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Don't Be Fooled
How does it work?
Cloning is an increasingly common scam that involves the theft of a vehicle's identity.
It works by thieves stealing a car and giving it the identity of a legitimate vehicle. They will then attempt to sell it on.
Although the car you're looking at is stolen, you don't know its real identity because you're checking the identity of a different vehicle.
So what precautions can I take?
The best way of ensuring you're not caught out when buying a car is to:
• Ensure the car's chassis number matches the one on the registration document.
• Always pay by bankers draft rather than cash; a legitimate seller will be happy with this, but car thieves won't.
• Inspect the car at a privately owned residential address - and make sure the seller isn't just using the drive of a house whose owners are away. Also ensure that this is the address shown on the registration document.
• Get a land line number for the seller - never rely entirely on a mobile number.
IF IN DOUBT - DON'T BUY IT!
Cloning is an increasingly common scam that involves the theft of a vehicle's identity.
It works by thieves stealing a car and giving it the identity of a legitimate vehicle. They will then attempt to sell it on.
Although the car you're looking at is stolen, you don't know its real identity because you're checking the identity of a different vehicle.
So what precautions can I take?
The best way of ensuring you're not caught out when buying a car is to:
• Ensure the car's chassis number matches the one on the registration document.
• Always pay by bankers draft rather than cash; a legitimate seller will be happy with this, but car thieves won't.
• Inspect the car at a privately owned residential address - and make sure the seller isn't just using the drive of a house whose owners are away. Also ensure that this is the address shown on the registration document.
• Get a land line number for the seller - never rely entirely on a mobile number.
IF IN DOUBT - DON'T BUY IT!
