The attack of the car clones

Detectives from Scotland Yard's Operation Trident squad which targets London's armed drug gangsters stopped a car with four people inside in west London. They were acting on a tip-off that the occupants were wanted for a series of violent offences. At first the documentation and the police computer checks on the registration number of the silver Ford Focus appeared in order.

On closer examination the registration of the vehicle proved as interesting as the items detectives found secreted inside the car.

Hidden in the boot police found three powerful handguns, all ready for use. The police computer showed the car apparently registered legitimately to the director of a bona fide company in the West End. The car in which the four men were arrested had not been reported stolen - and when detectives found the real owner he was most surprised to hear his car had been involved in gangster activities as it was parked in the garage.

In fact, the gangsters' car was a cloned version of the legitimate vehicle, a new and menacing car crime emerging in London where criminal gangs give a stolen car - often taken during carjacks - the legitimate identity of an existing and completely law-abiding motorist. In one case police discovered eight cars with the same registration number.

A secret two-month police surveillance operation using hidden cameras on a stretch of the A2 in south-east London recorded the details of 213 top-of-the-range "cloned" cars.

Each car had been stolen and given the identity of an existing motorist - who, in his own vehicle, was also driving on the same roads.

Police previously believed the majority of stolen cars were shipped abroad but it is now thought there are thousands of cars with the same registration plates on London's roads.

The majority of the cars caught speeding on camera were expensive German models: Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi - many of them the same type of vehicle now being stolen almost daily in London carjacks. Officers at the Met's Safety Cameras Operation Unit estimate the value of these cars alone to be worth nearly £5 million.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Ryan of the Yard's Stolen Vehicle Unit said today: "We are worried this crime will become endemic because the level of thefts is proving very disturbing. It appears to be well organised gangs operating in London and the South-East."

The thieves operate by giving their stolen car a new identity. This is how it is done:

The thief steals a car and then searches "for sale" adverts in car magazines on the look-out for an identical model.

The thief 's next move is to make an appointment to see the vehicle and, when he meets the owner, record the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on the pretext of performing a finance check. He also takes down the seller's name, address, postcode and phone number.

The thief 's next move is to write to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) saying he is the owner, has moved house and lost the logbook. As well as the VIN number he provides details of the owner's identity and the DVLA has no reason to doubt he is genuine.

A new logbook is sent to another address the criminal has set up. He now has an official DVLA-issued logbook to use with his stolen car.

The criminal can get number plates made to match the vehicle with few questions asked and now has a stolen vehicle with an entirely legitimate identity.

In many instances the real owner will only realise something is wrong when he receives a string of speeding and parking tickets after the driver of the cloned car commits offences.

A refinement of the deception makes it even easier for the carcloners - cloning UK-registered cars seen on the Spanish Costas. The gang member marks a car belonging to an ex-pat, obtains the VIN number and, under a false address, applies for a new logbook. The owner only realises something is amiss when he receives a string of parking or speeding tickets from London.

The other new car crime in London is "identity fraud". Here a criminal "steals" details of a legitimate company and forges its documentation, giving it a new and bogus address. Then he simply writes to the car leasing firm it uses, saying his five new middle managers are getting company cars and can they be delivered to the new address.

The car-leasing company, recognising the company's name, delivers the cars. Often, by the time the paperwork has caught up with the fraud, the cars have been used in criminal activities. They can also be "cloned" without the leasing company being aware.

One individual even set up a car hire firm using cars obtained by fraud and given new identities. The Yard's Stolen Vehicle Unit says identity fraud is a worrying new trend and it is co-operating with the industry in an initiative codenamed Operation Pimpernel to combat the crime.

A spokeswoman for the Finance and Leasing Association said: "We are aware of this type of fraud and we are closely involved with the police in trying to prevent it." In the last four months the Stolen Vehicle Unit has recovered £750,000 worth of vehicles obtained through finance fraud.

Gordon Cooper, Scotland Yard's specialist vehicle crime analyst, said: "It is impossible to estimate the true depth and extent of cloning but it is rife. It should be remembered that these cars are only the ones which are speeding so catching this number in such a short period of time is of real concern."

Car crime costs London more than £1 billion a year. To steal the vehicle thieves will stage bogus accidents, carry out carjackings, take vehicles either during test drives or from petrol station forecourts, or follow victims home to break into the driver's home for the keys.

Officers from the Met's Stolen Vehicle Unit are giving more and more information about the origin of "cloned" cars to detectives from Operation Trident to combat black-on-black gun crime.

Mr Ryan added: "These cars end up being driven by criminals and have been used in contract killings and serious criminal activity because in effect they don't exist.

"Police may be able to trace the legitimate owner of the car and will find it sitting on the driveway. That person may have difficulty proving he or she is innocent. We really need to get a handle on this type of theft.

"It has sprung up because, since the salvage industry has been regulated, 'ringing' of cars is no longer as easy [whereby a car's identity is changed by substituting a different registration plate]." Edmund King, executive director-of the RAC Foundation, said the DVLA should look closer at tightening the procedures around sending out duplicate documents.

He added: "There appears to be a direct link between cloning and carjacking and these figures are absolutely frightening. This is only the tip of the iceberg."

Senior officers at Scotland Yard are shocked by the number of carjacking attacks in London last year which reached 1,200 and have included recent cases such as that of company director Gloria Hamilton, 41, who was on her way to collect her three children when she was bumped from behind and assaulted by two men who then stole her £50,000 Mercedes.

The most tragic recent attack was when estate agent Tim Robinson, 25, was stabbed to death as he was parking his £20,000 Audi in Battersea.

'You don't expect this to happen'
... and the other scams