Gardaí warn car buyers of the dangers of ‘cloning’

THREE Irish people have had their cars taken off them by gardaí after falling foul of a sophisticated stolen car racket involving English and Irish criminals.

And gardaí are bracing themselves for more cases after they made a public appeal to motorists who bought, or were thinking of buying, an English-registered secondhand car.

The scam emerged after a batch of 20,000 blank vehicle registration certificates was stolen from the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in the UK.

The certificates accompanying stolen vehicles that have had their identity changed to match that of a legitimate vehicle — a practice known as ‘cloning’. The cars are then sold on to unsuspecting buyers.

Sergeant Finbarr Garland of the Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation Unit (SMVIU), said: “We already had three people produce these documents along with stolen vehicles to the Vehicle Registration Office. They were registering cars which they had bought without realising they were buying stolen cars with forged documents.”

He said gardaí were expecting more vehicles to be uncovered: “We are bracing for more, when you consider the large amount of documents stolen.”

Sgt Garland said the cars had been taken by English and Irish gangs from across the water over to Ireland, where they were sold through the motor trade magazines.

“The three buyers bought them either through the Auto Trader or the Buy and Sell magazines. In the three cases, Irish suspects sold the cars. We are trying to find out who they are,” said Sgt Garland.

He said there were a number of Irish gangs operating full time in these kind of scams. The gangs had connections with British gangs.

He said gardaí confiscate the cars off the buyers.

“They’re in possession of a stolen vehicle and irrespective of how they have bought it, in 99.9% of cases the car is taken off them and returned to the rightful owner. Some people borrow quite heavily to purchase a car and that’s gone, literally.”

He said they’ve had people who paid €30,000 for a Mercedes and lost it all.

In relation to the three cases, Sgt Garland said they would try and investigate the suspects, but added the sellers typically left little trace. The contact details are usually mobile phone numbers, often English ones.

He urged motorists currently looking to buy a used car to check the serial number on the top right hand corner of the UK Vehicle Registration Certificate.

If it bears the prefix BG and falls within the range BG 9167501 to BG 9190500, they are advised not to purchase the vehicle and contact the SMVIU on 01 6663320 immediately.

A helpline at the DVLA in Swansea can be contacted on 0044 870 241 1878.

When buying secondhand cars generally, gardaí advise purchasers to buy the car at the seller’s address.

They advise against paying by cash and to be aware of landline contacts between 5pm and 6pm, when the seller could be just sitting in a pub, and to bring along someone knowledgeable about cars.