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Following on from my campaign to remove number plates from used car adverts online, something considered unnecessary by so called experts, the police reported that £500,000 of fuel was stolen from forecourts in the London area last year by cars fitted with false number plates. Maybe time for a re-think! Have you had your car number plate cloned and received a call from the old bill or a fine that isn’t yours? Let us know? By Graham Hill

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In a report prepared by Auto Express they have revealed that motorists should be aware of the ways that automatic number plate recognition (APNR) is now being used. We have become obsessed with cameras watching our every move, whatever we’re doing from driving to walking down the street, buying a bar of chocolate or catching a train. But Read more »

I’m actually in a state of shock – ish! Whilst thumbing through the advice pages of Autoexpress I noticed that someone had asked the question, should you blur out the car’s registration number when advertising your car online? Now this is something I’ve had an issue with for sometime. It seems quite obvious that you should blur out the number to me Read more »

Years ago car number plates were screwed to the body work by two or even four screws making it a bugger of a job to remove a plate but these days even prestigious cars have their number plates fixed on with a couple of strips of double sided tape. It was hardly surprising then to see a warning from the Retail Motor Industry Federation about theft of number plates. Thefts have doubled over the last 3 years with the Read more »

The Treasury Select Committee has questioned whether individuals should be charged for copies of their credit report. At the moment it costs £2 or you can obtain a copy for free but it requires you to apply online to one of the credit reference agencies, provide credit card details as though you were going to pay monthly for anytime access, then cancel as soon as you’ve downloaded your current report, Read more »

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is launching its 2010 Scams Awareness Month by highlighting how scammers are targeting unsuspecting people using increasingly sophisticated and manipulative techniques. New research carried out on behalf of the OFT shows the scale and types of scams carried out by post, email, text, phone or Internet aimed at vulnerable people and getting them to part with cash or personal Read more »

Many of you have read in the past my mention of the Gwent Fleet Management fraud which left many customers out of pocket and in many instances without a car. This case is just the tip of the iceberg and has been so public because so many customers were caught up in it but serious fraud is being committed all over the country daily. However, because the cases are spread so thinly no one type of fraud is hitting the headlines, causing consumers to be Read more »

Cloning is still on the increase but what do you do if you suspect that your car may have had it’s number plate cloned or you are in fact suspicious about any part of the car you are about to buy, is the registration document correct (V5C) or is the MOT certificate genuine? There is a new organisation that has been set up to combat vehicle fraud called the Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group. You can get lots of information and help by visiting their website www.vstag.co.uk By Graham Hill

Fraud and forgery crime increased by 16% in the 3^rd quarter of last year blamed on the credit crunch. Attention has been drawn towards brokers that arrange mortgages and finance as some of the main culprits helped along by the increasing acceptance of the Internet. As I recently reported things are getting tough for most of us involved in the finance industry and as happened in the last recession desperation Read more »

Fraud is on the increase as consumers and small businesses are driven to desperate lengths. Not only are applicants providing incorrect details and proofs, brokers are also falsifying documents in order to ensure that applications are accepted and they earn their commissions. There has also been an increase in premeditated motor finance crime with multiple applications being made in the expectation that Read more »