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.
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.
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.
Not a lot you can do, install multiple tracking system like Tag, then one of your own (aliexpress has cheap GPS tracer, you need to put a sim card in it with a 10$ SMS plan or something), an apple tag, a kill switch well hidden, and a club steering wheel lock, you can also put a OBD2 secured cap to annoy thieves a few minutes more.
But if your car is a truck or RAV4 or Tacoma or Tahoe etc, it will be stolen, if you are lucky they will find it before it goes in Montreal port and you will get it back, then after 3 or 4 times your insurer will drop you, or thieves will successfully steal it.
Police/Government do about nothing, a car is stolen every 5 minutes.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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.
And that’s why a national registry that moves itself beyond any sort of provincial jurisdiction is important in all capacities," Nick Milinovich, deputy chief of Peel Regional Police, said in an interview.
But police and insurance investigators have begun to warn of a proliferation of re-VINed vehicles being sold exclusively through social media platforms like Instagram.
Police also allege organized crime has recruited employees at ServiceOntario, the registration centres operated on behalf of the province that offer an array of services, including issuing licences and managing the database of registered vehicles.
For instance, the warrant in the Hylton case alleges he transferred vehicle ownerships to both a speciality tool shop in Etobicoke and an automotive exporter in St. Catharines.
The original article contains 1,721 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 89%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
