Starting Friday, Texas temporary paper license plates will have a new design.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is rolling out paper tags with more security features to help law enforcement crackdown on fraudulent and counterfeit tags.
The TxDMV board talked about the changes Thursday at a meeting in Austin.
It’s the latest in a long list of new security measures implemented in recent months after a series of reports from NBC 5 Investigates exposed the massive scale of the fraudulent paper tag problem.
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Among the changes, the TxDMV has started fingerprinting people applying for car dealer licenses, addressing a massive gap in security.
In November 2021, NBC 5 Investigates revealed how crooks were exploiting weak background checks so that they could become licensed car dealers, and then issue hundreds of thousands of fraudulent tags from the TxDMV’s electronic tag system.
The chairman of the TxDMV Board said Thursday that he is pleased with how the staff has responded to the problem over the course of the last year.
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“I felt very strongly that this agency needed to change its posture, change its focus. You have done that, you responded, we are in a better place than we were ten months ago. But we cannot stop being vigilant, and I know we won't,” said TxDMV board chairman Charles Bacarisse.
On Friday, the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee will discuss more possible changes to address tag fraud.
Some lawmakers want metal plates to replace paper temporary tags, and law enforcement officials are also asking for more resources to track criminals who put fraudulent and counterfeit tags on cars used to commit crimes.
NBC 5’s Senior Investigative Reporter Scott Friedman will be in Austin for Friday’s hearing.
