Internet sites are becoming hot beds for stolen vehicle sales

Global News : Thursday, March 22, 2012 6:37 PM

When purchasing a vehicle privately, how do you know you're not buying a stolen vehicle?

Since auto theft began, new tricks have been tried by criminals to hide the identity of a stolen vehicle in order to re-sell it, and now the internet is becoming an easy and popular way of doing this.

'Car cloning' is becoming more common in Alberta, replacing the vehicle identification number on a stolen vehicle with a salvaged one and re-selling it to someone who is none the wiser.

"The criminals are using Kijiji, they're using different methods to clone vehicles and doop the innocent parties of Alberta," says Wally Purcell from the Insurance Bureau of Canada adding, "I think that the criminal has figured out that different sites are easier to put on, they don't have any requirement to prove that it's theirs to the company."

He say criminals are getting VINs off the internet, even from vehicles in other countries, in order to hide the fact the vehicle is stolen.

"Then the true identity of the vehicle is hidden so that it looks like it is a clean vehicle and, in fact, it isn't," Purcell adds.

"We get upwards of two to three hundred files a year that we investigate that involve a stolen vehicle being sold and re-registered to an innocent third party," says Detective Peter Bagan of the Edmonton Police Service.

Bagan says the federal certification label that the VIN is printed on are designed to fall apart when someone tries to remove them.

"If you buy a vehicle and you see that that label is missing it's a huge indication that something is wrong, those labels don't just fall off."

They can however, be duplicated and the plates can be replaced. Bagan suggests looking for glue residue, marks, scratches, off centred plates or missing rivets as warning signs.

While it is hard to protect yourself from this, Purcell urges people who choose to buy vehicles privately to do their homework.

"Check the VIN on carfax, carproof, either do that or even go to a reputable dealer," he says adding, "If you're unsure, contact the police department to see if they can help you out."

Purcell says the public has to understand that these criminals are making a lot of money off of stolen vehicles and it's a very lucrative business.

Bagan says the Canadian Police Information Centre site is also a source people can use to check VINs, to see if their vehicle is stolen.

"That's the only way that the average person out there can run a VIN and check to see if it's stolen."

He says a lot of people don't realize that you can take a stolen vehicle into a registry and they will register it because they don't check to see if it is stolen first.

Both Bagan and Purcell urge people to ask for service records, vehicle history, any documentation that proves the deal is legitimate.

"There's nothing wrong with asking for ID, and nothing wrong with saying 'how do I know it's your vehicle,' 'can you show me your registration?'" Bagan says adding, "If they can't show you that, there might be a reason why."

Vehicles can be seized by police if they are found to be stolen and unfortunately, insurance will not cover the buyer.

"Their only recourse really is to go to the civil court and hope that they can get their money back," Bagan explains.

Purcell says buying a vehicle through a reputable dealership is the best way to go.