A group of Texas law enforcement fraud investigators believes millions of cars on Texas roads never passed state-required safety or emissions tests. Yet, those cars were able to get temporary paper license plates, or even regular metal plates, by paying an inspection station to fraudulently pass the car.
Compounding the problem, state records and undercover videos shot by NBC 5 Investigates reveal that the state’s inspection computer system is not set up to immediately flag stations conducting fake inspections.
Instead, the false inspections continue, sometimes for weeks or months, investigators say, and more cars that were not checked end up on Texas roads.
More than a year ago NBC 5 Investigates dubbed Texas the “Paper Tag Nation” as we exposed how small state-licensed car dealers illegally sold temporary paper license plates, often to people whose cars couldn't pass a state inspection.
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Now, some law enforcement officers say the “Paper Tag Nation” is becoming the Land of Fake Inspections as some inspection stations fraudulently pass cars in exchange for cash, in what appears to be massive numbers, aided by technology that makes inspections easier to fake.
Sgt. Jose Escribano, a veteran investigator with a Travis County Constables unit focused on inspection and license plate fraud, estimates there are as many as five million cars on Texas roads every year with fraudulent inspections that could be masking a staggering number of hidden safety problems. Escribano said that number is based on an analysis of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality emissions inspection data, assessing the percentage of inspections with red flags for fraud identified by the Travis County team.
What's more, records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates suggest the state agencies that run the vehicle inspection program aren't doing much to stop the fake inspections as they happen.
Escribano said he believes the state's system has left the door totally open to fraud.
At about 10 a.m. on a Wednesday in January 2023, NBC 5 Investigates' cameras were rolling outside a small auto shop on East Illinois Avenue in Dallas.
State records show the shop is the home of Upscale Inspection, one of the thousands of small businesses licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety to conduct state-required vehicle emissions and safety inspections.
For an hour and 15 minutes, NBC 5 Investigates sat outside and didn't see any cars go in or come out of the garage doors of the shop. But state emissions inspection records we obtained from the TCEQ show that during that same time, Upscale Inspections inspected 23 vehicles.
"So they're conducting fraud. That's the first thing. They're conducting fraud," said Escribano, who leads a team of investigators in Travis County specializing in cases of license plate and inspection fraud.
Escribano said if the small shop were doing dozens of legitimate inspections the traffic coming and going would be easy to see.
You sit in front of a business for an hour. Nothing moves? Impossible. They have to have a car go in there. Inspector has to have hands on that car.
Sgt. Jose Escribano, Travis County Constables
Escribano said his team could see signs Upscale Inspections was faking inspections without even visiting the shop. His investigators have real-time access to the TCEQ’s emission inspection data and he said it showed other red flags suggesting Upscale was performing what’s known as "clean scans."
John Dohmann, a retired investigator with the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, said a clean scan is a fake inspection. When he was with the sheriff's office Dohmann investigated clean scanning as part of a special task force.
Dohmann said some fraudulent inspection stations clean scan cars by plugging the analyzer used to check the emissions system into another car that will pass the inspection. Then they attach the passing result to the car that wouldn't pass. But investigators said newer technology has made faking an inspection even easier.
"Now, the way they're doing it, there's no car involved. It's just on a computer," Dohmann said.
Investigators said fraudulent inspectors can use a simulator device similar to a flash drive that plugs into the emissions analyzer instead of the car. The device simulates a car's onboard diagnostic system and can be programmed to guarantee a passing result.
The fake result is then uploaded into the state's system and the car doesn't even have to be at the inspection station.
But if the car isn't there, it's not getting a state-required safety inspection either. That's where the inspector checks the brakes, steering system, turn signals, tires and other safety items.
All of those items are skipped when a car is clean scanned.
"Vehicle was never there. They never checked insurance on it, nothing," Escribano said.
Once a car has a fake passing report, it can get a temporary license plate or regular metal plates and annual registration stickers.
Escribano said fraudulent inspectors could be making millions of dollars per year selling fake inspections.
Investigators said clean scans are even sold via social media sites ranging in price from $100 to $500 each, often to people trying to avoid costly car repairs needed to pass a safety or emissions test.
Escribano said his team can see the inspections entered into the TCEQ's inspection system in real-time and that the system captures numerous red flags for clean scans -- though we aren't sharing details of all of those red flags because we don't want to help fraudsters evade law enforcement. But the most obvious one, Escribano said, is the sheer number of inspections entered by some stations.
Back at Upscale Inspections on East Illinois Avenue in Dallas, the 23 inspections in 75 minutes means they're inspecting a car about every three minutes. Escribano and legitimate inspectors NBC 5 Investigates talked to said it's not possible to do them that fast.
