Cars, Cops & Criminals!

Firestar_3x · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:03

Not sure if anyone had chance to catch this show last night, very good insight into the latest scams, it even covers the V5 thefts and how crims are selling on stolen cars using this method. It also touches on the ever heated debate of hiding your number plate if you post your car on-line!

Well worth a watch, I look forward to the impending should i hide my number plate when posting a picture of my car or not comments. The evidence in the show clearly states that gangs trawl the internet (Pistonheads was the example in the show) and take down numberplates and use them on another car for crimes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qyq33/Cars_Cops_and_Criminals_Against_the_Odds/

bad_ass_neil · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:09

yea good program, i thought it was just going to be another repeat, but i was quite surprised when i flicked it on and it was a new program. I feel sorry for the guy in the a3 with the dodge v5 but them stickers on the vin plates were very lame.

fonzee · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:13

was very impressed with the Swedish system, no wonder car crime over there is so low

MikeHiow · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:14

Any mention of using askmid illegally? :rolleyes:

Firestar_3x · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:17

fonzee said:
was very impressed with the Swedish system, no wonder car crime over there is so low

Its better than our system but it still has issues, nothing is stopping someone cloning that plate and dumping it on another car which looks the same, saying they can control the production of the plates is stupid, a gang could get one of those knocked up in china for 50p.

I laughed at that "designer" at the end who is dealing with the problem, he didn't seem to have a clue.

I'd have RF tags embeded into each car, when the cops car reads the numberplate it would reference it against the RF tag in the car, if they don't match pull it over. All you need to do is secure the production of the RF tags, it could even be part of the immobiliser.

InvaderGIR · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:27

I'm just watching it now on iPlayer on Virgin, it's an interesting show, last week's with the Trucks and Caravans was good, this weeks looks good so far too.

I like that they give all sorts of information and don't just do high speed chases, like saying about ANPR being first implemented in NI for tracking the movement of the vehicles.

Billy 2 Sips · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:30

MikeHiow said:
Any mention of using askmid illegally?

Yes it's biggest problem the police force face. Worse than all motoring offences put together.

Dup · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:31

The designer at the end said we couldn't do the Swedish system, then went on to suggest his suggestive ideas which were... the Swedish system.

Never been bothered about posting my plate online really, but it is clearly an issue. Having a Monaro cloned seemed like an odd choice considering the rarity but it seems nobody is safe from it. Reckon having a private plate would possibly deter them?

The thin woman with black hair was irritating "OK, oh OK OH OK OKOKOK HARR HARR". A lot of the time the officers didn't seem to have much of a clue and it took a lot of man power to solve the most basic problems. The dude with all the cash was an odd one too, rental car for a day at the races with a wad of cash. They were right to be suspicious but I think they missed the boat with that one. Didn't add up.

Firestar_3x · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:35

Dup said:
The designer at the end said we couldn't do the Swedish system, then went on to suggest his suggestive ideas which were... the Swedish system.

Never been bothered about posting my plate online really, but it is clearly an issue. Having a Monaro cloned seemed like an odd choice considering the rarity but it seems nobody is safe from it. Reckon having a private plate would possibly deter them?

Couple of things i'd do, if i was that guy i'd change my plate for another, that means the old plate hits wouldn't point to my car and i'd stop getting pulled over.

If you have something on your car thats not standard (say in the back window or front window), you can prove easy enough that it wasn't your car caught on CCTV / London Congestion Fees.

Siliconslave · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:40

Firestar_3x said:
I'd have RF tags embeded into each car, when the cops car reads the numberplate it would reference it against the RF tag in the car, if they don't match pull it over. All you need to do is secure the production of the RF tags, it could even be part of the immobiliser.

Its not a bad idea (if you ignore the range issue) but at the end of the day the RFID would be a cracked and copied - hell if the government did it they'd probably broadcast the VIN or similar in plain text with no encryption.

Ultimately its just the same as any high use "public" secure system, someone will get round it in time with enough motivation. All that the enhanced security systems on cars has lead to is breaking and entering for the keys, chip and pin just upped the anti on the tech needed to clone the cards (didn't last long that did it?) new securer OSs / virus protection needs constant updates to keep up with the threat levels.

Theres not really an answer thats going to be a lasting solution

MikeHiow · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:51

What annoys me is how there are these people who repeatedly get pulled over because their plates have been cloned.

