1 month ago
6 
A mum who lives in Kent was accused of being in a car crash in Liverpool, despite never visiting the city in her life.
Shelli Birkett, who lives in Herne Bay, was accused by her insurance company of being in the accident.
She soon found out that she had been a victim of number plate fraud, which is on the rise.
This involves number plates that have either been stolen or copied.
In Shelli’s case, not only had her number plate been cloned, it had also been put on the same make of car.
Shelli, who runs Shelli B Design, told Metro: ‘I received an email from my insurance company stating they had been informed that I had been involved in a collision and that they wanted me to contact them immediately.
‘I did and I just panicked at first thinking, well I haven’t, I didn’t want to get into trouble for something like that.
‘I contacted them and said I haven’t been in any collisions. They then proceeded to tell me that I had been involved in a collision in Liverpool that was my fault and they needed proof of the condition of the car.
‘I had to send them photos of the exterior of my car just prove its condition. I also sent them my Google location to prove I definitely wasn’t in Liverpool that day. I’ve never been to Liverpool.’
Shelli was also forced to send them a video from her social media proving she was at work at the time.
She said she was worried that somebody had stolen her car.
Shelli said that she felt like there was a lack of support considering the situation she found herself in.
‘When I sent them the proof, they weren’t thankful, I don’t think they actually replied to me, it was more like “ok we will proceed”,’ she said.
‘They eventually replied and said they closed the case and said it was mistaken identity.
‘When I rang my insurance company they said my number plate had probably been cloned.
‘That was the only point anyone had discussed it with me. Nobody apologised afterwards and there was no further investigation.
‘I didn’t get any support at all. If I didn’t prove myself innocent I would have to have paid out.
‘I was still asked for settlement fees from the claimant’s lawyers even after the case had been closed.
‘I feel sorry for anybody who doesn’t know how to use technology because if I didn’t know how to use Google location, or if this crash was local, I wouldn’t have been able to prove anything.’
Number plate cloning is illegal and involves copying and using someone else’s vehicle registration plates on another vehicle.
This is often done to avoid detection for crimes or fines.
Criminals might clone plates to hide the identity of a stolen car or to avoid paying parking tickets or speeding fines, with the genuine owner then receiving the penalties, just like Shelli.
Chief Superintendent Rob Marsh from Kent Police said: ‘In relation to number plate thefts, people are clearly using them to commit other crimes such as whether it’s to avoid congestion charging, other road toll fees, whether it’s to do with making off without paying for fuel.
‘With the increases in the cost of living that can sometimes be a reason for people to engage in criminality of this type.
‘If someone wakes up in the morning, and their number plate is missing, they know they’ve been a victim of crime.
‘If the number plate has, unbeknown to the victim been cloned, we’ve got to wait for it to trigger an ANPR camera linked to another incident and then it would come to our attention and we would then start our investigation.’
A government spokesperson added: ‘The cloning and defacing of number plates is illegal and provides cover for criminals. We are working with the police, the DVLA and other partners to crack down on these crimes.
‘We have begun work on a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade, which aims to reduce road deaths and prevent related crime.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·