[Ian Clark]

The plates are very basic. Just a strip of white or yellow plastic with plastic numbers and letters stuck to it or printed on it. No security stamps or anything.

Once you have registered a car the plate is pretty much tied to that car though if necessary I am sure you can have the car Re-Registered however the costs are extremely high.

[ONED]

.........and I just went to the bother of removing the numbers off Doras plate on a pic I posted on the MtM thread!!!


...............as if anyones gonna clone APPLE!!

[SoggyCornFlakes]

Quote: Originally Posted by gezmedinger

The car cloning thing seems to make sense... but what's to stop someone on the street seeing your car and writing down your number plate? It's not like a search on google for Black Mini Cooper is going to bring up pictures of your car on mini2 is it?

Search - black mini cooper mini2 and then more results from .....


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...cooper +mini2

Unfortunately the cloners like to sit in a nice warm office with a cup of coffee and do it the easy way

4 clicks and I've got this http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/picture28672.html

[Restyle]

I just checked on mine & did a Google Image search for "Mini2 & Restyle"
Errr ... Sorry Jesus Fans, Will I ever be Forgiven
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl...le&btnG=Search

[gezmedinger]

I'd just like to dig myself about 3cm out of my hole by saying that I was thinking about posting pics inside threads (like I've done b4) rather than in personal galleries where there's descriptions of the car that are going to come up on google...
Still, point taken!!

[SoggyCornFlakes]

lol - no hole intended for you

<----- offers hand down and lifts gezmedinger out again

[dino_smith]

When I last went to get a new number plate made for an MOT I needed to produce my drivers license, car log book & current insurance in order to get 1 made, surely doesn't this stop your average scum bag from cloning your plate?

[scooperman_uk]

it also allows a certain degree of anonymity for your car. having had cars trashed and smashed up through vandalism im rather cautious in showing my number plate. say no more...

[ONED]

Quote: Originally Posted by dino_smith

When I last went to get a new number plate made for an MOT I needed to produce my drivers license, car log book & current insurance in order to get 1 made, surely doesn't this stop your average scum bag from cloning your plate?

You can walk into any Motorfactors over here and get em made no questions asked!

About £9 a set!

[ROOBRYJ]

In response to Dino's reply-the idea is it DOES stop scumbags cloning plates because sooner or later you wont be able to walk into just "anywhere" and have a plate made up.

The people that are supplying number plates without seeing Logbooks etc etc ARE breaking the LAW and do need reporting-either to the DVLA or to your local Police Traffic department Intelligence Unit.

The machines that make the plates all now have to be registered. I think that the supplier of the letters and the numbers only also now supply to registered people (Im not 100% on this)

Why? Because the big traders as of January this year are now Governed by the new laws from the DVLA to prevent the likes of Car cloning. The idea behind it is purely to prevent car thieves and cloners from seeing a car (in a picture as mentioned here) and writing it down...popping off to his mate Dave and knocking up a Front and Rear plate for him to go and steal the same make/model/colour and subseqyuently create a "copy" which when checked on the Police National Computer simply comes back as a car with no lost or stolen reports on it....however under the skin of that cloned car (which is wearing Daves knocked up copied plates) is in fact a stolen car wearing a stolen chassis number-which depending on whether they are a handy firm of thieves or not may or may not of been cloned/changed as well. This is why Police now put Information reports on cars records if their number plates are stolen.

New number plates have to (by law) show the dealer/store and Postcode that made the plate up along the bottom......if they have not got this...the likelyhood is a keen Police officer with trained eye will tug it to make sure it all checks out and it is not wearing a knocked up or stolen set of plates...

With regards to the showing of number plates, well thats down to being sensible. It costs nothing to remove them from your pictures...but SO much more should your car be cloned or even at worse stolen....

Car cloners can be clever and create new identities very easily....you just need to make sure you do everything in your power to prevent the scum from getting away with it.

Simple rule. If someone in the UK is knocking out dodgy plates-be it knowing they are breaking the law or not knowing...they need stopping now! They may not be bothered who they are selling the plates too and may not even suspect criminal activity but it is BIG business in the criminal world...one of a few things you can anonimously help to clamp down on.

SMART
Stop Motorcrime And Ring Today.
Almost everyone has had their car broken into or stolen, but since 1997 over 9,334 calls to Crimestoppers has led to over 3,629 arrests for these offences. SMART provides an anonymous means for the 2,700 daily car victims to call with any information.

www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Roobryj

[ONED]

The manufacturing of number plates isn't governed over here in N Ireland!
Separate Acts need to be passed for here, although I don't thing Cloning is as big a problem over here! - Yet!

[maxsendq]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian Clark

The easiest way is to get something like Paint Shop Pro 7 (8 is awful). Using either the Selection tool or free hand selection, surround the characters and use Gaussian blur to blur out the plate.

There are some other free applications out there that can do it for you as well.

As mentioned, you can't stop the normal person on the street taking your plate number down but the Internet is a resource for all and I'd rather my plate not be available to view on the web.. as mentioned, it's just one preventative measure

Useful titbit, I was about to upgrade to PSP 8

Thanks.

[northandy]

i noticed at the weekend when I passed a salvage yard, even they now tape over plates of damaged cars so they cant be seen from the roadside... again done to stop cloning

[Kurtster]

Can somone explain in everyday terms what cloning a car means? Aside from the fact that cars have no DNA...do you mean I should be concerened that people with another IB MINI Cooper S with a Union Jack on its roof, might see my plate online, then craft (or have someone illegally create for them) an identical license plate, just so that they can break the law with someone elses (mine in this case) identity?

