is insured, taxed and MOTed, so I can’t be done for those and cloning plates isn’t technically illegal as far as I can tell. And, my car is ULEZ exempt, while theirs isn’t. So in theory I could rack up ULEZ fines for them while driving my ULEZ exempt car - eg. not actually breaking the law.
Alternatively, how about printing off the cloned car’s original plates and fitting them to it and seeing how long it takes the ‘owner’ to notice? Can fitting a car’s correct plates be classed as illegal tampering?
[For the record, I am NOT going to do any of this, but it’s mighty tempting.]
And this is why cloning plates should be a crime. There’s no innocent reason to try to hide your car’s identity.
Now I know the cloned car’s plates, what’s to stop me fitting a set of those to my car and racking up tickets in their name? My car is insured, taxed and MOTed, so I can’t be done for those and cloning plates isn’t technically illegal as far as I can tell. And, my car is ULEZ exempt, while theirs isn’t. So in theory I could rack up ULEZ fines for them while driving my ULEZ exempt car - eg. not actually breaking the law.
Alternatively, how about printing off the cloned car’s original plates and fitting them to it and seeing how long it takes the ‘owner’ to notice? Can fitting a car’s correct plates be classed as illegal tampering?
[For the record, I am NOT going to do any of this, but it’s mighty tempting.]
The thing is that the car, won't be correctly registered with a V5 in the drivers name, and when he's stopped, he'll make out that he's just bought it and "Omg, I didn't know I'd bought a ringer, I was going to go to the post office on Monday and apply for the V5"
No point in putting the correct reg on the car, as it won't be in his name.
Given everything you now know, the police still don't have evidence that it was the same person that committed all those offences.
They need to put some surveillance on the car and get proof that it's the same person for a sustained period of time.
And they won't, so the slimy t
t will get away with most of it.
No point in putting the correct reg on the car, as it won't be in his name.
Given everything you now know, the police still don't have evidence that it was the same person that committed all those offences.
They need to put some surveillance on the car and get proof that it's the same person for a sustained period of time.
And they won't, so the slimy t
t will get away with most of it. Pit Pony said:
The thing is that the car, won't be correctly registered with a V5 in the drivers name, and when he's stopped, he'll make out that he's just bought it and "Omg, I didn't know I'd bought a ringer, I was going to go to the post office on Monday and apply for the V5"
No point in putting the correct reg on the car, as it won't be in his name.
Given everything you now know, the police still don't have evidence that it was the same person that committed all those offences.
They need to put some surveillance on the car and get proof that it's the same person for a sustained period of time.
And they won't, so the slimy tt will get away with most of it.
You never know, the V5 might lead somewhere useful. The car changed ownership two months ago, so I don’t think they’d get away with that.No point in putting the correct reg on the car, as it won't be in his name.
Given everything you now know, the police still don't have evidence that it was the same person that committed all those offences.
They need to put some surveillance on the car and get proof that it's the same person for a sustained period of time.
And they won't, so the slimy t
t will get away with most of it. Any legitimate way of putting a tracking device on the car? I wouldn’t imagine the police would ignore all of this now…
RoVoFob said:
Thanks to Creation’s valuable help, I now know that the crim’s car has no insurance and have confirmed that it has no road tax or MOT either - along with cloned plates from multiple vehicles, ULEZ fraud, ban-level speeding, bus lane infringements and using a SORNed vehicle’s plates while parked on a public road…
And this is why cloning plates should be a crime. There’s no innocent reason to try to hide your car’s identity.
Now I know the cloned car’s plates, what’s to stop me fitting a set of those to my car and racking up tickets in their name? My car is insured, taxed and MOTed, so I can’t be done for those and cloning plates isn’t technically illegal as far as I can tell. And, my car is ULEZ exempt, while theirs isn’t. So in theory I could rack up ULEZ fines for them while driving my ULEZ exempt car - eg. not actually breaking the law.
Alternatively, how about printing off the cloned car’s original plates and fitting them to it and seeing how long it takes the ‘owner’ to notice? Can fitting a car’s correct plates be classed as illegal tampering?
[For the record, I am NOT going to do any of this, but it’s mighty tempting.]
Glad I could help, hopefully the police take some form of action against this scumbag!And this is why cloning plates should be a crime. There’s no innocent reason to try to hide your car’s identity.
Now I know the cloned car’s plates, what’s to stop me fitting a set of those to my car and racking up tickets in their name? My car is insured, taxed and MOTed, so I can’t be done for those and cloning plates isn’t technically illegal as far as I can tell. And, my car is ULEZ exempt, while theirs isn’t. So in theory I could rack up ULEZ fines for them while driving my ULEZ exempt car - eg. not actually breaking the law.
Alternatively, how about printing off the cloned car’s original plates and fitting them to it and seeing how long it takes the ‘owner’ to notice? Can fitting a car’s correct plates be classed as illegal tampering?
[For the record, I am NOT going to do any of this, but it’s mighty tempting.]
