Car thieves cloning vehicle data

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The identities of tens of thousands of vehicles have been cloned by car thieves over the past two years following the theft of blank registration documents, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has said.

Investigations are underway into the thefts of 11,000 cars, with a total value of more than £13 million.

Acpo's Mark Hooper said that officers discover about 10 faked log books every week, and added that as many as 130,000 blank documents have not yet been recovered.

The papers went missing from the DVLA in 2006 and allow thieves to 'clone' details of anyone's car.

If they have stolen a specific model, they can make it look legitimate by using details of another car of the same make in the log book.

Mr Hooper, who is head of Vehicle Intelligence for Acpo, said: "There are some simple ways in which the public can protect themselves and we urge that every care is taken."

A DVLA spokesman said: "DVLA provides every assistance to help people avoid this, including running an information hotline for the public to check whether a certificate may be invalid prior to the purchase of a vehicle."

Copyright © Press Association 2010

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