SHENZHEN traffic police have conducted a citywide crackdown on illegal vehicle plates recently, while six car dealerships were exposed forging non-local car license plates for car buyers, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

    Seven people involved in counterfeiting and selling fake temporary car plates were placed under administrative detention, while three other people who forged official documents, certificates or seals will face criminal charges, according to the city’s traffic police bureau.

    Six car dealerships were found illegally applying for temporary car plates in other cities for Shenzhen’s car buyers, as well as forging or altering temporary plates, while charging high fees from buyers.

    “Staff members in these dealerships deceived customers by saying it was difficult to get temporary plates in Shenzhen and charged customers hundreds or thousands of yuan for the temporary plate,” said Li Guangqun, the head of the legal affairs division of the Shenzhen Municipal Traffic Police Bureau.

    Li said that car owners with qualification to get new car plates can easily make appointments for the vehicle registration in Shenzhen, while the procedure only costs five yuan (US$0.78) for each car owner.

    Staff members of these car dealerships also encouraged customers who didn’t have license plates to buy cars while offering illegal temporary plates at inflated prices.

    Car owners usually didn’t know they had bought fake plates until they were investigated by the traffic police.

    Applicants for car plates in other cities have to provide local ID and residence permits.

    “But car owners in this case only have Shenzhen IDs and residence permits, which means that all these temporary plates were illegally gotten by car dealerships,” Li said.

    All the six car dealerships involved were blacklisted by the city’s traffic police bureau with their vehicle service suspended from yesterday to the end of the month. (Zhang Yang)