A CAR ownership verification company has warned it has evidence of a new car theft scam emerging across the UK.

It involves a seemingly responsible driver leaving a note on your car admitting to scratching it.

When the owner makes contact, the thief promises to send out a repair company to fix the damage.

Someone duly turns up purporting to be from such a company, but their actual intention is to use a diagnostic device to clone the owner's car key.

The cover story is that a laptop needs to be plugged into the car’s Engine Control Unit (ECU) in order to establish the correct paint code.

They then claim they don't carry that particular paint and will need to return later, which they don’t.




But they leave with all the information required to create a copy of the owner's key and can return to steal the vehicle at any time.

Roger Powell, Divisional Head at CDL Vehicle Information Services Ltd (which owns MyCarCheck.com), explained: “Our main business is helping used car buyers to confirm whether their potential pride and joy has a questionable history, but in the course of our day-to-day business we get to hear about the latest tactics being employed by car thieves.

“A well-placed industry source has told us there have been at least two instances of ‘the paint scratch con’.



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