Why the **** haven't they been onto the DVLA to issue them a new plate? Failing that, I'd be buying the cheapest £250 private plate I could find, just to save the hassle.

kefkef · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:56

bad_ass_neil said:
I feel sorry for the guy in the a3 with the dodge v5 but them stickers on the vin plates were very lame.

My mate has been scammed by the stolen V5's. LR Freelander, RAC vehicle check and also another text check company were used, neither picked up that the V5 was dodgy. He shelled out £19k (i think, though it was a few months ago now) for the car. Insurance wont pay out as it is cloned (though to rub salt in the wounds, they said they would have paid out if the vehicle had been robbed off his drive before finding out is was cloned). This was back in October/November, they have only just been to see the car in the Police compund and are working out a buy back value to see if he wants it back.

Checked on taking the DVLA to court over the stolen V5's but was told that he wouldnt be likely to win his case.

shifty_uk · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:11

I haven't read the thread but I have just watched this on iPlayer which has led me to a slight worry:

Last week whilst in Glasgow at night on our way home, a group of Asian guys strolled onto the road incredibly casually which resulted in a Ford Fiesta and myself having to stop dead in the road. :confused:

The guy nodded but as we drove away they took pictures(we saw the flash) of the back of the car. When we stopped at the traffic lights we saw them discreetly taking pictures of the cars profile?

My GF was overly worried incase of theft, robbery or anything similar but I managed to calm her down and assure her it was fine?

miniyazz · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:19

But who the hell pays £10k in cash? :confused:

Still, it's ridiculous that you can't be sure you're buying a legit car without peeling off stickers and suchlike.

MikeHiow · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:32

Just spotted something else that ****ed me off -

The ***** claiming that there is an insurance policy on the vehicle that entitles anyone to drive it - the stupid bint claiming he needs his own policy for that to apply needs to learn what she's trying to police.

InvaderGIR · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:32

miniyazz said:
But who the hell pays £10k in cash?

Still, it's ridiculous that you can't be sure you're buying a legit car without peeling off stickers and suchlike.

A lot of people, not much different from a BT and a lot of sellers feel safer about it (as most people seem to think you can reverse a BT).

Well considering there shouldn't be a sticker on the VIN I think that's perfectly allowable, although to be honest, if you see a sticker on a VIN, walk away.

MikeHiow said:
Just spotted something else that ****ed me off -

The ***** claiming that there is an insurance policy on the vehicle that entitles anyone to drive it - the stupid bint claiming he needs his own policy for that to apply needs to learn what she's trying to police.

The van was sold prior to his policy starting, so it was in leway between policies. It was on a trade policy, then he bought it and his insurance didn't start on it till the next day. She was perfectly within her rights to say he didn't have insurance, as he didn't.

Settleddown · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:38

miniyazz said:
But who the hell pays £10k in cash?

Still, it's ridiculous that you can't be sure you're buying a legit car without peeling off stickers and suchlike.

My dad travelled down south around 300 miles to buy a car for £14k in cash, was bought from an army base.

I know a lot of people who pay cash, makes it easier in many ways. No loans etc...

Good show last night, was shocked at the size of the task force

Some serious man power there.

MikeHiow · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:42

InvaderGIR said:
The van was sold prior to his policy starting, so it was in leway between policies. It was on a trade policy, then he bought it and his insurance didn't start on it till the next day. She was perfectly within her rights to say he didn't have insurance, as he didn't.

From what I understood, he was first telling her that the van was insured, by the previous owner to be driven by anyone over the age of 25. I thought the traders policy was his?

I had a similar policy on my Luton, except the minimum age was 21, and it did not matter if the driver had their own insurance policy or not, just that they had a valid licence with less than six points (Over was possible with pre-approval).

InvaderGIR · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:45

Yeah, key point being was insured. It was sold, therefore isn't part of the trader's policy any more is what I took it to be (and presumably so did she). The policy was his father's from what I understood too.

MikeHiow · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:48

Yes, so the traders policy was his fathers, and the previous owners policy was just an 'any driver' policy.

If (and she didn't check, she just stated he needed his own policy to make it valid) she had checked the policy, it may not have stipulated the registered owner, in which case would have been valid. Or of course, the previous owner could have loaned the van to him for a day