"That should be a total red flag," Escribano said.
In statements to NBC 5 Investigates, the two agencies that manage the inspection program confirmed the computer system is not programmed to alert anyone when potentially fraudulent inspections are entered.
The Texas DPS said, “The TCEQ-owned database captures data that must be manually analyzed. There are no automated triggers, red flags, or thresholds built into the TCEQ-owned database.”
TCEQ also confirmed its system, "…does not have a trigger that flags stations producing a high volume of inspections."
The state systems register fake inspections all day long and they aren't stopping them as they happen, Escribano said.
In late January 2023, our partners at Telemundo 39 went back to Upscale Inspection on a second day and again saw no cars coming or going. But state records showed another 21 cars were inspected during the 75 minutes they were outside.
We contacted the Texas DPS to ask about Upscale Inspections. A day later, the DPS suspended their license.
A DPS report we obtained showed an audit of inspection data found Upscale Inspections was conducting fraudulent inspections and that they conducted 882 clean scans as far back as early to mid-December 2022. But NBC 5 Investigates found Upscale Inspections was still logging inspections in mid-January more than a month after the data in the state system showed evidence of false inspections occurring at that station.
"Why don't you shut them down when the inspector is entering the information in on the analyzer? Why? I don't understand," Escribano wondered.
NBC 5 Investigates wanted to ask the TCEQ and DPS why they haven't programmed their system to flag and prevent fraud, but both agencies declined requests for interviews.
In a statement, TCEQ told NBC 5 Investigates it "has, and will continue to, work cooperatively with…Texas DPS" "to help them enforce the rules."
The TCEQ repeatedly referred us back to the DPS saying, it's their job to police inspections.
DPS told us it "…conducted an operation during the fall of 2022…" and "the department took immediate revocation or suspension actions against over 270 stations…" suspected of fraud.
DPS is trying, but they're playing Whack-A-Mole. There's no way they can keep up with this mess. It falls all back again on the TCEQ and your leadership. Take action. Take action. Shut them down at the source.
Sgt. Jose Escribano, Travis County Constables
We also tried to reach the man listed as the owner of Upscale Inspections by phone. Our messages were not returned. When we visited the building, no one answered.
Escribano said that shop is just one tiny example. He pointed to another location in Dallas along East Ledbetter where a company called Central Inspection Station once operated out of a single garage stall.
TCEQ records showed Central Inspection Station ran more than 89,000 inspections in 2021, more than any shop in the entire state. At one point, state records indicate the shop was running roughly 450 inspections per day.
Escribano said performing that number of inspections per day was impossible and that TCEQ records his team reviewed showed clear evidence many of the inspections done were fake.
NBC 5 Investigates contacted the man listed as the owner of Central Inspection Station and he said someone stole his name and that he never owned the shop.
State records showed the DPS suspended the license of one inspector at Central Inspection Station for clean scanning hundreds of cars in 2019. But the records also show the DPS took no enforcement action against the station itself and that the shop remained open even though Escribano's group said data suggested more clean scans occurred.
Central Inspection Station closed in 2022, though it's not immediately clear why. By then records showed they had issued more than 265,000 inspection reports in just three years.
Dohmann said he questioned the state years ago about why the system isn't built to immediately cut off stations suspected of fraud.
"I don't know what their reasoning is when they know that these are false inspections and they're still letting them go through," Dohmann said.
In Dallas, officials with the North Central Texas Council of Governments air quality program told NBC 5 Investigates that they've also been asking the TCEQ why it can't program the system to alert law enforcement.
"When you say you can't, what does that mean? You know, why can't you?" asked Chris Klaus, with NCTCOG. "Is it because of funding? Is it because the program is too complicated?"
The council said it wants to help the TCEQ prevent fraud because they fear if more cars falsely pass then it puts more North Texans at risk.
We're the little Dutch boy putting our finger in the dam, and that dam is just -- waterholes are popping everywhere.
Sgt. Jose Escribano, Travis County Constables
When asked, the TCEQ said they cannot say how often they think fake inspections are happening. The TCEQ maintains that much of the inspection data cannot be made public due to privacy rules and NBC 5 Investigates has, so far, been unable to see all of the data ourselves but we are still fighting to get access to more of that information.
Faking an emissions test is a misdemeanor but sometimes prosecutors can bring a felony charge for falsifying a government record. The DPS said it sometimes refers cases to local district attorneys for prosecution but that it wasn't clear how often that happens. DPS officials said they were unable to provide records showing how many referrals occurred.
Some investigators said they believe the number of cases filed is very small compared to the number of stations believed to be selling clean scans.
