Devious motorists who turn to car cloning, in a bid to outwit police automated number plate recognition systems, are increasingly becoming a menace to law abiding used car owners, warns vehicle history check expert, HPI.
Predominantly, a car is cloned to disguise the identity of a stolen car which is sold on for a quick buck. However, petty criminals are now cloning cars to avoid parking fines and speeding tickets, whilst organised gangs are using them to commit more serious crimes.
Increasing numbers of legitimate cars owners are reporting hefty fines they never incurred or have faced unwelcome visits by the police as a result of their vehicle being cloned.
Car cloning is just like personal identity theft but for cars. Criminal gangs mask the true identity of a vehicle by giving it a false Vehicle Registration Number (VRM) often that of a similar make and model car legitimately on the road. Whilst this is causing trouble for the owners of the cars that have been cloned, used car buyers who innocently purchase a stolen vehicle that has been given a false identity, will lose the car and their hard earned money when it’s returned to the legal owner by the police.
