Stealing number plate: Brighton, Sydney streets hit by thieves in early morning attack

Brazen thieves are increasingly targeting cars and their number plates as a way of committing a crime in a different vehicle but getting off scot-free. 

Sydneysiders in the southern suburb of Brighton woke on Sunday morning to find a number of streets had been hit by number plate thieves.

A video showed carnage across four streets with a number of thieves either completely stealing the plates or bending them out of shape in frustration when they couldn’t dislodge them.

Burglars target number plates in order to duplicate the registration before putting it on their own cars.

The criminals then use the duplicated plates to commit further offences only for the police to fine unsuspecting victims for the original thefts.

Entire street blocks have been hit by thieves stealing number plates before they commit crimes, lumping unsuspecting victims with tolls and fines

Local community groups like Neighborhood Watch, and police forces have started urging drivers to increase both security and anti-theft measures to curb the advanced crime from continuing. 

Instances of licence plate thefts have jumped in Australia since the pandemic as criminals become more savvy, moving on from syphoning fuel and breaking into cars to steal belongings.

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While the latter still happens, police and the RACV warned drivers to secure their plates now in order to avoid receiving thousands in backlogged fines in the mail.

‘Offenders use stolen number plates on cars to help them carry out other crimes without being traced and identified,’ a RACV spokesperson said in a statement.

‘The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) reports that over 50 per cent of fuel theft, and various other crimes, involves stolen number plates.’ 

Along with thieves using your plates and registration to get away with not paying for fuel, other more serious crimes include burglaries, drug trafficking, and avoiding speeding, parking and tollway fees.

Plate stealing is a global issue with London reporting an 857 per cent increase in ‘car cloning’ between April 2021 and April 2022.

An easy way to decrease the chances of your plates being stolen is to install anti-theft screws which require a special tool to remove, along with parking cars in secure garages or in driveways where they can be monitored through CCTV.

But even if drivers take their cars off the roadside, thieves can also use the internet to duplicate plates.

One RACV member revealed earlier this year that after listing their car for sale online, they were inundated with tolls and fines after realising they had forgotten to blur the plate out in the listing’s photos. 

‘My number plate was stolen after listing my 2013 Toyota ’86 for sale online on a trusted car marketplace website,’ they told RACV. 

‘At first, I thought an unexpected toll road invoice that I received was a mistake – however, over the course of the next two weeks, I was inundated by toll road invoices for travel at all times of the day and night across Melbourne.’ 

A string of cars fell victim to the thieves in Sydney’s Brighton suburb on Saturday night, with footage of the brazen crime uploaded to social media

Police and community groups are urging people in all states across the country to increase safety measures in order to protect their plates

This year, the Victorian Government began an Australia-first rollout of holographic license plates which aim to combat forgery by including invisible stamps similar to Australian banknotes, which cannot be reprinted by criminals. 

A NSW transport spokesperson told the ABC in February that the department would monitor the effectiveness of Victoria’s groundbreaking redesign.

‘Transport for NSW is always looking at ways to improve the security of number plates used on registered NSW vehicles, including any technology that will help combat the illegal production of fake and cloned number plates,’ the spokesperson said.

The Victorian Government kicked off an Australia-first rollout of holographic license plates which are impossible to duplicate (pictured concept design)