Israel's Transport Ministry Digital Service Protects Cars From Fraud

Over 200,000 Israeli drivers have utilized a new digital service from the Ministry of Transport to safeguard their vehicles against fraudulent ownership changes at post office branches. Launched less than a month ago, the service aims to combat a surge in crimes involving identity theft and the use of forged documents to illegally re-register vehicles.

The security measure is now also available for vehicles with joint ownership. Activation is a quick online process through the government's personal portal, taking only a few minutes. Once the lock is engaged, re-registering the car at a post office becomes impossible until the owner manually removes the restriction.

This postal branch lock does not impede vehicle sales conducted through the official government website. Digital transactions on this platform require stringent national identification verification, bypassing paper documents that criminals can easily counterfeit. Such scams often begin with fake advertisements, where fraudsters request copies of vehicle registration documents under the guise of insurance checks.

Minister of Transport Miri Regev highlighted the strong demand for this new protection measure and encouraged all citizens to adopt digital security tools. Ministry Director-General Moshe Ben-Zaken stated that the ministry's primary goal is to stay ahead of criminals and prevent offenses before they occur. Drivers are strongly advised against sharing their documents with strangers and to activate the online protection.