Warning over car clone scam
The European Consumer Centre Ireland warned today of a major car scam involving second-hand cars bought in the UK.
Marking the upcoming World Consumer Day next Monday, the service, which provides consumer advice on cross-border transactions in the EU, has highlighted an emerging car cloning scam in the UK which could affect car buyers here.
Car cloning involves copying the identity of a car onto a similar, but stolen one. Fraudsters copy the registration plate and other identifying details of a matching car so that the origin and history of the stolen car is ‘disguised’. Cloning can also occur on cars which have been involved in serious car accidents and may no longer be safe to drive.
The threat of the car-clone scam has increased significantly since the theft in 2006 of blank registration documents from the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in 2006. This allows fraudsters to copy the genuine vehicle’s log book which makes the cloning more difficult to detect.
ECC Ireland advises consumers to conduct a thorough car history check and to scrutinise the vehicle’s documents before purchase when buying a second hand car, from the UK in particular.
The DVLA has published on its website a list of serial numbers for the blank log books which it believes have gone missing and consumers should check that the serial number on the logbook of the car they are considering buying does not fall within these ranges.
“This is a scam which may affect Irish consumers as they often shop cross border for larger items such as cars, with many consumers discovering that it can be cheaper to buy a car in the UK and register it in Ireland," said Caroline Curneen of ECC Ireland,
"You may only discover that you have purchased a cloned car when you are issued a parking fine or speeding ticket. If you buy a stolen car, you risk losing the vehicle and your money even though you bought the car in good faith so it is imperative that consumers carry out comprehensive checks on any vehicle before purchase."
