A MOTORIST was banned from driving and taken to court for FIVE speeding offences he never committed.
Matt Smith, 48, from Reading, Berks, reveals how he was the victim of a lucrative penalty points-dodging racket that frames innocent drivers.
Oliver DixonMatt Smith was slapped with driving bans for offences he never commited[/caption]
The misery of so-called ‘NIP farming’ is laid bare today as Matt tells how he’s been banned from driving twice in just six months over a string of speeding offences he had nothing to do with.
The scam is named after the dreaded ‘Notice of Intended Prosecution’ letters that drivers receive after getting flashed by a speed camera.
Rather than owning up, unscrupulous motorists are paying hundreds of pounds to crooks who offer to arrange for someone else to ‘take the points’.
But in reality, the go-betweens often use the cloned identities of blameless victims whose information has been leaked in data breaches and marketed on the dark web.
A Sun investigation has revealed how the shameless fraudsters are offering their services on social media – with our reporter approached within minutes of posting on Facebook.
And cyber security experts have told us how the worrying crime is on the rise, with criminals able to easily access drivers’ details from data leaks.
Road to ruin
Tesla driver Matt has twice lost his licence for motoring crimes stretching from London to the East Midlands, and was banned for months amid wrangles with the courts and DVLA – despite being innocent.
Matt said: “It was absolutely bonkers. The whole thing was incredibly stressful and left me wracked with anxiety.
“The amount of calls, letters and emails – it was like a full time job.”
His nightmare began last September with a letter from the DVLA telling him he’d been slapped with a six-month ban.
It claimed he’d racked up 12 points after failing to attend court hearings for speeding offences in Northampton, Essex and Norfolk.
Matt says: “The first I knew of them was when I had my licence taken away. It was completely out of the blue.
“They were all in vehicles I’ve never owned, borrowed or rented, and in places that I wasn’t in at the time.”
Bemused Matt quickly got the Norfolk and Essex cases overturned through local magistrates courts and briefly had his licence reinstated.
They were all in vehicles I’ve never owned, borrowed or rented
Matt Smith
“Essex said it was clearly a case of mistaken identity,” says Matt.
He continues: “Norfolk wanted me to attend a hearing but cancelled it three days before saying they’d reviewed the evidence and could see from the speed camera photos that a woman was driving the car. You couldn’t make it up.”
That left the Northampton offence outstanding, which carried six points and a £440 fine for breaking a 50mph speed limit in a Mercedes.
Matt said: “I was getting horrible, threatening letters from the fines department saying they were going to set the bailiffs on me, or contact my employers to have the money taken out of my wages.
“I told them it wasn’t me – whoever filled in the form used my name, date of birth and driving licence number, but the signature looked nothing like mine.”
As Matt pleaded with magistrates to reopen the Northampton case, he was rocked by a SECOND ban in December for breaking the speed limit while supposedly driving a Lexus in Highbury, London.
They’d reviewed the evidence and could see from the speed camera photos that a woman was driving the car
Matt Smith
And while explaining his case in court last month he was told of a FIFTH offence – also in the capital – this time driving a BMW.
That one was also quickly overturned after Matt proved he was working from home, and magistrates in Northampton dismissed their case in January.
But Matt remained banned until just two weeks ago when the final outstanding offence was discontinued by Highbury magistrates court.
“Dealing with these cases took over my life,” he says. “I’m a business development manager and spend a lot of time on the road for meetings, but I had to tell work I was banned from driving.
“They were amazing, but I was relying on a colleague to ferry me around to appointments.
“I couldn’t visit relatives over Christmas and my partner hates driving on motorways so for months I was restricted to staying local.”
Industrial operation
Robin EveleighWe caught fraudsters offering to take the penalty points of speeding drivers[/caption]
The crooks bragged about their apparent happy customers
Cybersecurity expert James Bore told The Sun Matt had likely fallen foul of an NIP farm sting.
“These sorts of activities are more prevalent than people realise,” said James.
“Usually they’re presented as a service that arranges for speeding offences to be dismissed, so ‘customers’ aren’t aware that others are being framed.
“It’s also fairly easy to find instructions on how to do this yourself on both the dark web and public web, if you know where to look.”
‘Customers’ aren’t aware that others are being framed
James Bore
Our reporter was approached by an NIP farm within minutes of posting on a speeding ticket Facebook group that he was facing penalty points for breaking the limit.
He was sent a private message saying: “We have people who take the points for you. It’s £300, need you to send the letter to a certain address.
“When we receive the letter I will get it filled out for you, send you a screenshot and then when you transferred the money it will be sent in the post.”
James explained criminals obtain driver information through a variety of underhand methods.
“Several car hire companies have suffered cyber attacks and once details are out and available they’re easily picked up cheaply,” he said. “The DVLA itself has admitted to hundreds of privacy breaches over the years.
“That’s without going into phishing attacks, or the number of services which need a photo of a government-issued ID for verification, and which may not protect or dispose of that info effectively.”
We have people who take the points for you
NIP scammer
Matt says as far as he is aware police have taken no action to identify the real drivers who landed him with a ban. However, Norfolk Police told The Sun: “We are looking into this matter further.”
James commented: “This is another form of fraud and while fraud of all types makes up about 40 per cent of all crime in the UK, funding to combat it makes up just 1 per cent.
“The vast majority of police forces have no specialists at all in the field, meaning investigations are rare and prosecutions rarer still.
“You might expect questions to be asked after half a dozen NIPs naming the same person, but there’s no sign of fraud checks or safeguards in place, nor any strong processes in place for dealing with victims of identity fraud like Matt.”
Police crackdown
One force cracking down on NIP farms is Greater Manchester Police.
Last year they busted dozens of drivers who paid an NIP farm to dodge points and fines for speeding, jumping red lights and driving without due care and attention.
Crooks used fictitious names but real addresses.
One terraced house in Oldham, Greater Manchester, had been used 140 times by the criminals, while an address in Accrington, Lancs, was used 50 times.
Meanwhile, Lancashire Police last year prosecuted around 60 drivers over false details given through NIP farms.
Matt said after months of wrangling the DVLA had issued him with a new driving licence number and were in the process of removing his last three remaining points.
The DVLA said in a statement: “The enforcement of road traffic offences is a matter for the police and court service.
“DVLA’s role is as a record keeper. It is the courts who decide whether to award points to a driver and/or to disqualify them.
“DVLA will then update the record with the information provided by the court.”
Oliver DixonMatt has had wrangles with the courts and DVLA for months – despite being innocent[/caption]
GettyMotorists face prison for asking someone else to take their speeding points[/caption] Read More