He's bought a stolen bike

A mate has got a nice bike. Used, a few years old, invery good order.
Not saying what it is, for reasons that will become obvious. And as I
walked past it, in late evening sunshine, something about the VIN plate
riveted to the frame caught my eye.

It was just reflecting too much light from the stamped letters. Not the
plate, but the letters themselves. And I looked closer. Hm. The numbers
seemed to have been stamped in just a bit too heavily.

OK, onto the headstock. And oh deary deary dear. After the first
half-dozen generic serial numbers/letters, the numbers display a minor,
but tell-tale, variation in size and spacing.

It's a ringer. Absolutely 100% sure. It's been ringed well, and a casual
glance at the headstock wouldn't show anything amiss. It was only
because I was a tad suspicious that I got really up close and personal,
and could see it.

So what to do? He's had the bike maybe 18 months. Possibly a bit longer.
I think it was an eBay purchase.

Sell it now, fast, and move on was my (probably unethical) advice. I
doubt that 99% of purchasers would spot anything amiss and it will
continue to circulate on the roads until it gets scrapped.

But what would you do? Anyone?

 

My conciense would say call the police my wallet would say shift the
fucker asap

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

Even if your memory is correct I would check to see if the seller was a
legit trader. If the seller was and is still in business then I might
contact the dealer or Trading Standards. Ultimately the seller is liable.

Is the bike over 3 years old and hence got past an MOT tester? If it has,
what's wrong with keeping it assuming it is mechanically sound?

 

Same - get shot before it comes home to roost. Someone may at some time
lose that bike with no chance of recovering any money from it, I
wouldn't want to be that person.

 

I'm 99% sure it was a private sale.

Because one day someone with eyes as sharp as mine will notice. Or maybe
it'll get involved in an accident and Plod and/or insurance will get
involved. And they'll be even more likely to notice.

 

And if ToG's friend sells it, and the next buyer finds out, T's friend
is the one liable.

How much does he have invested in it?

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

or, as Thomas says, lose out when the buyer finds out and comes for a
refund after reporting it to the police.

Could the value be recovered by breaking the bike?

Insurance fraud: just make sure the "stolen" bike cannot be recovered.

 

Break it, if it's in any way sought after. What about the engine number?

The way I see it, it was bought in good faith and your mate might not /
probably doesn't want to lumber someone else with a millstone.
So, the insurance has paid out, everybody's coughed up and your mate
might get what he'd sell it for anyway and if the frame is gas-axed,
there's an end to it.

 

Tell the police.

 

Yes, but (and do trust me on this) 99% of buyers never even *look* at
engine and chassis numbers, still less really ook at them *closely*. So
the odds are against it.

Possibly, but he's not up to that.

 

About £2.2k, I think.

 

Morally, declaring it is the right thing to do, but like most people I'm
sure I'd have second thoughts about this depending on how much it was going
to cost me.

One thing to bear in mind is that if he does sell it on, things could get
very awkward if the buyer spots the problem, before or after the purchase -
he could find himself charged with handling stolen goods.

 

Not a good situation to be in.

Your friend has several options, some which will almost certainly lead
to them ending up out of pocket, and some which won't... although you
wouldn't want to shout about the latter on a public medium such as an
NG, IMHO.

Does this friend exist, or are you doing some research for a new
article? ;-)

 

Unlikely... especially if he bought the bike from a tracable source /
has a receipt / invoice for it.

 

It would depend on my plans for the bike. If I had planned to keep it
until it dies then I'd just ignore this and get on with it (being
careful about where I got it MOTd).

I wouldn't punt it out to someone on eBay; that's simply not 'right'.

I probably wouldn't trade it into a shop since that would multiply the
chances of it being found (people in the shop, new buyer etc.)

I might break it if it worried me a lot.

I might go to the police since if they couldn't trace the 'rightful'
owner (insurance co.) then it would surely end up as mine
legitimately... however this has a high chance of failure since even
though the frame number's been fixed I wonder if the engine number has
been?

I had a car stolen in the 80s (Astra SRi). It turned up at the auctions
with a four year older plate on it. The ringers had apparently
targetted two cars, one they burnt (older) and then bought from the
salvage company and one they stole and restamped the VIN. One car
through the ringing process, two people messed around.

They didn't change the engine number and when the auction house thought
the VIN looked 'funny' and called in the police, the police checked the
engine number and caught the fuckers (local garage, other stolen cars
found in the premises).

 

But that's simply wrong - would you like it if someone passed it on to
you, or a close mate?

He's bought a stolen bike. Tell the police, maybe the insurers will let
him keep it. If it's an ebay purchase ebay may have kept records of the
transaction and contact details of the seller and they can pursue it.

Either way it's wrong to pass it or parts of it to another 'mug' and it's
one of those lump it or plead ignorance.

 

I think I'd make sure the numbers were sufficiently unintelligible
enough on both the frame and engine that it's worth taking it to the
police and hoping they can't trace the original owners so he has a good
chance of getting it back as a 'stolen - recovered' legitimate bike.

or simply take it to the police and ask them what to do ... 'do the
right thing'.

I certainly wouldn't just 'flog it off' I'd have to take some
responsibility for it.

 

Yes. My own belief is that the chances of someone else spotting the
ring are very, very small. Certainly no MoT tester has. Were I in his
shoes, I'd just unload it and keep my fingers crossed. Or keep on
riding it until it's utterly dead, and keep my fingers crossed.

 

Oh, purely hypothetical. Should have said.

 

Take a deep breath then tell the Police.

(Oh, and kick you for spotting it!)

Kevin