On September 18th， according to CCTV， in July 2024， the traffic police detachment of the Zuoquan County Public Security Bureau in Shanxi Province conducted an investigation into motor vehicle archives within its jurisdiction.
During the process， officers discovered that one individual， identified as Li， had over a dozen mini-vans registered under their name， with many of these vehicles having overdue annual inspections.
Traffic police repeatedly attempted to contact Li via phone to remind them about the inspections， but Li and their family consistently stated that they only owned one vehicle and had no knowledge of any others.
The officers preliminarily concluded that this situation likely involved “back-door” registration， a practice where another person’s identity documents are used without their knowledge to register vehicles.
As explained， “back-door” vehicle registration occurs when someone uses another person’s identity and identification to register a vehicle without the owner’s consent or awareness.
If a vehicle registered under the victim’s name through “back-door” registration is involved in a traffic accident or used for illegal activities， it can have severe consequences for the victim. Furthermore， individuals who purchase “back-door” vehicles often do so to evade regulations or responsibilities.
The local police launched an investigation and discovered that Li had a total of 138 vehicles registered under their name through this fraudulent scheme.
The police reviewed all related vehicle transfer archives， meticulously cross-referencing information such as the facilitators and transfer documentation. This investigation uncovered a criminal syndicate centered around staff at a vehicle inspection agency and motor vehicle registration service station within a second-hand car market in Jinzhong City.
Through extensive investigation， the police pieced together the entire criminal chain:
In late 2021， an individual named Dai found Li’s lost identification document in Zuoquan County.
In 2022， while conducting business at a used motor vehicle trading market in Jinzhong City， Dai handed over the identification document to acquaintances Han and Lu， who were second-hand car intermediaries. Dai informed them that the ID could be used for “back-door” registrations.
Observing that Li’s registered address was in a remote area and the individual appeared older， Han and Lu believed Li would be less likely to notice and thus an ideal candidate for “back-door” registration.
Subsequently， Han and Lu colluded with staff members at the same market’s motor vehicle service station， including Zhao and Hao. They kept Li’s identification document at the service station for an extended period. Fully aware that the ID’s origin was questionable and that Li was completely uninformed， they proceeded to forge vehicle transfer authorization documents and processed a large volume of “back-door” registration requests. For each successful registration， they illicitly profited between 100 and 200 yuan.
From June 2022 to December 2023， this criminal group operated extensively， illegally processing 138 “back-door” vehicle registrations using Li’s identification document.
Upon accumulating sufficient evidence， the police arrested nine suspects， including Dai， Han， Lu， Zhang， Zhao， and Hao. These nine individuals were subsequently taken into criminal compulsory measures on suspicion of “identity theft.”
The police issued a reminder urging the public to promptly report and replace lost identification documents. They also cautioned against using found identification documents for any transactions or business， emphasizing the importance of returning them to the public security authorities.
