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The Victorian Government will not be implementing Radio Frequency Identification stickers on windscreens to combat number plate theft.
The Victorian Government has backtracked on previous comments about RFID stickers on windscreens as a solution to number plate theft - leaving questions unanswered as to what new solutions might be on the table as theft hits record levels.
A Victorian Government spokesperson told Drive in March that: “We are working closely with Victoria Police and VicRoads on solutions to combat number plate theft and cloning in Victoria, including Radio Frequency Identification stickers.”
However, following Drive’s publication of these comments, the Victorian Government has said RFID stickers are not a solution to number plate theft that it is working on – removing mention to RFID stickers in its updated quote.
Number plate theft is a serious issue in Victoria, with 32,228 offenses reported in 2025. The graph below shows how both number plate and car thefts have increased in Victoria over the past 10 years. These figures don’t include reports of cloned plates, as this data is not captured by Victoria Police.
Reports of stolen number plates and car theft in Victoria 2016-2025
Fake number plates have been linked with serious crimes, with Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Mike Bush telling media on Wednesday that fake plates are used by the sort of serious criminal elements behind the recent spate of firebombings in Melbourne.
“There is often a link, you know, it's a, again, a modus operandi used by these people,” Bush said.
RFID stickers on a vehicle's window can act as a ‘third’ number plate, an additional way to identify your vehicle, and one that can't be removed with a screwdriver.
If the signal in the RFID tag does not match the car's number plate details when scanned, this indicates the car might have stolen or cloned plates.
A 2019 trial commissioned by the Victorian Government asked Latrobe University to test various digital identification technologies, including RFID stickers, with the goal of reducing number plate theft and cloning.
RFID technology powers many modern-day conveniences, such as wireless card payments, wireless car keys, and building access fobs.
Drivers in Australian states with toll roads might already be familiar with ‘e-tags’, which are a type of RFID device used by toll road operators to identify a vehicle when it passes under an RFID scanner.
Drive understands a “working group” consisting of the Department of Transport and Planning, Victoria Police and VicRoads began meeting monthly in March of 2025 to consider options to strengthen deterrence and detection of number plate and vehicle crime.
RFID stickers were an option considered by the group, but ultimately not recommended. The government did not provide detail on what measures have been recommended so far by this working group, despite being questioned.
“We are considering a range of options to strengthen enforcement, improve detection and make it harder for offenders to steal or clone plates,” said the spokesperson.
Drive understands the group considered options including legislative updates, anti-theft screws, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) stickers, plate verification solutions, plate return and disposal solutions, plate templating/standardisation, plate features, and limitations on publicly available registration data.
The Victorian Government announced in late 2022 that directional security markings would be added to new standard issue license plates.
The Government's original comments on RFID stickers, published by Drive in March, were in response to questions from Drive on why RFID stickers were never implemented - despite the 2019 Latrobe University study commissioned by the government recommending them.
The results of the 2019 study were only recently made public following a Freedom of Information request. As part of the study, several police officers drew parallels with old physical registration labels, scrapped by Victoria in 2014, in their feedback regarding RFID stickers.
Directional security markings and holograms on license plates were deemed the least effective options by the 2019 study. Drive understands the decision to implement them was made, over other options, due to the ability to quickly implement this technology.
Max is the News Publishing Coordinator for Drive. He enjoys creating engaging digital content, including videos, podcasts, interactive maps, and graphs. Prior to Drive, he studied at Monash University and gained experience working for various publications. He grew up playing Burnout 3: Takedown on the PS2 and was disappointed when real life car races didn’t have the same physics.
