But says Tracker, criminals can give a vehicle a new identity, but they can’t outsmart a hidden tracking device

London – 15 October 2026  – Stolen Vehicle Recovery (SVR) expert, Tracker Network (UK) Limited, is warning motorists against the growing threat of car cloning and its consequences. A DVSA Freedom of Information request shows that cloned number plates are up more than 50%1, as seen by police from across the South West, South East and East of England.

 

Car cloning is the vehicle equivalent of identity theft. Criminals give a vehicle a false identity copied from a legitimate car of the same make, model and colour already on the road. Often this simply means fitting fake number plates, which lets drivers avoid speeding and parking fines, congestion and Clean Air Zone charges and fuel drive-off penalties. The genuine owner is then sent the penalty notices instead.

 

In more serious cases, a stolen vehicle is cloned to hide its origin so it can be sold on. The criminals alter its unique 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and often use a stolen V5C logbook to make the new identity look legitimate. Cloned vehicles are also linked to organised crime, including drug trafficking and moving illegal goods across the road network.

 

A recent BBC report2 has highlighted the financial and emotional toll car cloning takes on its victims. Three people from the Avon and Somerset area were each caught up in a different side of the crime. James Grimsted, 49 and his family were away on holiday when two cars were stolen from outside their home in Clevedon. Footage from their home security cameras showed two people wearing balaclavas and carrying crowbars, forcing their way in through a living room sash window. One of the cars was later spotted on the M5 with cloned plates. “I was disgusted, upset, angry. When your personal effects have been stolen, it’s indescribable really,” he told the BBC. “I can’t believe this is going on, but it is the regularity of it – it is happening all the time.”

 

For 84-year-old Christine Balson from Weston-super-Mare, it was her legally owned car’s identity that was copied. The first she knew of it was a fixed penalty notice from Transport for London for a date when she was in Portugal visiting her son and grandchildren. She quickly realised the car in the photograph wasn’t hers: “It’s got the same plates, but my car’s got additional lights underneath and parking sensors on the bumper.” More fines followed, nine in just two weeks, for driving in bus lanes, parking in residents’ zones and speeding. She successfully challenged them, but the stress led her to get rid of her car. “I kept thinking ‘would these people do this to their own mother or aging grandmother?’” she said.

 

Cloning isn’t limited to cars. Caroline Burt, 70, also from Weston-super-Mare, saved £6,000 for her dream campervan and did everything a careful buyer would. She paid for an HPI Check and confirmed online that the van’s MOT history, tax and insurance were all in order. Just days after taking it home, she discovered it was a clone. The genuine vehicle belonged to a man in Italy who had bought it three years earlier. Looking back, she says the seller’s insistence on cash only and on meeting somewhere other than their home were red flags. “I’d saved up for something that I really wanted, and somebody has just put a number plate from another vehicle on it,” she said.

Because a cloned vehicle carries the identity of a legitimate car, it won’t raise an alert on Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, making it harder for police to track down. However, a signal from a covertly hidden Tracker stolen vehicle recovery device will be detected.

 

Clive Wain, Head of Police Liaison at Tracker explains, “Today’s consumers are all too familiar with the threat of identity fraud and the impact it can have on someone’s life. Car cloning is the vehicle equivalent and whether your own car has been cloned, or you have unsuspectingly bought a cloned vehicle, it is far from a victimless fraud. For most people, their car is the second most expensive purchase they will ever make, so losing it, or the money paid for it, can be devastating.

 

“Unfortunately, vehicle cloning has also become far more sophisticated. It is no longer simply a case of swapping the number plates. Criminals are now using false VINs and replacement labels and even reprogramming a vehicle’s electronic systems so that everything appears legitimate when it is checked. In some cases, the locks and keys have been replaced too.

 

“This is where a covert tracking device can make all the difference. Criminals can change a vehicle’s plates and VIN, but they can’t change the hidden Tracker unit fitted to it, which means police can still locate and recover the vehicle, whatever identity it has been given.”

 

Tracker is the only SVR provider supported nationwide by U.K. police services that track, locate and recover stolen assets, with many police patrol vehicles and police helicopters fitted with Tracker detection units. Confirming Tracker as a superior security defence against determined thieves, Tracker boasts a 95% success rate, 50% of which are recovered within 4 hours and 80% are returned to their owners within 24 hours. 

 

There are ways for motorists to help protect themselves from becoming a victim of car cloning though, says Tracker.

 

If you own a car, van or motorbike

  • Avoid sharing clear photos which include your car’s registration plate online, including when listing it for sale.
  • Respond immediately to any unexpected penalty charge notices and contact the police and the DVLA if you suspect your car’s identity has been copied.

If you are buying a used car, van or motorbike

  • Be extra vigilant when checking the car’s paperwork. Hold the V5C logbook up to the light to make sure it has the DVL watermark.
  • Check the V5C serial number is not part of a known stolen batch by looking on the Government website
  • Make sure to compare the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) in three places, in the logbook, on the chassis and on the VIN plate
  • Ask to see the seller’s ID and check their proof of address matches the V5C and be wary if they want to meet at a random location rather than their home.
  • Most modern cars come with two keys. Make sure you test both and if the seller only has one, ask why, as criminals rarely get both keys when stealing a vehicle.
  • Run a comprehensive vehicle history check, such as an HPI Check, and look for any data mismatches. Remember, a history check only confirms the record for that registration, so make sure the VIN on the vehicle itself matches both the logbook and the check.
  • Be on your guard if the seller will only accept cash.
  • Reality check – Remember, if the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.