ULEZ: The social media scammers who say they will make non-compliant autos exempt from pollutant cost

Fraudsters promoting counterfeit exemption certification for London’s newly prolonged extremely low emission zone are promoting extensively on social media, Sky News has discovered.

Adverts on Facebook Marketplace, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp declare to have the ability to make autos “ULEZ exempt” in as little as 24 hours utilizing nothing greater than the car’s logbook.

Transport for London (TfL) says it’s conscious of criminals trying to submit purposes and has already eliminated “many” that it suspects of being fraudulent.

The ULEZ was expanded to cowl the entire of Greater London on Tuesday, that means automobiles that don’t meet the required emissions requirements now have to pay £12.50 per day to drive within the capital metropolis.

Generally, this implies most petrol automobiles made earlier than January 2006 and diesel automobiles made earlier than September 2015 are actually liable to pay the price to drive in London. The solely method drivers might keep away from the cost whereas persevering with to drive their non-compliant automobile is thru upgrading the exhaust system or engine – which comes with a hefty price ticket within the hundreds.

However, the fraudsters uncovered by Sky News declare to have the ability to recreation the system to make sure even probably the most polluting automobile is registered as assembly ULEZ requirements for a price of as much as £1,000.

One vendor informed Sky News that they had efficiently “processed” greater than 100 autos utilizing the tactic.

“We are working with the police to make sure the criminals face the consequences of their actions and are working closely with vehicle manufacturers to prevent fraudulent applications being successful,” a TfL spokesperson mentioned.

Most of the listings regarding ULEZ exemptions on Facebook Marketplace are folks promoting used automobiles and vans the place the vendor has specified that the car up on the market is exempt from the just lately expanded ULEZ fees.

However, a brief scroll reveals an altogether completely different sort of itemizing additionally options within the search.

Sky News discovered 5 sellers on Facebook’s second-hand gross sales platform providing to get the standing of autos beforehand deemed as non-compliant by TfL modified to say they meet emissions requirements for costs starting from £149 to £500.

The same search on TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram reveals no less than eight different comparable profiles the place the costs go as much as £1,000 for bigger autos.

Each account seems to supply broadly the identical service – the place a automobile’s standing is modified in a matter of days utilizing only a small quantity of knowledge offered by the client.

Many of the sellers additionally define that cost is simply taken as soon as TfL have confirmed the exemption has been granted.

Sky News went undercover utilizing a faux social media profile to determine additional details about the shady schemes.

One vendor mentioned that they had been “processing” automobiles for greater than a yr and had efficiently registered greater than 100 autos as ULEZ compliant. They mentioned all that was required for the standing change to achieve success are footage of the car’s VC5 logbook in addition to the title and deal with to ship correspondence to.

As proof of the scheme’s viability, Sky News acquired the licence plate variety of two autos that the vendor claimed to have efficiently registered as compliant.

Using the TfL car checker, Sky News discovered that the autos offered had been listed as non-compliant on Sunday however appeared registered as assembly emissions requirements the next morning.

An extra verify of the licence plate utilizing the general public car checker database reveals each are diesel automobiles made earlier than the September 2015 lower off date, that means they match the profile of a non-compliant car.

Sky News was not in a position to confirm whether or not both car had been modified to satisfy emissions requirements.

We discovered an identical consequence after we researched a licence plate quantity shared in an advert for these companies posted by a TikTok consumer.

The car was listed as a diesel automobile courting again to 2008 – subsequently doubtless not assembly the ULEZ emissions requirements. Like the others, nevertheless, it appeared as compliant with ULEZ on the TfL portal.

TfL says it’s now investigating these cases after it was alerted to them by Sky News.

Most sellers had been reluctant to disclose precisely how they might assure that the autos could be registered as ULEZ-compliant with TfL regardless of making no materials alterations to the automobile.

However, one indicated to Sky News that counterfeit paperwork could also be concerned.

The vendor informed Sky News that they maintain a certificates of conformity for the car, which is distributed to TFL earlier than being processed by “an insider” to ensure its success. They didn’t present any proof to help this declare.

TfL later confirmed to Sky News that they’re investigating fraudulent exercise regarding ULEZ exemptions.

“Drivers should not use the services advertised by these fraudsters as they will also be committing a criminal offence as well as wasting their money as their exemption will not stand,” a spokesperson for TfL mentioned.

Other companies claimed to be offered by a few of the fraudsters embrace IDs, faux MOT certificates, dashing and crimson mild ticket removing.

“These latest findings are really worrying as they indicate consumers could lose money and end up breaking the law themselves by trying to defraud TfL,” mentioned Lisa Webb, Consumer Law professional on the client rights web site Which?.

“Which? recently uncovered copycat websites that are ripping consumers off when they are trying to pay outstanding ULEZ charges, so opportunists are clearly out there trying to make a quick buck out of the ULEZ scheme.”

Both Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Snapchat say they don’t enable fraudulent exercise on their platforms.

The Facebook and Instagram posts Sky News flagged on this article have now been taken down and the Snapchat accounts have been disabled.

TikTok didn’t reply to Sky News’ request for remark.

The Data and Forensics crew is a multi-skilled unit devoted to offering clear journalism from Sky News. We collect, analyse and visualise information to inform data-driven tales. We mix conventional reporting abilities with superior evaluation of satellite tv for pc photographs, social media and different open supply data. Through multimedia storytelling we goal to higher clarify the world whereas additionally displaying how our journalism is finished.