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Old 7th October 2017, 12:05   #1
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Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

Came across the below quoted news article in http://indiatoday.intoday.in.

Source: Read full article here

Car thieves and their ways ! Transferring the identity of cars that were declared as "Total Loss" by insurance companies on to stolen cars and selling them to unsuspecting customers. Now, is it not shocking ? Good that the Delhi police have finally cracked them down.

Wondering how the RTO gets to know if a vehicle is declared as total loss. If at all the records are updated, how could the stolen vehicles take the identify of these scrapped cars ?

Anyways, potential buyers from agents and third parties need to be extra careful, to safeguard themselves from these kind of spurious people.

Quote:

The gang, which consisted of three thieves, four receivers, three carriers and one tampering expert, allegedly stole more than 500 ritzy cars. As many as 30 of these vehicles have been recovered.

With a series of arrests, police have put brakes on a ring of canny car thieves who transplanted engine and chassis numbers from wrecked luxury vehicles on stolen ones to deceive the authorities.

The gang consisted of three thieves, four receivers, three carriers and one tampering expert who have been held by Delhi Police's crime branch recently. While they allegedly stole more than 500 ritzy cars, as many as 30 of these vehicles have been recovered.
Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars-vehiclethiefsmos_100717061137.jpg

Image source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in

Quote:

Investigation has revealed that the team scouted for vehicles of particular makes and colours that had been declared "total losses" by insurance companies. The crooks then purchased these cars along with their documents through scrap dealers at handsome prices. The syndicate then disposed of the vehicle but retained the documents.

"In the next step, the gang would target a vehicle of same make and colour and steal it," a police official said. "A team of expert forgers would then obliterate the original engine and chassis numbers of the stolen vehicle and inscribe the corresponding figures from the wrecked car that they had purchased. With this simple trick, the stolen vehicle takes on the identity of another, which has been declared a total loss."
Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars-vehicle647_100717052536.jpg

Image source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in

Source: Read full article here

Last edited by BLACKBLADE : 7th October 2017 at 12:24. Reason: Typos corrected
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Old 7th October 2017, 13:31   #2
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Re: Stolen cars in India

This practice is called "Ringing"

The insurance should ensure that the car is de-registered and submit the paperwork to the RTO before salvaging the wreck
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Old 9th October 2017, 09:28   #3
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Re: Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by BLACKBLADE View Post
Transferring the identity of cars that were declared as "Total Loss" by insurance companies on to stolen cars and selling them to unsuspecting customers.
What innovative thieves! Thanks for sharing Blackblade, moving your post to a new thread.
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Old 9th October 2017, 09:54   #4
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Re: Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

Look at the picture again. These thieves seem to prefer cars with one of the best resale values in used car market.
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Old 9th October 2017, 10:22   #5
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Re: Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

This was bound to happen. There are two massive holes in RTO procedures. The criminal element is always 2 steps ahead of the law, and is sure to take advantage of this.

One hole is the de-registering of vehicles after write-off/scrappage. The other is temporary ownership by 2nd-hand car dealer. Until these holes are plugged, we can expect this to continue. I am quite sure the thieves whose names/photos haven't been published are already doing this on a slightly lower volumes.

Scary thing is - in the absence of a publicly searchable insurance database, no way to verify the antecedents of a car when buying from a dealer.
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Old 9th October 2017, 11:10   #6
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Re: Stolen cars in India

Quote:
Originally Posted by ajmat View Post
This practice is called "Ringing"
Originally described by Frederick Forsyth in his epic thriller novel, the Day of the Jackal, where the hitman would visit church cemeteries to obtain dates of birth of deceased kids from the tombstones and later apply for birth certificates based on church records. Using these certificates, he would then apply for multiple false (but original) passports.

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Jackal):

The method for acquiring a false identity and UK passport detailed in the book is often referred to as the "Day of the Jackal fraud" and remained a well known security loophole in the UK until 2007. The New Zealand Member of Parliament David Garrett claimed the novel's description of identity theft inspired him to create his own fake passport as a "youthful prank". The incident further inflamed a national controversy over the law and order campaigner's criminal history.
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Old 9th October 2017, 12:59   #7
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Re: Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

Here is our very own Team-BHP thread on properly getting rid and cancelling the registration of a vehicle, declared as total loss by an insurance company.

Related thread: How to properly get rid of car declared as total loss ?

Also found a PDF file (attached herewith) from http://www.isalvageauction.com which is having detailed information on scrapping/salvaging damaged cars.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf CODE SALVAGE.pdf (889.6 KB, 369 views)
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Old 9th October 2017, 13:54   #8
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Re: Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

The insurance companies should de-register unsafe cars before selling the salvage. They cannot be bothered to do this for the following reasons

1: Bureaucracy in getting remaining liftime tax
2: Greater salvage price

In reality, it bites them back when the restored wreck gets involved in an accident
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Old 9th October 2017, 15:19   #9
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Re: Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

The major reason for this is the middle men to whom the insurance guys sell off the cars. They will insist you on giving all the documents including the original RC to them for formalities.

In reality, before scrapping a car (incase of total loss) following must be done -
1. Cancel insurance
2. Cancel extended warranty/service package (if applicable)
3. Approach RTO and apply for cancellation of RC.
4. In come places, they have authorized vehicle scrappers who will take the car, cut the chassis (part where chassis no is engraved) and hand the cut part to you.
5. If selling scrap to someone, make you you have the paperwork for that and hand over the vehicle only after cancelling the RC and others.

It is possible to cancel the RC even if you dont scrap the car, eg - if the vehicle will be used only on pvt roads - e.g. internal transport in a factory, etc. and for this the chassis cut out is not required.
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Old 9th October 2017, 21:22   #10
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Re: Ringing: Thieves use VIN & paperwork of total loss cars to legitimise stolen cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by BLACKBLADE View Post
Came across the below quoted news article in
Thanks for sharing. I saw this news day before yesterday. Was surprised with the number of vehicle theft case solved with this gang arrested (IIRC Zee news quoted 300+ cases). Also, surprising element was the choice of vehicles they targeted.

Looking at the photo it seems few of them are proud and blushing. For a moment i though the smiling person might be cop, but then added up the numbers in report and it matched with number of people in the photo.
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