I have to add, you have shown a lot more restraint than I would of in this situation.
RoVoFob said:
Thanks to Creation’s valuable help, I now know that the crim’s car has no insurance and have confirmed that it has no road tax or MOT either - along with cloned plates from multiple vehicles, ULEZ fraud, ban-level speeding, bus lane infringements and using a SORNed vehicle’s plates while parked on a public road…
And this is why cloning plates should be a crime. There’s no innocent reason to try to hide your car’s identity.
Now I know the cloned car’s plates, what’s to stop me fitting a set of those to my car and racking up tickets in their name? My car is insured, taxed and MOTed, so I can’t be done for those and cloning plates isn’t technically illegal as far as I can tell. And, my car is ULEZ exempt, while theirs isn’t. So in theory I could rack up ULEZ fines for them while driving my ULEZ exempt car - eg. not actually breaking the law.
Alternatively, how about printing off the cloned car’s original plates and fitting them to it and seeing how long it takes the ‘owner’ to notice? Can fitting a car’s correct plates be classed as illegal tampering?
[For the record, I am NOT going to do any of this, but it’s mighty tempting.]
One thing I find staggering is that plate cloning is not a crime! However, with all the other things like no MOT/tax/insurance that is a crime so can you not pass that on to the police, wouldn't they have to act on that kind of info?And this is why cloning plates should be a crime. There’s no innocent reason to try to hide your car’s identity.
Now I know the cloned car’s plates, what’s to stop me fitting a set of those to my car and racking up tickets in their name? My car is insured, taxed and MOTed, so I can’t be done for those and cloning plates isn’t technically illegal as far as I can tell. And, my car is ULEZ exempt, while theirs isn’t. So in theory I could rack up ULEZ fines for them while driving my ULEZ exempt car - eg. not actually breaking the law.
Alternatively, how about printing off the cloned car’s original plates and fitting them to it and seeing how long it takes the ‘owner’ to notice? Can fitting a car’s correct plates be classed as illegal tampering?
[For the record, I am NOT going to do any of this, but it’s mighty tempting.]
Creation said:
Glad I could help, hopefully the police take some form of action against this scumbag!
I have to add, you have shown a lot more restraint than I would of in this situation.
Had planned to track the car down again this evening and then march to the nearest police station and give them allllll the details, but am currently in A&E, so maybe tomorrow!I have to add, you have shown a lot more restraint than I would of in this situation.
Should the police not take action, though, I might have to go and nuke the damn thing!
Mr-B said:
One thing I find staggering is that plate cloning is not a crime! However, with all the other things like no MOT/tax/insurance that is a crime so can you not pass that on to the police, wouldn't they have to act on that kind of info?
I'm planning to give the police all the new details. Just want to see if I can find the car again, as I imagine they're much more likely to act if I can say the car was in a specific place within the last hour...Paddymcc said:
If this had been my plates with all that hassle I'd have been tempted to leave the car inoperable for the tt.
If they can't afford an MOT, Tax or insurance then replacing 4 tyres would be a stretch for them too.
I don’t think this comes down to not being able to afford MOT, tax or insurance. It’s a choice, I imagine. Just like they chose to drive at 67mph in a 30mph zone and drive down bus lanes with someone else’s number plates on.t.If they can't afford an MOT, Tax or insurance then replacing 4 tyres would be a stretch for them too.
RoVoFob said:
CoolHands said:
You won’t get any justice so go back and set fire to it
OK. I’m on it 
RoVoFob said:
So, after a little sleuthing, I’ve found the car with cloned plates, have the location, VIN, new plates it’s now on and have confirmed that they’ve cloned someone else’s car and have the new clonee’s contact details, as their car is up for sale. Is all policing stuff this easy? 
Can the DVLA track the owner/establish what the plates should be from the VIN?
Maybe this self-solving thread is some payback to the PH gods for my endless, lumbering ‘Recommend-me-a-car-that’s-exactly-like-an-Audi-S4-but-isn’t-an-Audi-S4’ posts
Set it on fire.Can the DVLA track the owner/establish what the plates should be from the VIN?
Maybe this self-solving thread is some payback to the PH gods for my endless, lumbering ‘Recommend-me-a-car-that’s-exactly-like-an-Audi-S4-but-isn’t-an-Audi-S4’ posts
Edited by RoVoFob on Tuesday 20th June 01:25
How about different number plates front and back. Yours on one end, leave the other end with another cloned plate. Then quickly tell the police - "there's this car parked on XXX street that has different front and back number plates.
But, then they'll know someone has cottoned on to it if the police don't do anything.
But, then they'll know someone has cottoned on to it if the police don't do anything.
RoVoFob said:
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.
CoolHands said:
Basically, unless the vehicle is taken out, nothing will happen. It needs to be made inoperable. I’m not suggesting you do this but that’s the way things need to be dealt with nowadays as there is no justice.
Well, sadly I couldn't find it this time. Maybe they've torched it or moved onto the next set of illicit wheels.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff