# Number plate cover up in shots



## kingswood

been on this forum a while now and posted quite a few shots in the showroom etc.

never bothered to cover up or obscure the number plate of either of our cars.

i know people tend to do it to stop cloning but is it really an issue or more of a case of better safe than sorry?


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## steelghost

I look at as I don't cover it up when I drive around so why bother with it in photos...Unless there's some point I'm missing!


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## Soul boy 68

Personally I can't see the point but each to their own. I don't mind showing my plates off in my posts and in a small world we live in another member could recognise my plates when driving around and go "hey I just saw soulboy" :lol:


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## M8ttB

Always wondered that too! 


Some detailers on youtube say it is to protect car/owner identity ..!


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## shine247

Seen this asked before, I can only say from any potential fraud point of view, driving around is one thing but posting a number on the web increases any risk exponentially. There are lots of things people do and later wish they had not.


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## neilmcl

It was (or is) common practice for scrotes to make up number plates for an identical car they've seen online so they can be used in criminal activity. I not sure it's of much concern for posting your plates on sites like this but where there's a search facility for vehicles, eg, Autotrader etc, I would tend to obscure them.


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## bradleymarky

If you are posting pictures of your car it's up to you but if it's somebody's else's I would block the plates.


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## MadOnVaux!

I always block my plates off....

There are literally millions more people can see your car & plate online than just driving around....and hence more scrotes!


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## camerashy

bradleymarky said:


> If you are posting pictures of your car it's up to you but if it's somebody's else's I would block the plates.


Which is why detailed do it more than us amateurs


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## bigmac3161

If you're gonna clone just look on auto trader u'll find same year and colour much quicker. Some dealers will block front plates then leave rears strange. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## stangalang

It takes seconds to do, on an image that will outlast time itself out there in the ether. Yes its worth it, especially if it isn't your car. How these car spotter accounts don't get in trouble I will never know


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## WP-UK

I personally do, partly security but also because it makes for a 'cleaner' photo IMO when posting after shots. Each to their own


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## Aero

A very simple google image search brings up my last showroom photos, glad I always cover mine.


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## Richf

Personally If i was a dodgy type I would just pop along to local car parks on a Saturday, close to me but not too close. 

Using a plate from a car in Aberdeen when you live in London will flag more suspicion from plod if they do follow you 

Although now we have these mot checkers its easy to check if the car you are cloning is taxed and mot'd . It would be awkward if the car you clone is taken off the road or the mot/tax lapses and you end up getting pulled by anpr car .


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## EVL

Depends on the customer. Some of my customers are traders and don't like the idea of any plates being shown of cars they are selling. Most of my private customers don't mind.


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## Mugwump

I have to say that most of the instances of using false plates that I have come across or heard about have involved the fitting of a random number - one in particular involved a speeding fine in central London which was sent to a farmer in Norfolk; the number was that of his combine harvester, which not only had never been near London, would not have fitted down the roads there, but was incabable of exceeding 18mph in any case. Obviously just a random number fitted to the dodgy vehicle in London. 

I've heard of lots of people that have had an NIP for a car with their registration number, but which turned out to have been a different colour or different make model altogether, and I know of cars that have triggered police ANPR because the number on the plate had never been issued by DVLA, so random numbers concocted by the criminals in all these cases. 

I have heard of very few people who have actually had their car and number cloned with their number applied to the same colour, make and model of car. 

Cloning certainly happens, but the sheer numbers of cars that are pictured on the web with their registration numbers undisguised and the fairly few instances of people finding their car has been cloned suggests that the problem is not as great as it is sometimes made out to be.


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## Bryman

if its not my car then I would blank it out....


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## cargainz

You can bet your top dollar some of the cars you see on social media posted by detailers/valeters are without owners express permission.
There have even been instances of pictures posted on social media detailing-related pages being used by valeters to "show" their work.
For a hobbyist, own car you may/may not chose to hide your car. For someone working on client cars probably a must unless express permission given by client.


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## Andyg_TSi

Scenario.......

A good for nothing type, with criminal tendancies, drives a 2013 plate white Merc C class. This person lives in London & doesnt really fancy paying the London congestion charge.

