We all worry about our cars being stolen when we leave them in notorious areas, but have you ever considered the possibility that your car could be cloned? It's the vehicle equivalent of identity theft, and the police estimate that there are as many as ten thousand cloned cars on our roads. Criminals clone the cars by making a replica of our car number plates, and then replicate the car in the same colour, registration, make and model.
They way it works is that when people notice their number plates have been stolen, they often go to the expense of getting them replaced, but are unaware that their entire vehicle may have been cloned. The vehicle will then be used for crimes such as unpaid parking tickets, speeding, or driving off the petrol station forecourt without paying for the petrol, a practice which is on the rise and highly important to the police. People often only realise they have been a victim of the crime when they start to get parking tickets and notices through the post.
To combat this type of theft, make sure that you report it straight to the police of you have your number plates stolen, and get a crime reference number to provide if you get any further repercussions. Keep a diary of where you were in the days after the plates were stolen so you can prove that actually it wasn't you that violated the traffic conventions.
If you are driving on the roads in Britain, make sure that you have valid Car Insurance.
