Thought of as a reform designed to simplify the lives of motorists, the digital registration document quickly transformed into a playground for scammers. In a report published on March 12, 2026 devoted to registration certificate fraud, the Court of Auditors draws up a first catastrophic assessment: more than thirty types of fraud identified, nearly a million vehicles circulating out of control, and damage estimated at 550 million euros for the years 2022-2024 alone.
A sieve of fraud
Before 2017, obtaining a registration document often involved a long wait at the prefecture. To put an end to it, the Ministry of the Interior closed 150 counters, replaced 1,900 agents with 9 specialized centers, and entrusted direct access to the computerized registration system, the SIV, to some 39,000 automobile professionals. Dealers, rental companies, experts: all obtained online access allowing them to issue vehicle registration documents without going through a state agent.
The problem is that the procedure for gaining this precious access was a little too simple. A Kbis extract, an identity document, a clean criminal record, and the matter was settled. Physical interview, although recommended, was rarely organized. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of authorized professionals increased by 60%, without verification mechanisms keeping pace.
To technically access the SIV, each professional also had to obtain a digital certificate, a sort of personal computer key, from private providers. Here again, the process looked more like a formality than a real check: documents, a few dozen euros, and very few checks. The system turned out to be a real sieve, through which fraudsters were quick to rush.
Phishing and massive hijacking
The fraud was not limited to ghost garages. Phishing campaigns allowed hackers to steal the SIV connection credentials of real professionals, while certain fraudsters used holders of mobility inclusion cards, reserved for people with disabilities, as nominees to register new vehicles and circumvent the ecological penalty. This tax scam alone would have cost the State around 90 million euros in five years.
A new system planned for 2028 (at best)
Faced with the scale of the disaster, the State decided to start from scratch with a new computerized registration system. Approved in 2021, with a budget of 96.6 million euros, this future SIV is designed from the ground up to block fraud attempts before a registration document is issued.
Except that the project is behind schedule. Initially planned for 2027, it will not ultimately be operational before the beginning of 2028. In the meantime, the Court of Auditors makes six recommendations: reduce the number of authorized professionals, impose strong digital authentication to access the SIV, eliminate the automatic renewal of authorizations, and immediately integrate identification tools.
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