He comes across another 2013 white Merc C class of exact same spec/trim as his own car on a well known detailing website. This car is registered to someone in Manchester.

London based good for nothing type gets the number plate cloned, puts it on his car & drives in London congestion charge zone as and when he likes & never pays the charges. He doesnt get caught because the cloned number plate is allocated to a white Merc C class & It doesnt get pinged on ANPR.

After a while theres a chap in Manchester receiving fines through the post for non payment of the London congestion charge. He's starting to get them weekly.
He's at the end of his tether because he's never been to London in his car & is trying to dispute the fines...but 'his' cars been clocked in London by the cameras.

Its only months later after much stress,its dicovered that his cars been cloned & things are sorted, however, the ciminal has moved onto another plate to clone off another white Merc C Class found online. But the innocent party has had to live with months of worry & stress.

You may think this is far fetched, but this scenario has happened. A TV programme actually covered a similar crime with one chap from the north getting London congestion charge fines when he'd never been to London & he'd had is plate cloned. 

Dont show your plate online!. There are some very clever/savvy crims out there.


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## MDC250

^ this happened to a guy I work with...and his Ford Fiesta. He did well to be in the North West and London within an hour


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## LewisChadwick7

Andyg_TSi said:


> Scenario.......
> 
> A good for nothing type, with criminal tendancies, drives a 2013 plate white Merc C class. This person lives in London & doesnt really fancy paying the London congestion charge.
> 
> He comes across another 2013 white Merc C class of exact same spec/trim as his own car on a well known detailing website. This car is registered to someone in Manchester.
> 
> London based good for nothing type gets the number plate cloned, puts it on his car & drives in London congestion charge zone as and when he likes & never pays the charges. He doesnt get caught because the cloned number plate is allocated to a white Merc C class & It doesnt get pinged on ANPR.
> 
> After a while theres a chap in Manchester receiving fines through the post for non payment of the London congestion charge. He's starting to get them weekly.
> He's at the end of his tether because he's never been to London in his car & is trying to dispute the fines...but 'his' cars been clocked in London by the cameras.
> 
> Its only months later after much stress,its dicovered that his cars been cloned & things are sorted, however, the ciminal has moved onto another plate to clone off another white Merc C Class found online. But the innocent party has had to live with months of worry & stress.
> 
> You may think this is far fetched, but this scenario has happened. A TV programme actually covered a similar crime with one chap from the north getting London congestion charge fines when he'd never been to London & he'd had is plate cloned.
> 
> Dont show your plate online!. There are some very clever/savvy crims out there.


my mate has had this done and is getting fines almost weekly now! he's rang them up and reported them and said they'll stop it but he still gets them  i can count at least 7 he's told me about!


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## K777mk2

Andyg_TSi said:


> Scenario.......
> 
> A good for nothing type, with criminal tendancies, drives a 2013 plate white Merc C class. This person lives in London & doesnt really fancy paying the London congestion charge.
> 
> He comes across another 2013 white Merc C class of exact same spec/trim as his own car on a well known detailing website. This car is registered to someone in Manchester.
> 
> London based good for nothing type gets the number plate cloned, puts it on his car & drives in London congestion charge zone as and when he likes & never pays the charges. He doesnt get caught because the cloned number plate is allocated to a white Merc C class & It doesnt get pinged on ANPR.
> 
> After a while theres a chap in Manchester receiving fines through the post for non payment of the London congestion charge. He's starting to get them weekly.
> He's at the end of his tether because he's never been to London in his car & is trying to dispute the fines...but 'his' cars been clocked in London by the cameras.
> 
> Its only months later after much stress,its dicovered that his cars been cloned & things are sorted, however, the ciminal has moved onto another plate to clone off another white Merc C Class found online. But the innocent party has had to live with months of worry & stress.
> 
> You may think this is far fetched, but this scenario has happened. A TV programme actually covered a similar crime with one chap from the north getting London congestion charge fines when he'd never been to London & he'd had is plate cloned.
> 
> Dont show your plate online!. There are some very clever/savvy crims out there.


 100% agree.

Im not one of the "it wont happen to me" brigade and I have a fairly rare car.


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