More thieves in Canada are erasing the “fingerprints” of stolen cars to slip under the radar of law enforcement.
Driving the news: Canada’s Transport Minister has sent letters to provinces and territories warning that a growing number of car thieves are evading police by ‘re-vinning’ stolen vehicles — the illegal process of stripping and changing a car’s registration.
- While auto thefts in Canada were down 17% in the first half of this year, law enforcement across the country have seen a major spike in vehicle identification numbers (VIN) being changed on stolen cars.
Catch-up: Law enforcement's focus has mostly been on keeping stolen vehicles from leaving Canada, but as police crackdown on ports, a growing number of stolen cars are now being kept in the country, re-vinned, and sold back to unsuspecting Canadian customers.
- If a re-vinned vehicle is discovered, the car is usually seized and returned to the original owner without any compensation for the swindled buyer.
Why it matters: Even with auto thefts down, a car is still stolen in Canada every five minutes. Widespread re-vinning could make it even harder to catch thieves and put used-car buyers at risk of losing their ride.—LA