As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county’s Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students and even teachers.
Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera “Pimping” game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools.
Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that “mimic” those on Maryland license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.
Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to the parent.
[…]
“I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using these cameras for monetary gain,” the parent said. “The practice of sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights.”
The schools aren’t going to be able to do much about this because the kids aren’t doing it at school.
However now that the trick is known I can see some people doing this to just about anybody.
Co-workers, the boss, people in government, any body they don’t like or just for fun.
Sounds similar to Perry Mason TV movie (or some similar series, not absolutely positive) where the killer had an accomplice wear a cardboard mask over the face to use a speed camera establish an alibi for the killer. Of course the accomplice then deduced what the stunt was for and tried to blackmail the killer (a lawyer, no less) and was thus the killer’s next victim. Perry saved the day by showing the speed camera picture showed someone with cutout flat mask since the mask did not show shadows like a real face would under the same circumstances.
Maybe the local authorities can try a similar approach to show the fake plates don’t have the raised letters/numbers that a real license plate has. Of course this would end up costing more than the revenue they are trying to generate, but that should not deter the quest for true justice. We are talking about justice here, aren’t we? Justice, right? Anybody?
Brilliant! I hope it catches on in the UK… not because it is a nice thing to do, but if enough people did it often enough, it could kill whole the speed camera/surveillance programme very quickly … maybe it is time to produce a list of the cars, number plates and make & model of our local MPs ….
Another gov’t scheme to fleece citizens bungled.
Priceless!
If I only knew my ex-wife’s license number …..
Sounds like a great argument to use to protest a ticket.
This hack is so great, it almost makes me wish I had enemies IRL.
#3
I’m with you, everybody ought to go out and do it right now. Stupid friggin automated speed traps ought to be illegal.
Just like the ‘red light photo’ intersections in San Francisco… very short yellow lights, very wide intersections 8 lanes or more.
A real money maker!
Eventually, all vehicles will be equipped with GPS and memory to keep track of the vehicle’s mileage, to be used by the state to determine the road-use tax owed by the owner. Add an RFID and this scam will be harder to pull off.
Would taking a close up photo of the victim’s tag with say a cellphone, photoshop it, then print it out work just as well?
I love this ,A+ for the students.This shows you another revenue generating law that is wrong.
you don’ think the gps, the rfid, and the other measures couldn’t be hacked? come on. i’m not the one that could do it. but I am sure someone could do it if they wanted to. and when that is done, then all these tracking schemes will be made useless.
all the safeguards that are out there can be cracked given enough time, a decent laptop computer, and someone with decent programming knowledge. someone will find a way around the system.
#8 “I’m with you, everybody ought to go out and do it right now. Stupid friggin automated speed traps ought to be illegal.”
Actually They are illegal, some thing in the Bill of Rights like “The right to face your accuser” But since the Bill O’Rights is no longer observed. Pffft!
#12 Jim
I did not say impossible, just harder to pull off.
#11 unless your phones got 5 Mpx I don’t think so, and even if you’ve got it the image is gonna take some filtering to get it to print well at full scale. Better to take a decent camera and save some work. Print to glossy photo paper for best results.
#15,
Or just write it down, then make a fake license plate in 10 minutes in photoshop.
That’s a great idea.
These speed cameras are nothing but a toll both for the states.
They have nothing to do with making the roads safer.
Tricks been known from the time they were out.. It just made it in the news just recently.
#3 #8 & #13
Keep on dreaming. Chances are that they’re going to raise the fees to get more cash.
#2–Captain==that was a Columbo episode==I saw it a month or so ago. Perp got caught to because there was a sun angle shadow from the steering wheel but none on the photo from the hat. A bit simple, but entertaining.
#2, the raised vs. non-raised letter comparison would work if that were true in WA. Most of the special and personalized plates (including the one on my car) have letters just silk-screened, not embossed. Only the standard plates are still embossed.
And another urban legend makes the rounds. Until the police actually catch someone with a “photoshopped plate” then it just ain’t happening.
The fact that it could happen does not mean it has. All it would take to be demonstrated to be actually happening is for someone that can prove they were somewhere else, say a student attending a sport practice or at a game at another distant school, or a teacher in a meeting with several School Board members.
Until then, BOGUS !!!
#2 – eggman
All plates are flat in Delaware.
Thank God we still have some kids with imagination.
The best we could come up with was grabbing a bucket of white paint, going to midfield of their stadium, and writing in 30 foot font the score of our victory over our rivals
Of course that was the late 70’s , before printers.
Ir’s amazing I don’t have a record.
Mr. Fusion raises a valid question, so I went to the faithful Snopes.
Here is one similar story
http://snopes.com/autos/law/snaptrap.asp
but they could not confirm or deny it.
The first question that came to my mind was about the face of the driver. Doesn’t that usually show in those photo speed traps?
#26 – Greg Allen
>>Doesn’t that usually show in those photo
>>speed traps?
Many states only have plates on the back. Therefore, they’d have to take the photo from the back.
I live in this area and the cameras are a royal pain. They cause traffic congestion in areas that used to flow smoothly. I hope enough of this continues so they are forced to remove the stupid things.
Aren’t there covers for license plates that become opaque at viewing angles greater than 20 degrees? The cops can see ’em on the street, but to cameras they say something quite different, like “XXX-1234.”
#17 “Eventually, all vehicles will be equipped with GPS and memory to keep track of the vehicle’s mileage, to be used by the state to determine the road-use tax owed by the owner. Add an RFID and this scam will be harder to pull off.”
When that happens all vehicles will also have a direct link to the driver’s bank account and every time the speed limit is broken will initiate a direct debit for the appropriate fine. Until either there’s no money left or your license is revoked when the car will stop.