CLEVELAND — In this internet age, we’re all concerned about protecting our personal information, but we drive around with our Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) visible to anyone who walks by our parked cars.
THE QUESTION
That's why when 3News viewer Dane Carney emailed me asking, "Can your car's VIN be used to steal from you?," we set out to VERIFY it.
SOURCES
Our sources are:
- The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV),
- The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), and
- Progressive Insurance.
EXPLANATION
A video shared on the BMV website defines VIN cloning as "the practice of using a vehicle’s identification number, or VIN, from a legally registered car to hide the identity of a stolen or salvaged vehicle.”
As Progressive Insurance explains it:
Gaining access to your VIN may help thieves register illegal vehicles. They could also file claims on totaled cars or even create duplicate car keys. There have even been instances where individuals use a stolen car registration to walk into a dealership and drive off with a brand-new vehicle.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) told us a stolen VIN can "also be used to create fraudulent documents to get money from finance companies or payday loans, as well as buy insurance coverage and create a “paper accident,” in order to get a payout for damage that didn’t really happen."
ANSWER
So we can VERIFY that yes, your car’s VIN can be used to steal from you. All of the things we described here are forms of identity theft.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
NICB told us realistically, fraudsters "aren’t perusing parking lots looking for VINs to use, they simply go online and look for similar vehicles for sale. They copy those VINs. Folks have to be extremely careful with the VIN information they give out publicly to anyone and everyone."
If you think your VIN may have been stolen, you can report it to BMV Investigations by calling 614-752-4885.
You should also report it to police, and let NICB know. That way they can correct any records in their database.
