A crime targeting unsuspecting motorists is on the rise and there is little they can do to prevent it, authorities say.
Police said criminals are increasingly using hi-tech 3D printers to make false numberplates, using them to commit crimes ranging from robbery to petrol drive-offs.
Victims often do not know it has happened until they cop a string of fines, or worse, face potential arrest.
Victorian carpenter Braden Rawlinson was asked by his family to sell his grandmother's red Holden Cruze last November after she entered aged care.
The 32-year-old listed the car online without blurring the plates, not realising the risk.
Mr Rawlinson said a month later, the police knocked on the family's door trying to impound the car.
"They said the car had been involved in a hit and run, a burglary and a petrol drive-off, and didn't even question if the 91-year-old owner was doing this," he said.
"So they later accused me, as the car was in my possession ... and suggested I was lying.
"I was on holidays when the crimes were committed, so I could show them with my CCTV security surveillance on my computer that the car was at home all the time."
Police then realised the plates had been cloned and was still being used by the thieves.
Mr Rawlinson — who has offered a reward for anyone with information on the car imitating his grandmother's — was understandably frustrated by the cloning.
To make matters worse, despite a letter of authority from his grandmother and a signed statutory declaration, he has been unable to get new plates through VicRoads.
"At the moment I have a car sitting in my driveway, realistically, I cannot do anything with," he said.
Motorists have to prove innocence
A similarly brazen scheme caught Brisbane woman Susan, who asked for her surname to be withheld due to her concerns about privacy, by surprise when $5,000 in speeding fines arrived in the mail at her Indooroopilly home.
She said her family's white Volkswagen Polo plates were cloned at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
"We were shocked ... so much money," she said.
"I then had a look at our toll account and saw these extra transactions, and I could see most were in the middle of the night between 1am and 3am."
Susan said she went to the local police station and the officer immediately told her "this has been cloned".
The mother of two believes the car was photographed by criminals while it was parked on the road outside their home, as it had never been advertised for sale online.
"It was not as though it was obvious though, like the letters were clearly thicker or thinner or a different style or anything, for the average person it looked the same," Susan said.
"They must trawl around looking for cars identical to theirs.
"I had never heard of it and was surprised someone would do that."
She handed in their plates and got new ones and did not have to pay the penalties, but has no idea if the thieves are still using their fake plates.
Police said car dealers have been caught out and left to fight infringement notices after thieves saw cars advertised or on show at dealerships and easily mocked up a copy for a similar car.
Attack of the clones using 3D printers
A bevvy of "how to" videos for producing false numberplates with 3D printers are online.
Last December, Victorian police arrested two people following a six-month investigation into the alleged manufacturing and sale of cloned plates.
At the time, Detective Sergeant Nick Lamb said police were aware that numberplate theft and cloning was "often at the centre of more serious offending", including burglary and theft.
In Queensland, no official figures are kept on how many motorists report having their numberplates cloned but police have warned replicas continue to be made.
The RACQ said there is very little motorists can do to protect themselves.
"If you're uploading photos or videos of your vehicle online, make sure you blur or block out the numberplate," principal technical researcher Andrew Kirk.
"It's also a good idea to park in a garage or secure parking facility whenever possible; parking on the street or in your driveway gives criminals easier access to steal or photograph your registration plates."
Queensland police community crime prevention officer Senior Constable Brittany Duncan said offenders are rolling fake numberplates out with the exact same colours and fonts as the originals.
She said while numberplates on cars featured in online ads made it easier for would-be criminals, that is not the only way they were sourcing numberplates to copy.
"It may also happen in at a supermarket or anywhere on the street," Senior Constable Duncan said.
"So just be aware if you see anything suspicious, someone taking photos of vehicles in your street, let us know, report it to police."
Making fake plates more obvious
A spokesperson from Queensland's Transport and Main Roads Department said anyone caught driving with fake plates can be fined more than $5,000.
The fine for having a fake plate on a car or in your possession is $345.
"Since 2020, Queensland numberplates have incorporated directional security marks to assist with the detection of fake numberplates," the spokesperson said.
The state government said the directional marks on newer-model plates are invisible when viewed from straight ahead, but can be seen, both during the day and at night, when viewed from certain angles.
In an Australian first, Victorian authorities have announced they would be introducing anti-theft numberplates with a built-in hologram feature, similar to makings embedded on Australian banknotes.
The Victorian government said it would make them clone-proof with security markings that make it impossible to copy or transfer to another plate without causing "irreparable damage" to the hologram.
No other state has committed to introducing the same technology.
A spokesperson for the NSW transport department said it was aware of Victoria's hologram technology and would monitor its effectiveness.
"Transport for NSW is always looking at ways to improve the security of numberplates used on registered NSW vehicles, including any technology that will help combat the illegal production of fake and cloned numberplates," a department spokesperson said.
