530dkenny

Just a reminder not to show your number plates in the gallery...just had letter off plod say my car had been speeding in North Yorkshire last week :shock:

Have'nt been there for 3 yrs :shock:

Just beware about the pics you put on the website :roll:

porsche911targa

I understand what you're saying, but aren't our plates out there, every day, for anyone to clone?

EBMCS03

ya that's why I always make an effort to cover my plates when posting a pic. Never trus the internet.

it is but having it on the ineternet makes it extra easy. Like in his case. On the road you'll have to actually be driving the crook and he'll have to be looking to get your plate chances are less. You are so much more exposed on the net.

ressla

Of course, but lets not make criminals lives any easier. I disguise any pics with plates for various other security reasons too.

DD_545i

I've tried warning people about this in the past, but nobody wanted to listen and I got ridiculed for being paranoid. It's something I always do though with my current car. It's a shame, my license number is pretty cool for a 545.

Here's how the cloned plates crime works.

There's a system in Britain on all the major roads where number plates are scanned and compared against a database of stolen cars (or even those who haven't paid a lot of parking tickets). If a hit is detected, the nearest police car on patrol is notified with where that car was last seen and in which direction it was travelling. While the police are trying to find the car, the next ANPR hit gives them another location fix. http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Natio...acking_Database

So, imagine you're a criminal and you want to steal a car of a specific type. You know that as you're driving around in your stolen car, the ANPR system will see you getting caught pretty quickly. Maybe you want the car for a crime you're going to commit and use it as a getaway car, or maybe it's just a car you want to steal to keep or sell. So let's say you've decided you're going to steal a black 5 series E60. You go to the internet, do a search for black 5 series E60, and look for one with a UK plate. What you've found there is a black E60 with a legal plate, probably with a clean record and is an ideal disguise. So you go and get a couple of plates made up with that legal number and put some double-sided sticky tape on the back of the plates. Then, when it's time to steal the car, you take the plates with you. Stick 'em on over the existing ones and drive away (assuming stealing the car is easy for the truly professional car thief).

You'd be driving around being detected by the ANPR system and nothing would be flagged, as it's only going on the number plate, and the one you've got on is legal. Ideally, the ANPR system should use extra intelligence and detect whether the car appears in different parts of the country in impossible timing (you can't be in one place at 3pm and then 500 miles away at 4pm). It's not that clever though. Besides, it just needs the cloner car thief to make sure they use a number from the same area.

craigm1841

in the US, many states have plates made of reflective material. In new york there are holograms embedded in the plate, you can see them from an angle. This cannot be replicated. the only reason to blur your plates is, lets say me and someone on here get into a fight, and I actually am a maniac, AND i work for the DMV or PD... well now I can find out where you live. Or if I am a thief and I work for the DMV or PD, I can find out where you live.

Most people who have access to information are typically responsible. Cant hurt to blur, although I don't. I am not that paranoid