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'Duped': Harlem Man Blows Whistle on Illegal Temporary Tag Business
This is a big business in DC too.
‘Duped’: A Harlem 20-Something Blows the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business
nyc.streetsblog.org
‘Duped’: Harlem Man Blows Whistle on Illegal Temporary Tag Business
Kareem unwittingly became a courier in an illegal temporary license plate sales ring. Now he's exposing the operation that employed him.
‘Duped’: Harlem Man Blows Whistle on Illegal Temporary Tag Business
Kareem unwittingly became a courier in an illegal temporary license plate sales ring. Now he's exposing the operation that employed him.
Link to tweet
STREETSBLOG INVESTIGATES
‘Duped’: A Harlem 20-Something Blows the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business
Kareem found out the hard way that his Craigslist gig delivering temp tags was illegal. Now he's exposing the operation that employed him, revealing clues about his anonymous bosses that all trace back to the same place.
6:00 AM EDT on June 9, 2023
By Jesse Coburn
Co-published with Motherboard
In retrospect, there were a lot of red flags. But they appeared later—not in the Craigslist ad. ... “Hello everyone ! Car dealership hiring drivers,” the ad began. “We pay $50 per delivery ! You can start immediately .” ... Why a car dealership would need drivers, or what it would have to deliver, wasn’t clear to Kareem Ulloa-Alvarado when he saw the ad in December. But $50 per delivery didn’t sound bad, and Kareem needed the money. So he called the number.
Within a week, Kareem was out on his electric scooter in the city, working on commission for the dealership, his backpack carrying the deliverables: thick sheets of paper with numbers printed across one side, under the words “New Jersey 30 Day Non-Resident Temporary plate.”
Kareem’s foray into temporary license plate sales began when he responded to this Craigslist ad. Screenshot: Kareem Ulloa-Alvarado
Temporary license plates exist so that people who buy cars can drive them before receiving metal plates. But drivers found another use for them during the pandemic: buy a temp tag on the black market and you can keep your car anonymous and off the books. No more tickets in the mail for running red lights. No CCTV footage enabling police to identify you from your license plate after you, say, shoot people in Brooklyn or run over a family in the Bronx. In recent years, New York and other parts of the country suddenly seemed to be awash in paper tags. But Kareem didn’t know any of that. Not yet at least.
Kareem was 20 when he took the job. He was living with his parents in Harlem, making art and working odd jobs. Outgoing, with an easy smile, Kareem liked work that involved talking to people. In a way, this would prove to be a job like that.
{snip}
Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn is Streetsblog's investigative reporter. His reporting has received a Sigma Award, a Casey Feldman Award, and awards from the Silurians Press Club and the Overseas Press Club Foundation. Previously he was a reporter at Newsday and an editor at ARCH+. He’s also written for the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, Harper’s, Cabinet and other publications. Jesse is is on Twitter at @jesse_coburn. His email address is jesse@streetsblog.org.
‘Duped’: A Harlem 20-Something Blows the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business
Kareem found out the hard way that his Craigslist gig delivering temp tags was illegal. Now he's exposing the operation that employed him, revealing clues about his anonymous bosses that all trace back to the same place.
6:00 AM EDT on June 9, 2023
By Jesse Coburn
Co-published with Motherboard
In retrospect, there were a lot of red flags. But they appeared later—not in the Craigslist ad. ... “Hello everyone ! Car dealership hiring drivers,” the ad began. “We pay $50 per delivery ! You can start immediately .” ... Why a car dealership would need drivers, or what it would have to deliver, wasn’t clear to Kareem Ulloa-Alvarado when he saw the ad in December. But $50 per delivery didn’t sound bad, and Kareem needed the money. So he called the number.
Within a week, Kareem was out on his electric scooter in the city, working on commission for the dealership, his backpack carrying the deliverables: thick sheets of paper with numbers printed across one side, under the words “New Jersey 30 Day Non-Resident Temporary plate.”
Kareem’s foray into temporary license plate sales began when he responded to this Craigslist ad. Screenshot: Kareem Ulloa-Alvarado
Temporary license plates exist so that people who buy cars can drive them before receiving metal plates. But drivers found another use for them during the pandemic: buy a temp tag on the black market and you can keep your car anonymous and off the books. No more tickets in the mail for running red lights. No CCTV footage enabling police to identify you from your license plate after you, say, shoot people in Brooklyn or run over a family in the Bronx. In recent years, New York and other parts of the country suddenly seemed to be awash in paper tags. But Kareem didn’t know any of that. Not yet at least.
Kareem was 20 when he took the job. He was living with his parents in Harlem, making art and working odd jobs. Outgoing, with an easy smile, Kareem liked work that involved talking to people. In a way, this would prove to be a job like that.
{snip}
Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn is Streetsblog's investigative reporter. His reporting has received a Sigma Award, a Casey Feldman Award, and awards from the Silurians Press Club and the Overseas Press Club Foundation. Previously he was a reporter at Newsday and an editor at ARCH+. He’s also written for the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, Harper’s, Cabinet and other publications. Jesse is is on Twitter at @jesse_coburn. His email address is jesse@streetsblog.org.