KOCHI: Customers going for new vehicles beware! You will be fooled by the vehicle dealers who, in the guise of providing original High Security Registration Plates (HSRP), offer fake number plates.Even as the Transport Department is yet to start the process of HSRP, the dealers are baffling the owners by inducing them to go for fake hologram plates for which they charge an extra amount.Even established automobile dealers are into tricking their customers with fake High Security Registration Plates. “The dealer had told me that it was compulsory to have hologram number plates and insisted on having it,” says Anil S, who recently bought a four-wheeler from an established auto dealer. Without realising that he was being duped, Anil had to spend about Rs 1,000 for the plates which would have otherwise cost him just Rs 600 or so. “I had asked the dealer if the HSRP was mandatory. They said that if such number plates were not used, it would invite legal action,” the dealer said. However, another dealer in Kochi said they never insisted the customers on buying such plates. Asked about several complaints of customers being cheated in the name of HSRP, he said there could be such instances but it was the customers who insist on attractive number plates. Joint Transport Commissioner Alex Paul cautioned people from getting into the trap of such dealers. “All the number plates that are being sold that claims to have hologram and the words ‘IND’ are fake,” he said. The government has not appointed any agency for the sale of High Security Number Plates in the state, he said, and added that a large number of people are being duped by the dealers. He also said that a case had been registered in this regard. However, Alex said the department could not take any legal action against the manufacturers of such plates. “If a person makes a complaint that he has been cheated in the name of fake High Security Registration Plates, then a case of cheating could be registered,” he said. The department only insists that the number plates that are displayed are according to the specifications. They also had no control over the dealers or the persons who sell number plates. The concept of High Security Registration Plates was taken by the Centre to reduce the number of vehicle thefts.
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