Fraud Measures For Number Plate System

A new national database of vehicle identification numbers (commonly known as VINs) should go some way toward eliminating conmen, swindlers and ne’er-do-wells from selling cars without disclosing pertinent information to buyers. Where before buyers could be fooled by falsified salvage history or mileage readouts, the new database gathers all of that in one place under the control of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Created as part of the Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992, it mandated the creation of a federally controlled repository of VIN numbers to prevent car theft and fraud across state lines.

It wasn’t meant to take 18 years to fully get off the ground, but you know how things go at the highest levels of democracy. In fact, not only did it take 18 years, it took lawsuits brought by the non-profit groups Public Citizen of Washington, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety of Sacramento, and Consumer Action of San Francisco against the Department of Justice, which was the department charged with creation of the database.