Trade Me car thieves growing net savvy

Online sites are shopping spots for ingenious thieves. Photo / Chris Skelton

Car thieves are using Trade Me as a catalogue for crime, tracking down owners of desirable vehicles from number plates.

The culprits note the number of vehicles they like, spend a few dollars to get publicly available name and address details and steal the cars.

Detective Craig Clare from Christchurch police said high-performance Japanese cars were often targeted - for the whole vehicle or parts.

Nissan Skylines and Subarus were particularly popular.

Police at national headquarters don't know how widespread the problem is, but are collating data to get a national picture.

Trade Me has an average of 57,000 vehicles listed each month. Trust and safety manager Chris Budge said Trade Me took significant steps to protect members' privacy.

But it was powerless to stop thieves getting registration details if members include the number plate in photos.

"There's absolutely nothing anyone can do," said Budge.

Owner information is available from any post office for just $2.25 and from other outlets offering a vehicle licensing service, including carjam.co.nz, which charges $9.85 but only provides the owner's name and suburb they live in.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner will restrict access from November 1, when people wanting information will have to apply to the New Zealand Transport Authority.

"We have been working towards these changes for some time and are really pleased to see they will be coming into effect," Assistant Privacy Commissioner Katrine Evans said.

Clare said it could be hard to stop determined thieves, but there were ways to minimise the risk.

Sellers could meet potential buyers for test drives away from home.

"It might be an inconvenience for you but a couple of bucks' petrol is better than your car going missing."

He also recommended accompanying a would-be buyer on a test drive. And common sense should prevail when listing a car on Trade Me.

"Cover up the licence plate or pixellate it," he said.

Protect yourself
* Do not display your car registration plate in photos - put a rag over it or blur it out in the photo.
* Do not upload photos that reveal where you live. Be wary of questions posted by potential buyers that are not related specifically to the car. * Meet potential buyers in a mutual location - and don't put your address on the internet for all to see.
* If a buyer takes a car for a test drive, either go with them or ask them to leave something valuable as security.

- CHRISTCHURCH STAR