How to catch a cloned plate scammer?

I always think why not just do this myself. I have a garage and live on a private road so unlikely to get caught at home and all tickets fines etc will come to my house.

Just buy two cars same model colour and spec and sorn one of them.

Benefit is on one lot of road fund license and if feeling thrift only one lot of car insurance.

Obviously wouldn’t do it, but surprised if no one else is!

Picked up a set of number plates on my way home from work and have fitted them to my car.
Now to inform the insurance company, breakdown company, warranty policy & my car dealer where it's always been serviced.
Oh, and I forgot that I need to buy two more rear plates for my trailer and caravan.
This has been an expensive experience considering I've done nowt wrong!

Completely agree, things like this have moved from only criminals thinking about it and doing it, to the normal law abiding chap thinking about it.

Next step is for more and more actually doing it.

I’d imagine Autotrader is the main source for cloned plate criminals, since they can filter for make, model, colour, fuel etc. that’s where my car was cloned from and the next one whose plates were put on the criminal’s car.

eBay has one of the most dysfunctional search platforms on the internet for cars - even with tonnes of filters selected, most of the cars shown for me are typically the wrong make, model, engine etc!

Think I’ll blank out the plate when I next sell a car but type it out in the text, so that genuine buyers can read the ad and check out the MOT history, but criminals will probably not spot the registration.

This ^. If I'm looking to buy a car and the reg is blanked out then I'll ignore it and move onto the ads where they are visible. I'm certainly not going to waste time opening the ad to read the description on the remote chance the reg has been typed out. It's a pointless exercise even blanking it for cloning reasons as the seller has to give you the reg when you make an enquiry to check (eg.) the MOT history, and making such an enquiry takes approx 10 seconds via the contact button. Only an idiot seller would refuse to give you the reg.

I see a lot of dealers do this, putting their company name on a reg plate and then clipping them over the real reg plates. They must enjoy spending half their day answering the phone to people asking for the reg plate so they can do MOT and HPI checks. Clowns.

Have you had a plate cloned before and had to deal with the resultant hassle? It’s not pointless. That’s only true if the car sells quickly. My cloning issues started after I’d advertised the car and they were practically resolved by the time it sold.

You’re also assuming that criminals will phone up to ask about the reg: if you move onto other cars at that stage rather than phone up for the plate then cloners looking for a suitable plate to clone will no doubt do the same, which would protect advertisers from having their cars cloned, as intended.

Any serious buyer should be willing to spend 20 seconds looking through an ad description to gauge whether the car appeals. Those that can’t be bothered to read the ad and book to arrange to see the car without talking to you first are the ones in my experience who don’t turn up or suddenly complain that the tax is too high and pull out.

It can be wise for sellers to filter out potential ‘buyers’ just like buyers do with sellers…

My X3 was cloned and involved in a hit & run in Kent. First I knew about it was a police letter. Thankfully I was in Camden and had a parking ticket for an hour or so before although could have got to the crime scene if the roads were completely clear which they never are! If I hadn’t had that ticket lying about in footwell I’d have been stuffed.

I wonder if they would be less likely to clone a personal plate as it is more memorable? Modern plates are a complete jumble. If you are out doing crime would a standard plate be less conspicuous?

Well done OP on locating the car. I find it amusing, however, all the comments along the lines of “I wouldn’t be so self restrained, I would have burnt the fker’s car!” But how many people would actually do anything at all? As tempting as it would be to do something, in this day and age with CCTV everywhere etc before you know it you could be at the other end of fighting a criminal charge, you’re job at risk, etc. And perpetrators are often the biggest scum when turning the tables and then playing victim.

Weird. You are limiting your search options massively if a visible reg plate is one of your main criteria. Reading this thread ought to make it obvious why sellers obscure the reg. It's only in the dregs of the market where it is being used to hide something.