Why Do People Hide Their License Plates?

[Ruckus]

I see lots of photos of Mustangs on this forum, and most of them have had their license plates intentionally obscured. Why? :shrug:

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[Todd15Fastback]

They are trying to hide some of their PII.

 

[H1 GT]

If its a common car, someone can make replica plates and then steal another car (similar make, model, color...). They can put their replica plates on a stolen car and if the police happen to see it and run the plates but not the VIN their search wouldn't show the car as stolen.

 

[Ruckus]

If its a common car, someone can make replica plates and then steal another car (similar make, model, color...). They can put their replica plates on a stolen car and if the police happen to see it and run the plates but not the VIN their search wouldn't show the car as stolen.

If the car is stolen, wouldn't the owner report it as stolen? And if cops ran the plates, wouldn't they think they found a stolen car? And if they stopped the car and ran the VIN, wouldn't they discover that the car was in fact, stolen? And sporting bogus plates...

This sounds like an awful lot of trouble for the average criminal to go through. Fabricating license plates to create a clone of a car they want to steal? Has this happened before or is this hypothetical?

 

[Flak]

It's not that hard to get registration information. Can give people who want a car easier access to find where it's garaged.

 

[Highwayman]

Last thing you want is a thief to like your car and plate completely visible in pics. They can now get address info easily and know exactly where to go to get what they like or can sell. Crop that stuff out of pics. A little CYA isn't a bad thing.

 

[70monte]

I don't worry about it because every time you drive the car or leave it parked somewhere, people can see your plates. I would be more worried about someone local stealing my plates than someone on the internet trying to fabricate my plates.

Wayne

 

[Reaper]

http://jalopnik.com/5941797/should-you-bother-obscuring-your-license-plates-in-photos

 

[Ruckus]

I don't worry about it because every time you drive the car or leave it parked somewhere, people can see your plates. I would be more worried about someone local stealing my plates than someone on the internet trying to fabricate my plates.

Right?

I've always been of the mind that If your car is out in public view, everyone can see your tags, so why should we go through the hassle of hiding them from view on the Internet?

http://jalopnik.com/5941797/should-you-bother-obscuring-your-license-plates-in-photos

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing. There's a lot of kooks out there, for sure. I guess it just comes down to your own comfort zone. I suppose blocking tags is a reasonable precaution, but it's sad that we've got to worry about all of these horrific "what ifs?" because of a few bad apples.

If people attend Mustang meetups, will they honor the privacy of those in attendance by blocking their tags?

What about the guys who are openly discussing getting vanity plates for their Mustangs? Second thoughts?

 

[MELLOWYELLOW06]

I take my plates off at car shows.

I dont see the reason to put more info up on the net than necessary.

 

[Waylap1]

I'm a retired law enforcement officer and for the life of me I can't figure out why people hide their tags in photos! YOU DRIVE IT IN PLAIN VIEW ALL DAY EVERY DAY!
Seriously! I've never seen or heard of some shenanigans coming about by posting a photo of your car with a tag visible. I worked in South Florida, quite busy and plenty of crime....not one instance of a call where someone got f'd by that. Not one.
Paranoid people.
But then they turn around and park their cars with valuables in plain view like radar detectors etc and wonder why they have a broken window.
Anyone,...I mean anyone...can pay about 10 bucks at your local dmv to have reg info disclosed with your tag or vin. If your state is tougher, 50 bucks to a p.i. Or lawyer. It's PUBLIC information as well as your property taxes, marriage and divorce records, death and birth etc.

 

[2yankeesoldiers]

I see lots of photos of Mustangs on this forum, and most of them have had their license plates intentionally obscured. Why? :shrug:

One guy heard from another guy, most likely on the "internet" that it will keep Crime away...

From there, it grew into an 'ole wives' tale' and thus the practice of this 007 Secret agent practice was born.

 

[Todd15Fastback]

They are trying to hide some of their PII.

I thought since we had a good bit of IT centric folks, my comment would generate a chuckle. Oh well :headbonk:

 

[HalfMoon]

Let's say you come on the forum and show everyone your long list of modifications that add up to $30k in performance and underhood chrome and have your plates shown. Cool, right?

Now, a few weeks later a slimeball sees your car at the grocery store and thinks "hey, that looks like... Oh, it is "5OBRO"....". Then he can target you from there.

Otherwise you're just another Mustang. Getting registration info otherwise as others say won't tell the scumball what you have in/on your car, but the internet will.

 

[Flak]

I'm a retired law enforcement officer and for the life of me I can't figure out why people hide their tags in photos! YOU DRIVE IT IN PLAIN VIEW ALL DAY EVERY DAY!
Seriously! I've never seen or heard of some shenanigans coming about by posting a photo of your car with a tag visible. I worked in South Florida, quite busy and plenty of crime....not one instance of a call where someone got f'd by that. Not one.
Paranoid people.
But then they turn around and park their cars with valuables in plain view like radar detectors etc and wonder why they have a broken window.
Anyone,...I mean anyone...can pay about 10 bucks at your local dmv to have reg info disclosed with your tag or vin. If your state is tougher, 50 bucks to a p.i. Or lawyer. It's PUBLIC information as well as your property taxes, marriage and divorce records, death and birth etc.

Because the internet and technology in general has created an easy way to find victims. Life is security through obscurity. The internet removes that, especially when your personal life becomes a viral subject for some reason.

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