A woman from Kent was wrongly accused of being involved in a car accident 280 miles away after criminals cloned her registration plate.
Shelli Birkett, from Herne Bay, was contacted by her insurance company regarding an incident in Liverpool, despite never having been there. She was forced to prove her whereabouts using Google location data and social media posts to clear her name.
The cloned plates had been attached to a car of the same make and model, further complicating the situation. Even after the case was closed, Birkett received legal demands for settlement money from the other party involved.
Number plate cloning, which is on the rise according to Kent Police, is commonly used by criminals to hide the identity of stolen or salvaged vehicles. Offenders often source plates from images online or have duplicates illegally made.