Stolen Cars Slip Through: CBSA’s New Data-Sharing Move Aims to Stop the Scam
Used car dealer Garry Letichever never thought he’d be a victim—until he found out he’d unknowingly bought and sold stolen vehicles. “Every time it happens, I bleed,” he said, standing amid rows of cars at his Toronto dealership, Quest Auto Group. He’s not alone. Across Canada, thieves are cloning Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) from legally exported cars and slapping them onto stolen ones—a practice called re-VINing—leaving dealers, buyers, and even police in the dark.
This week, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) took a step to plug the gap. Starting Tuesday, it began sharing some vehicle export data with CARFAX, a vehicle history provider, and Équité Association, an insurance fraud watchdog. The agency is also eyeing broader data-sharing with other groups, a move that could help unmask stolen cars before they hit the market.
For years, criminals have exploited a loophole: exported VINs—unique serial numbers visible on dashboards—aren’t easily accessible to verify. Thieves snag these numbers from cars shipped overseas, clone them onto stolen vehicles, and sell them to unsuspecting buyers or dealerships. “It’s massive,” said Det. Greg O’Connor of Peel Regional Police, who’s tracked nearly 300 re-VINed vehicles in the past year alone, including transport trucks. “These frauds can fool even the experts,” added Sam Cosentino of the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC).
The CBSA’s data-sharing pivot follows pressure from the Used Car Dealers Association of Ontario, which has begged for access to exported VINs for over a year. Executive Director James Hamilton calls it a “good start” but wants more—specifically, a tool for dealers to check VINs at little to no cost. “Data is our friend if we use it right,” he said.
Auto theft has plagued Canada, spiking by nearly a third between 2021 and 2023 to 70,475 incidents, per Équité Association stats. Though thefts dropped 18.6% in 2024, the re-VINing problem persists. Criminals favor exported VINs because they’re legit and unlikely to return, explained Bryan Gast of Équité. Toronto Police Det. Dan Kraehling noted thieves often pluck these numbers from open-source import data online—“out of ease more than anything.”
The fallout? Stolen cars end up in dealerships like Letichever’s or in buyers’ driveways—only to be seized by police later, leaving owners high and dry. OMVIC offers a compensation fund for dealer purchases, but private buyers are often out of luck.
CBSA had resisted sharing VINs, citing privacy concerns under the Customs Act. “It makes no sense,” Cosentino countered. “Your VIN’s right there on your dashboard for anyone to see.” The agency now admits the “risk of fraud” outweighs the benefits of a public database but says its new partnerships with CARFAX and Équité are a secure workaround. Details on how they’ll use the data remain murky—both groups declined to specify.
As police and policymakers tighten the screws on auto theft, this data-sharing could be a game-changer—or just a first step. For dealers like Letichever, it’s personal: “We need to stop bleeding.”