CAR CLONING
A New Twist on an Old Crime
03/29/07
A gang of professional car thieves trolls
the parking lot of an upscale retail mall
until they find what they want: a shiny new
SUV. Within seconds they've disabled the alarm,
hot-wired the engine, and driven away.
Now,
how to sell the car for big bucks? They
COULD do the traditional…and sell it
for parts or as hot merchandise. But that
would only bring in a few thousand dollars.
Instead, they turn to the most lucrative scam
on the block that will help fetch top dollar
for their prize.
It's
called "car cloning." And, as
part of our longstanding battle to curb auto
theft (we've been in the business since the
days of the Model T), we're determined to
stop it.
Here's
how cloning works:
Voilà,
a clone is born: two identical cars, one identification
number.
Now,
one final step—the thieves use a little
forgery to get a real title or other ownership
documents from the motor vehicle office in
the neighboring state. Then, it's no problem
to sell the vehicle to an unsuspecting victim
for nearly full price. And since it's legally
registered and not reported stolen, it's nearly
untraceable.
"Right
now, cloning is by far our biggest car theft
challenge," says Supervisory Special
Agent Ryan Toole, who leads our vehicle theft
program at FBI Headquarters in Washington.
"The good news is, it's preventable."
Here's
how: by linking motor vehicle departments
in every state. "If states could talk
to one another electronically, you couldn't
register a car in Maryland, for example, using
a VIN from a car in Virginia," says Toole.
"The system wouldn't allow it."
That's
why we're on something of a crusade—working
hand-in-hand with the American Association
of Motor Vehicle Administrators—to get
all 50 states and the District to participate
in the "National Motor Vehicle Title
Information System" that would create
such linkages. So far, only a handful of states
are connected.
It's
difficult to estimate how many cars are cloned,
but we know it's a significant percentage
of the 1.3 million cars stolen in the U.S.
each year. Overall, the total price tag for
auto theft is about $8 billion annually. One
in three stolen cars never makes it back home.
In
addition to tackling cloning, we continue
to work with our local and state partners
on auto-theft task forces that focus on dismantling
larger rings, from the street level to the
upper echelons of the criminal hierarchy.
"We're
never going to stop the small-time thieves
who just want a joyride," Toole says.
"But we can make and are making a difference
in taking down the big-time syndicates."
You
can help…and help yourselves. Few
cars are safe from a truly committed thief.
But you can lower your risk by locking your
car, parking in well-lit areas, and using
alarms and other deterrents. If you're concerned
about buying a cloned car, check the VIN with
your state, do a title search, and trust your
instincts on supposed "good deals."
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