Police warn Northern Beaches residents of number plate thefts after a mysterious spike over a week.
Between Friday, 28 March 2025 and Thursday, 3 April 2025, six car number plates and one trailer number plate were stolen from Brookvale, Dee Why, Manly and Ingleside.
The number plates have not surfaced in other crimes and the thefts remain a bit of a mystery to police.
Police confirm Northern Beaches experiences periodic spikes in number plate thefts and added there appear to be no motives for the recent thefts.
One theory police have is for theives to use the stolen plates to steal fuel, but this doesn’t seem to apply to the recent thefts according to police (yet).
The vehicles involved didn’t have dash cams and police are seeking the publics help to identify anyone involved in the theft of the number plates or anyone seen tampering with number plates.
If you can help, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Dee Why police station on 9971 3399.
Elsewhere on the Northern Beaches…
Card skimming fraud
On Friday, 28 March 2025, a Beacon Hill woman took a taxi and paid using her credit card.
Two days later, her bank called her to question unusual transactions at two in the morning.
She identified $600 worth of transactions as fraudulent, occuring at Inner Sydney stores.
The victim, still in possession of her credit card, believes her card was skimmed by the taxi driver.
Police explain that card skimming usually involves an offender surreptitiously passing a credit card through a makeshift reader to record personal banking information stored on a card’s magnetic stripe. This data is used to create a cloned card that can be used as if it were the authentic card. Police recommend card holders to exercise caution and keep their cards within view when swiping to ensure cards are not swiped through an unauthorised reader. The bank and police are investigating.
Crime Watch Northern Beaches is a weekly wrap up of local crimes and incidents from the Northern Beaches Police Area Command. If you saw or can help with any of the below incidents, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or here. All calls are treated in the strictest confidence. You can also contact Dee Why Police Station 9971 3399.
