The scammers do not need know who you are, where you live, what car you have, its registration-number or its legal status. They send out blizzards of theft attempts in the hope usually realised, of catching enough unwary victims to make their crime worthwhile.
Another theft system has raised its ugly head in towns where the meters in public car-parks offer payment by QR codes. The thieves stick their own codes over the official ones, diverting the payment to themsleves and presumably also giving the bank details of the unfortunate motorist who is also now parking without paying, in the Council’s view. Seeing how some people use their ‘phones to pay in shops, I assume that uses a QR code displayed on the card-reader screen, and wonder if that could be possible for parking-meters.
A brief item on the News this morning stated that the Indian police have broken up a gang there who had scammed a lot of people in Britain. Two arrests have been made, presumably of the gang owners.
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Vehicles in the UK used to have to have their annual Road Fund Licence (tax!) disc displayed in the windscreen, but not the MoT and Insurance. In some European countries the insurance is indicated by a sticker on the number-plate. The tax-disc (not the tax!) was stopped some years ago now though you sometimes see vintage cars with their last disc left still in place like a badge.
It was stopped because it is no longer necessary to display such information.
The Police and other authorities in the UK can determine the tax, MoT and insurance legality of a vehicle very easily and rapidly, via the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency’s web-site.
This site is very clear and easy to use, and some of the information is readable by the public, to help you keep your own car legal, to help potential buyers of second-hand cars, or reporting abandoned vehicles. The public page does not reveal the Registered Keeper of the vehicle (usually but not necessarily the owner, but anyway the person listed as responsible in law for its use on public roads.)
The DVLA and the Insurers inform the keeper of due tax and insurance respectively, but it is up to the individual to know when the MoT expires, and book the test. (It does not apply to vehicles less than three years old.)