Stolen License Plates Used in Gasoline Thefts

Netlore Archive: Forwarded email warns that criminals are stealing license plates and mounting them on their own vehicles to avoid being caught perpetrating 'pump and run' gasoline thefts

Description: Email rumor
Circulating since: May 2006
Status: Overblown

Email example contributed by Glenn G., 25 May, 2007:

Subject: Watch your license plates

A woman said her son found his license plate missing, so he called the police to file a report. They told him people were stealing the plates to get free gas. Given the rise in gas prices, people have taken to stealing license plates, putting them on their car, then getting gas and running. The gas station will have "your" license plate # and you could be in trouble for "pump and run." Check your car periodically to be sure you still have a plate. If you should find it missing, file a report immediately! Keep an eye on your license plate! Make sure you always know it's there! When the license plate is reported as the "drive off vehicle", it's YOU they contact! Be aware. Be aware of your license plates, most of us never look to see if the plates are there or not.

Comments: While police don't regard this method of gasoline theft as common, they say it does occur and point to increases in both "pump and run" incidents and license plate thefts in some localities concurrent with rising gasoline prices. "There are several methods in the theft of gas, and that is one element," a Des Moines police officer told the Des Moines Register in May 2007. "We know that it does happen."

More commonly, drive-away gasoline thieves simply remove their license plates before refueling to make it harder for anyone to identify their vehicles when they slip away without paying. Even so, gas station owners say revenue losses due to gasoline theft have decreased sharply since 2005, when stations around the country began requiring customers to prepay instead of pumping first and paying later, which made it all too easy for the unscrupulous to take advantage.

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Sources and further reading:

Thieves Taking Gas and License Plates
WOWK-TV News, 28 May 2007

Gas Thieves Steal License Plates
ABC News, 21 May 2007

Police: High Gas Prices Bring Thefts
Des Moines Register, 21 May 2007

Last updated: 05/29/07