07/09/2026
🚨 WHAT TOWING BUSINESSES NEED TO WATCH FOR
Towing companies can be targeted by people attempting to have vehicles moved without the genuine owner’s authority. One red flag by itself may not mean a scam, but several red flags together should stop the job until ownership is verified.
Watch carefully for:
* 🚩 Late-night or unusual requests, particularly from a new customer.
* 🚩 Multiple phone numbers being used during the same booking.
* 🚩 Customer information being sent from a different number than the one that called.
* 🚩 Photos of the vehicle that appear to have been taken earlier, particularly daylight photos during a night-time booking.
* 🚩 Customer says the vehicle has no keys.
* 🚩 Claims that the keys were lost at a shopping centre, workplace or another location.
* 🚩 Changing stories about how they came to possess the vehicle.
* 🚩 Initially saying they own the vehicle, then later saying “I just bought it from a mate.”
* 🚩 Customer is unable or unwilling to provide reasonable proof of ownership or authority to move the vehicle.
* 🚩 A request to collect the vehicle from one location and deliver it somewhere completely different.
* 🚩 Pickup or delivery details changing during the booking.
* 🚩 Pressure to “just get the truck there quickly” or discouraging verification.
* 🚩 Customer becomes defensive when asked for identification or ownership documents.
* 🚩 Driver licence or identification supplied as a screenshot/photo from an unknown source.
* 🚩 Identification that looks altered, blurry, inconsistent or doesn’t match the customer’s details.
* 🚩 Vehicle registration details don’t match the person making the booking.
* 🚩 Customer cannot provide the VIN, registration number or other identifying information when reasonably asked.
* 🚩 Payment coming from a third party with a different name, particularly when combined with other red flags.
* 🚩 Requests involving cash, unusual payment arrangements or refunds to a different account.
* 🚩 Customer refuses to provide contact details that can be independently verified.
* 🚩 Someone at the pickup location says they don’t know the person who booked the tow.
* 🚩 The person collecting the vehicle cannot demonstrate that they are authorised to have it released.
🛑 THE GOLDEN RULE
If the story doesn’t add up — STOP.
A towing operator should not rely solely on a photograph of a driver’s licence or a customer’s verbal statement that they own the vehicle.
Where there are multiple red flags:
DO NOT LOAD THE VEHICLE.
DO NOT RELEASE OR DELIVER THE VEHICLE.
DO NOT ASSUME THE CUSTOMER IS THE OWNER.
