[giobox]

> Some run paper dealership plates which I guess don't need to have any license number on them at all, just the dealer logo

In California, isn't this just a normal person buying a new car? If bought from a dealership lot, a new car will run on temporary paper plates for several weeks until the permanent registration and new plate is processed. You see this all the time in CA, because CA buys a lot of new cars. There are even circumstances a used car will roll of the dealer lot with paper plates pending processing.

[bagels]

That isn't how it works anymore, as far as I know (it used to). The dealerships now can print paper license plates with numbers on them.

[jerlam]

Yup, I recently bought a car and you get temporary numbers that are associated with the dealer (who knows who you are and what car you have) until your actual plate with real numbers and registration comes from the DMV.

[asdff]

You can tell when it isn't a normal person buying a new car when it is your neighbor's car you see for multiple years with those "temporary" tags. I catch a lot of out of date registration too. Usually those cars are parked off street but sometimes not. I usually see about two dozen on my walks. Easy to tell at a glance when you recognize what color tag is now very stale.

[everdrive]

Sometimes, yes, but some groups of people just run with temporary tags for a very long time and roll the dice.

[acdha]

There are groups on Facebook Marketplace selling fakes. They used to have those Texas dealer plates but I believe the Texas authorities finally stopped procrastinating on doing something about that.

It used to be easy to search for terms like “tires” and find what were clearly counterfeiting rings.