Vehicle theft in India’s capital has evolved from crude break-ins to sophisticated digital deception. A growing car cloning racket in Delhi is blending traditional theft with advanced technology, creating a web of crime that now extends from the streets to the servers.
According to Delhi Police, the latest trend involves organized gangs stealing vehicles and then “cloning” them — by replicating registration numbers, forging smart RCs, and fabricating digital documents to make stolen cars appear legitimate. Officials say this hybrid model of physical theft and cyber fraud has emerged as one of the most complex challenges for law enforcement agencies in recent years.
The Modus Operandi: How Cloned Cars Go Legit
Investigators reveal that the process begins with data harvesting. Criminals identify vehicles of the same make, model, and color parked in public places or listed online. They then steal a similar car and reproduce every detail — from the number plate and chassis information to insurance and tax certificates — using forged or digitally tampered documents.
A senior police official said,
“This isn’t just car theft anymore. It’s a convergence of mechanical skill and cybercrime. The gangs are as adept with data as they are with lock-picking tools.”
In some cases, even QR codes and RFID chips embedded in registration certificates are being cloned using digital scanners. These counterfeit chips are programmed to mimic genuine data, allowing stolen vehicles to pass routine traffic or toll inspections without detection.
“Thousands of small frauds add up to crores,” warns cyber expert Dr. Triveni Singh
Renowned cybercrime expert and former IPS officer Dr. Triveni Singh describes the racket as part of a growing data-driven fraud ecosystem, where technology amplifies the scale of traditional crimes.
“Car cloning is no longer a petty theft issue. It’s an organized digital fraud. Every stolen car comes with a parallel set of fake documents — RC, insurance, emission certificates, even falsified e-challan records. What looks like a few minor frauds at the individual level quickly snowballs into a multi-crore illegal trade,”
said Dr. Singh.
He emphasized that India’s vehicle data infrastructure remains vulnerable, with limited cross-verification between transport databases and law enforcement systems.
“If this data is compromised, criminals can hijack not just a car — but its entire digital identity,” he cautioned.
Police Crackdowns and Expanding Networks
In recent months, Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has busted several such rackets operating from South-West Delhi, Rohini, and Outer Ring Road zones, recovering dozens of cloned vehicles and stacks of forged RC cards. Investigators say many of these operations have links to syndicates in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
A police officer involved in the investigation explained,
“These networks are highly organized. Within 72 hours of theft, a car is repainted, given a cloned identity, and shipped across state borders. Some even reappear in ride-hailing services or second-hand car markets.”
Buyers Beware: Second-Hand Market Under the Scanner
Experts warn that many unsuspecting buyers become indirect victims when they purchase cloned vehicles from unverified dealers. Consumers are urged to verify every car’s engine and chassis number on the Vahan portal and cross-check QR codes on documents before completing any transaction.
A Crime of the Future
The rise of car cloning in Delhi reflects a broader transformation in criminal strategy — where technology enables old crimes to acquire new sophistication.
“It’s the perfect example of a smart city crime — fast, data-driven, and difficult to trace,” said a senior official from Delhi’s Cyber Crime Unit.
The car cloning racket underscores a worrying trend in India’s urban crime landscape — where the intersection of digital technology and physical theft has created a new breed of criminal enterprise. In this new era, stealing a car isn’t enough; the real profit lies in stealing its identity.
