Stolen vehicles put into system

Chad Bryan, Staff Reporter

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Cornwall 'Bigga' Ford says motor vehicle cloning continues to be a highly lucrative crime across the island. Stolen vehicles are cloned and sold to persons who are unaware they have made a purchase from a criminal.

"It is a big business racket," Ford, who is part of the newly created Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch, said. His investigations have revealed that the crime is highly organised.

"What actually happens, when a vehicle crashes, they normally go to pounds and garages for repair. What we have found is that a syndicate goes around removing the chassis numbers from off those vehicles and puts them on another vehicle, getting them legitimised and on the road," Ford stated.

Duplicates made

Motor vehicle cloning is changing the identifying numbers on a vehicle to the specifications of another car. Therefore, disguising a stolen motor vehicle to make it appear legitimate.

Explaining the process, Ford said, "somebody takes the vehicle identification number (VIN) from the original car and has duplicates made. The copied vehicle ends up being a sister or brother to the original vehicle. Sometimes, when we do our investigation, one vehicle ends up having three or four sisters or brothers."

Legitimate ownership

To complete the cloning process, criminals create counterfeit ownership documents for the cloned vehicle, or obtain the legitimate ownership documents under false pretence. They use this phony documentation to sell the vehicle to an innocent buyer.

"They get documents to support the cloned vehicle. So when you go to the tax office, there are two or three vehicles registered in one set of numbers," the senior policeman explained.

"When we go through the system, sometimes when people go to have their vehicles registered, the tax office is showing them that they can't be accommodated because somebody else has that vehicle. Our investigation reveals that there are (often) two or three vehicles," Ford added.

Cloned vehicles are usually extremely difficult to spot by the untrained eye. However, they can be detected through a detailed history check or a process known as etching, a chemical-engraving process through which the VIN is placed on the vehicle's windows. This helps to reduce vehicle duplication, as they are less likely to be targeted.

Among the vehicles particularly susceptible to cloning are the Nissan Tiida, Suzuki Swift and Toyota Corolla (Kingfish), among others. Previously, extensively cloned vehicles included the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Toyota Hiace, Nissan Sunny, and Mitsubishi Lancer.

SSP Ford says the police are in dialogue with insurance companies and the tax office to put a stop to this criminal activity.

Persons apprehended for the illegal practice are charged with larceny of a motor vehicle, possession of criminal property and offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act.