If I undersand this correctly, criminals want to pretend to be me when they commit their crimes in a new MINI. I still don't get it. Once anyone's pulled over with plates like mine, the cops are going to say "Can I see your ID ?" and unless they've also comitted identity fraud and cloned my driver's license and home adress, etc. they aren't going to get very far.

I show my plates online and will continue to do so until someone can show me a scenario where I am at legitimate risk of something. My car gets parked in my garage every night. My home has an alarm system to alert me to intruders...where does the risk come in with someone online knowing what anyone in a parking lot at the mall could figure out?

[MINImeat]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kurtster

Can somone explain in everyday terms what cloning a car means? Aside from the fact that cars have no DNA...do you mean I should be concerened that people with another IB MINI Cooper S with a Union Jack on its roof, might see my plate online, then craft (or have someone illegally create for them) an identical license plate, just so that they can break the law with someone elses (mine in this case) identity?

If I undersand this correctly, criminals want to pretend to be me when they commit their crimes in a new MINI. I still don't get it. Once anyone's pulled over with plates like mine, the cops are going to say "Can I see your ID ?" and unless they've also comitted identity fraud and cloned my driver's license and home adress, etc. they aren't going to get very far.

I show my plates online and will continue to do so until someone can show me a scenario where I am at legitimate risk of something. My car gets parked in my garage every night. My home has an alarm system to alert me to intruders...where does the risk come in with someone online knowing what anyone in a parking lot at the mall could figure out?

First, I don't think this is very prevalent in the US. Maybe because they'd actually have to stamp out plates and add the official stickers, etc., but I can see how it would be useful to criminals.
First scenario that pops into my head: criminals do a drive-by shooting and kill 5 or 6 people, one survives and gives the police the license number. Police look up the plates and knock your door down and, although you ultimately prove you were at your grandmother's house when the shooting happened, your life is pretty messy until then.

[northandy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kurtster

Can somone explain in everyday terms what cloning a car means? Aside from the fact that cars have no DNA...do you mean I should be concerened that people with another IB MINI Cooper S with a Union Jack on its roof, might see my plate online, then craft (or have someone illegally create for them) an identical license plate, just so that they can break the law with someone elses (mine in this case) identity?

If I undersand this correctly, criminals want to pretend to be me when they commit their crimes in a new MINI. I still don't get it. Once anyone's pulled over with plates like mine, the cops are going to say "Can I see your ID ?" and unless they've also comitted identity fraud and cloned my driver's license and home adress, etc. they aren't going to get very far.

I show my plates online and will continue to do so until someone can show me a scenario where I am at legitimate risk of something. My car gets parked in my garage every night. My home has an alarm system to alert me to intruders...where does the risk come in with someone online knowing what anyone in a parking lot at the mall could figure out?

Ok a professional car theif steeling cars for export (happens a lot in the UK), wants a specific car, goes online, finds one complete with registration plate... checks through his inside source at the DVLA (driver and vehicle licencing authority here in the Uk) finds your address, turns up in the dead of night and steels your car, or waits till your out in it and carjacks you or your wife at gun/knifepoint.... takes car and exports it....

I know it seems far fetched, but for exotic cars it happens a lot in the UK... minis are in demand in a lot of ways....

[BlackeyedCoop]

There have been several cases of people cloning a number plate and putting it on their similar cars and using them to avoid the congestion charge in London. This can clock up a big bill in a few weeks, and leave the innocent party with a headache on how to prove it was not them

[SoggyCornFlakes]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kurtster

I show my plates online and will continue to do so until someone can show me a scenario where I am at legitimate risk of something. My car gets parked in my garage every night. My home has an alarm system to alert me to intruders...where does the risk come in with someone online knowing what anyone in a parking lot at the mall could figure out?

That's fine - it's your right to choose, but please respect other members rights to choose too and not show their plates when posting pictures

[gezmedinger]

The car cloning thing in the UK is much more about stealing cars and plating them up as yours so they're not obviously the car that's just been stolen. In the meantime expect a few parking tickets and speeding fines... at least that's the way I understand it...

[Malin Dixon]

Quote: Originally Posted by ROOBRYJ

In response to Dino's reply-the idea is it DOES stop scumbags cloning plates because sooner or later you wont be able to walk into just "anywhere" and have a plate made up.

The machines that make the plates all now have to be registered. I think that the supplier of the letters and the numbers only also now supply to registered people (Im not 100% on this)

Why? Because the big traders as of January this year are now Governed by the new laws from the DVLA to prevent the likes of Car cloning. The idea behind it is purely to prevent car thieves and cloners from seeing a car (in a picture as mentioned here) and writing it down...popping off to his mate Dave and knocking up a Front and Rear plate for him to go and steal the same make/model/colour and subseqyuently create a "copy" which when checked on the Police National Computer simply comes back as a car with no lost or stolen reports on it....

I found that it is difficult to buy a number plate recently. I needed to find all sorts of bits of paper.

It made me wonder why. Are plates all that difficult to make? Surely dodgy plates can be made with a some reflective background, black tape and a bit of time? Is it realy worth all that regulation when the scumbags can get plates anyhow?