The fight against Canada’s worst-ever auto theft epidemic has largely focused on ramping up inspections at shipping ports, where organized crime groups have exported the overwhelming majority of stolen vehicles.

But criminals are adapting, police say, by increasingly selling hot vehicles in Canada to unsuspecting buyers with little protection, exploiting a weakness in provincial registration systems that veteran investigators argue needs to be fixed.

But criminals are replacing the VIN plate, often with one from a comparable vehicle that has been totalled, legally exported or one registered in another province or U.S. state. They may go through junkyards, export records or simply walk through a mall parking lot to find a VIN to clone.

  • girlfreddyOP
    6·
    2 months ago

    TIL provinces don’t share information. I’m shocked! /s

    Provincial centres that administer vehicle registration, such as ServiceOntario, do not have a system that checks if VINs already exist in other jurisdictions.

    • Papamousse@beehaw.org
      41·
      2 months ago

      It’s a well known trick in QC to not buy a car from Ontario from sketchy dealers, as those scummy dealers will back the odometer, and there is no way to know it.