Cruising in their classic 1966 Ford Mustang was one of the joys of retired life for Mary and Dan Smith, but that joy took an unexpected turn when they received a fine for an alleged toll they never paid.
That fine was for the New Jersey Turnpike, a toll road that the Enfield, Connecticut couple hadn’t driven on in years, let alone in the very specific car that authorities had flagged.
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"Our Mustang was never there," Mary told WBTV. "We never drove that far with that old car to begin with."
Now the couple is sounding the alarm on so-called "ghost car fraud," a scam that is quickly becoming a growing problem for American drivers and state governments.
‘We haven’t been to New Jersey in at least 5 years’
It all started when Mary found a letter from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in the mail. In it, the authority stated the Smiths’s license plates were recorded traveling through one of the state’s E-ZPass toll booths without paying. The fine? $11.50.
"We haven’t been to New Jersey in at least 5 years," said Mary.
The Smiths appealed the fine, but the couple was shocked when the appeal was denied. Making matters worse, their $11.50 fine had skyrocketed to $111.50 thanks to administrative fees. From then on, the bills just kept coming, almost daily.
Finally, a letter arrived with visual evidence of the supposed offense, showing a car distinctly different from the Smiths’s classic yellow Mustang. While unclear, the photo showed a vehicle with modern taillights that featured the same license plate as the Smiths’s Mustang. The couple sent replies to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority stating that while the plates seemed to match, the car captured in the photo was in no way theirs.
"We’re giving you all the information, the pictures, what more can we do?"
It was only after WBTV inquired on behalf of the Smiths that the error was rectified, with the couple no longer on the hook for the charges.
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What is ‘ghost car fraud’?
Ghost car fraud is a type of scam where criminals steal or duplicate license plates and put them on different vehicles, causing the legitimate plate owners to receive toll violations and fines for roads they never traveled.
License plate theft scams typically involve criminals stealing plate numbers in a few common ways:
- Physically removing plates from vehicles.
- Creating duplicate plates to mask stolen vehicles.
- Using stolen plate information for identity theft or toll evasion.
- Capturing plate images to create fraudulent registrations.
The Smiths’s story is similar to those of other Americans who also found they had become victims of ghost car fraud. Joanne Barbara from New Jersey once discovered her temporary Audi SUV plates were duplicated on a black Audi sedan, racking up over $600 in tolls and fines, according to WABC. Similarly, Walter Gursky discovered his truck’s temporary license plates were also duplicated on a white Tesla, resulting in $167 in toll violations.
The states of New York and New Jersey have since taken steps to alert residents about this scam.
"Ghost plates and toll evasion cost our state millions each year," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement on NYC’s official website. "Working in partnership with Mayor Adams and law enforcement, we are prioritizing the safety of all New Yorkers by removing these vehicles from our streets and ensuring these brazen actions do not go unchecked any longer."
How to protect your license plates
While there might not be much you can do to thwart criminals from stealing the numbers and duplicating your license plates, there are a few things you can do to prevent your plates from being stolen from your car.
For starters, parking your car in the garage and keeping it off the street as much as possible can make it more challenging for criminals to steal your plates. You could also protect your plates by installing an anti-theft license plate cover, or replacing the screws on your plates with tamper-proof screws. These screws can only be installed or removed using a special wrench that comes with the screws.
If you’ve received a letter from a toll authority claiming that you owe money for tolls that were wrongfully applied to your license plate, you can follow the same steps the Smiths took to rectify their situation:
- Contact the toll authority to both verify and dispute the charge(s).
- Request photographic evidence of the supposed offense, as this could prove that your plates were duplicated and you did not incur the toll charges.
- If you hit a wall in dealing with the toll authority, consider alerting your local news outlet about your situation, as Mary Smith had done. Bringing local news into the situation could apply enough pressure to encourage the toll authority to recognize the fraud and clear the charges from your records.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
