Ontario plans public safety legislation targeting stolen vehicle registration schemes

The Ford government is acceptable to present stiff penalties for thieves who rip disconnected morganatic conveyance recognition numbers and use them to stolen vehicles, Global News has learned, successful an effort to ace down connected a increasing auto-theft-related issue.

While aggregate levels of authorities person thrown hundreds of millions towards cracking down connected the auto theft transgression wave, politicians person besides been warned astir a 2nd furniture of transgression targeting a vehicle’s unsocial 17-character recognition fig known arsenic a VIN.

The code, which includes accusation astir a vehicle’s make, model, twelvemonth and manufacturing determination and is wide considered to beryllium a fingerprint for cars, has progressively go a people for thieves looking to legitimize a stolen vehicle.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says the process of “reVINing” has been “particularly pronounced” successful Ontario and has called connected the Ford authorities to instrumentality a suite of reforms.

Internal authorities documents, obtained by Global News, suggest the Ford authorities has been intimately tracking the issue.

During a 14-month play successful 2023 and 2024, ServiceOntario investigated 615 cases of fraudulent conveyance registration, the authorities documents stated, requiring caller tools for constabulary officers to people the increasing issue.

The Ford authorities present plans to present authorities to make a caller Highway Traffic Act offence for knowingly providing the Ministry of Transportation with a mendacious conveyance recognition number, with imaginable fines and jailhouse clip for convicted fraudsters.

“We’re moving connected authorities to bring successful immoderate of the toughest penalties connected the impacts of re-VINing,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said during a Sunday quality conference.

While the curate didn’t connection details, the interior documents amusement the penalties nether consideration:

• Fines betwixt $50,000 and $75,000 for the archetypal offence, and $75,000 to $100,000 for the 2nd offence.
• Up to six months of jailhouse time
• Up to a one-year driver’s licence suspension

According to authorities slides, the state initially considered a overmuch little good of betwixt $5,000 and $25,000 earlier dramatically raising them successful the last legislation.

While the beefed-up laws are designed to service arsenic a deterrent, it is unclear whether the Ford authorities is looking to instrumentality preventative measures that person seen affirmative impacts successful different provinces.

In 2021, erstwhile Caroline Mulroney was inactive Transportation Minister, the state began consulting connected however to amended Ontario’s assigned VIN program.

While the Ministry of Transportation requires a sworn affidavit to delegate an recognition number, the state wanted feedback connected whether it should present an investigative strategy that would complaint applicants a fee.

A summary of the connection pointed to Alberta and Saskatchewan which usage third-party investigators to implicit a elaborate inspection of the conveyance and its past earlier assigning a VIN, astatine a outgo of betwixt $100-$500 to the applicant.

“After introducing third-party investigations into their assigned VIN programs, Alberta and Saskatchewan reported important improvements to the integrity of their assigned VIN programs, including betterment of stolen vehicles,” the connection said.

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In the interim, sources told Global News the authorities has been softly making fractional a twelve “mechanical changes” astatine ServiceOntario to people VIN-related fraud successful bid to adjacent loopholes.

The nonstop details of the changes, however, are being intimately guarded for “operational information reasons” to guarantee fraud detection measures aren’t publically advertised.

NDP MPP Jennifer French has besides called for an overhaul of the province’s VIN database aft a fig of constabulary crackdowns related to VIN-related fraud.

In 1 case, Toronto constabulary charged a ServiceOntario worker who allegedly issued “legitimate-looking conveyance registrations” successful bid to “re-vin stolen vehicles, efficaciously disguising them arsenic legitimate.”

“We should expect that immoderate VIN successful the registry is legitimate,” French told Global News. “We shouldn’t question the legitimacy of the VIN database”

French called for clarity connected however the fraud detection process wrong ServiceOntario would emblem a imaginable lawsuit of re-VINing and fortify the interior audit system.

“It’s astatine champion a enactment successful process oregon astatine worse a mess,” French said of the ServiceOntario audit system. “We request to tidy that up and marque definite the VIN database has integrity.”

Global News asked the Ford authorities wherefore it took truthful agelong to instrumentality the changes, and what came of the 2021 consultation, but did not person a response.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada has called connected the Ford authorities for further preventative measures specified arsenic restricting nationalist entree to elaborate conveyance accusation reports that could see the unsocial VIN codification and has asked the national authorities to make a nationalist VIN database.

The state is expected to array its authorities connected Nov. 4.