Vehicles were stolen, VINs were faked, and yet registration documents were real and assigned to legitimate locals. Come again? In Alberta, Canada, you’re allowed to register a vehicle under someone else’s name, and enterprising car thieves took advantage of the technicality according to Canadian outlet Global News.
From Global News:
The Alberta [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] Auto Theft Unit began investigating in December 2024 and uncovered a complex fraud operation that exploited the Alberta Registries’ third-party authorization system, which allows another person to register a vehicle in someone else’s name.
According to the RCMP, the suspects steal vehicles and register them under the names of unsuspecting people using fraudulent vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and forged authorization forms, allowing the criminals to disguise stolen vehicles as legitimate.
Although referred to as re-VINning by Canadian authorities, the practice is also known as VIN cloning and VIN swapping, and as you can see in the older video below, it’s been happening for a while in Canada. Regardless of what you call it, the result is the same: an original VIN is replaced with a counterfeit one.
The stolen vehicles were high-end trucks and SUVs, with the Edmonton Journal reporting that Toyotas and “tricked out pickups” are specifically targeted due to their ability to hold their resale values. As for the unsuspecting new owners, the newspaper attributed to the Mounties, many were targeted because they had previously been victims of identity theft. After the swiped rides were registered, they were either sold or insured.
In the latter scenario, the thieves would file a claim for a stolen vehicle (the irony) and pocket the payout. Today’s fraudsters have become so sophisticated that stolen cars have allegedly been found at OEM-branded car dealerships. Alberta RCMP Staff Sgt. Luke Halvorson told the Edmonton Journal:
“[T]hese are registered in unsuspecting citizens’ names, but they’re not in those people’s houses for us just to check,” said Halvorson. “Someone else is driving them around, potentially in another province or another country.
“Or, they essentially steal an $80,000 vehicle, insure it, then say it’s been stolen. They still have the $80,000 vehicle and (an insurance payout of) $80,000.”
The vehicle registration loophole is one that other Canadian provinces have closed, but not yet in Alberta. And so, criminals merely relocate operations to where their path of illegal doings has less resistance. The statistics back this up, said Hanna Beydoun, director of auto policy at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, to the CBC.
“We’re seeing criminals start moving west. In Ontario…they’ve tightened up their provincial registry system, [so] we’re seeing them move west into Alberta.”
“[Ontario is] making it harder for people to register fraudulent vehicles, which is what we wanted to see,” said Beydoun. “Over the past year, we did see about a 21 per cent decrease in theft claims in Ontario, whereas we’re not seeing the same decrease or change in Alberta.”
Beydoun recommends that Alberta restrict its third-party registration system to dealership use only and also prohibit VIN override functions, which she says car thieves utilize to enter fake VINs into the registries.
How easy is it to exploit Alberta’s vehicle registration system? It seems, very. All you need is a Letter of Authorization completed and signed by the new owner. Then, anyone with this form, along with the required vehicle information and a provincial ID or driver’s license, can register a new car. Because all of the necessary documents (e.g., bill of sale, insurance, and ID) can be forged, it’s a no-brainer that criminals capitalize on something meant for those who legitimately can’t appear in person at an Alberta Motor Association (AMA) center.
Since the investigation began last year, the Mounties have recovered approximately $1.9 million in stolen goods and are seeking an additional 150 vehicles that were re-registered under false pretenses, per the Edmonton Journal. However, only 30 of those cars are connected to the Alberta-based crime ring, from whom drugs and thousands of dollars in cash were also allegedly seized. Ranging in age from 22 to 61, the seven identified suspects are facing 99 charges, including fraud, forgery, and trafficking. Clearly, this theft issue our neighbors to the north are facing is a big one.
So, your car takes off to the great white north, gets “stolen” again, and gets shipped out of the great white north while the Hoseheads pocket the insurance fraud money. Beauty, Eh? $80,000 bucks is $80,000 bucks. And they’ve mostly gotten away with it ’cause, I guess, criminal records are short.
(My apologies to Bob, Doug and Getty.)
Just for clarity, we’ve seen a big YoY decline in car thefts in Ontario because there was a ton of thefts and there’s finally been a crackdown (perhaps most notoriously, the justice minister’s Highlander was stolen 3 times), caused by the nonexistent border security at the port of Montreal. Not a problem for Alberta, but they’ve obviously got their own problem to deal with.
Anecdotally, I believe my company’s fleet still sees more thefts in Ontario and Quebec, but we don’t have as many higher spec pickups as what’s being targeted there, compared to the stuff that’s popular with the export markets.
Well, Alberta is the Texas of Canada, so it makes sense they have old-timey laws.
Hosers!
My thought is: as these things get more and more expensive the lure is magnified. They are not stealing 25,000 dollar econo cars. 120k for some tricked out Suburban? On their radar. Last seen in Albania. After it was reported stolen by the thief LOL. Double dipping
I missed the part where the new fake VIN gets physically applied to the car. Most cars I have seen in the last decade or two have the VIN applied in a dozen or more locations that would be hard to change, or do they not bother, sell it and disappear?
I’m not sure it matters to the crooks. They’re likely just creating dummy VINs for the registration. There’s no requirement for the AMA (or most any other DMV) to physically match the paperwork to the vehicle, so the vehicle is driven with mismatched numbers (very possibly overseas, especially with the insurance fraud thrown in) and nobody’s the wiser.
Makes me appreciate Florida’s required VIN check. The county clerk registering your car walks out to it and verifies the VIN matches the paperwork. Seems like a no-brainer, though I can see the problem if you want to register a car that isn’t physically present. But they give temp plates to help with that.
There’s definitely a line between too easy and too hard.
I hate that US states are making it difficult-to-impossible to register anything other than a modern US made car. The kei truck crackdown is stupid. Vermont recently became more restrictive too.
But Alberta seems to be a bit on the lax side. It sounds like just make you pinky-swear that your honest. Then, “good enough for me!” and give the registration.
A single uniform system would be helpful. Right now, the variations encourage cheating by motivating people from one state to commit fraud by registering vehicles in other states where they don’t ask questions or the taxes are lower. Of course, the chances of that happening anytime in the near future are about zero.
You misspelled *ever*. Car registration is the purview of the individual states, and there will NEVER be any consistency in it nationwide other than they all require it. The joys of living in a federation of semi-independent states.