New Yorkers Trying To Fool License Plate Readers Shocked That Flimsy Piece Of Material Bought Online Does Nothing

License plate scanners are big business for police, with thousands of departments across the country using the tech to help fight crime and issue citations. Technology improvements like AI and automation have given these scanners the ability to scan thousands of cars a day. Los Angeles spent over $11 million on AI scanners for city buses that could issue parking tickets, while in New York city, automated scanners could possibly be streaming your info online. Sometimes police act on the information received from these scanners and have previously wrongly arrested individuals. To get around these plate scanners, many drivers have turned to license plate covers to protect their information, but as drivers in New York are finding out, these covers don't usually work.

CBS News reports a company called Alite claims that it sells anti-radar license plate stickers and covers, and drivers in New York are falling for it. Alite's  sticker cover has a material it calls Nanofilm Ecoslick, and from the description on Alite's site you can't really tell what the material is made out of or what exactly it's supposed to do, save for this description from one of the frequently asked questions at the bottom of the site's page:

What does the camera see when using nanofilm?

The camera only sees the illuminated area where the symbols are hidden under the Ecoslick stickers, which blends into the white background. Accordingly, the digital system does not recognize the number and does not record it in the database of traffic violations. There is no one to give a fine!

Social media posts by the company prominently feature New York and New Jersey license plates and claim the products it sells are "100 percent legal." That's far from the truth, though.

If you fall for Alite's claims that its products are legal, you're going to be fined. NYPD Transportation Bureau Deputy Chief Thomas Alps told CBS News that any type of plate covering or film is 100 percent illegal in New York and New Jersey. "The biggest concern is the threat to public safety. If someone wanted to do harm to the city or the residence they're in, they're not gonna use a vehicle that is traceable to them, they're gonna use a ghost vehicle," Alps told CBS.

Drivers that do get duped into buying one of Alite's stickers find that they don't actually do anything. One driver from Queens named Tim McNichols told CBS that he paid $56 for two of Alite's stickers to avoid speeding tickets, saying he uses them as a way to avoid the city's unfair ticketing practices. In one of the most New York responses ever, the driver argues that he's too busy to slow down. "You really can't drive 25 anywhere in the city and expect to get anything done. The way I see it is I don't see myself doing something illegal, either. If you look at my plates, you can see all the numbers are visible any time of the day," he told CBS. McNichols said the police discovered the film from Alite on his plate and still ticketed him.

CBS says he's one of three New York drivers they spoke to who said that despite buying Alite's product off the claim that it would protect their plates from readers and cameras, their plate was still picked up by the cops' scanners.

CBS reached out to Alite for a response about its products. Despite the website saying that its film won't let cameras or scanners detect the plate, an email to CBS admitted that "some modern traffic cameras ... may still pick up plate details." Alite's email continued, essentially saying that a flash or sunlight can overpower the covers. From CBS News:

"The email went on to say "in some cases, the strength of the infrared flash" from cameras "may not be sufficient to completely obscure the symbols" and nearby "headlights, streetlights, or sunlight ... could reduce the effectiveness of the reflection."

Certain details about the company don't seem to add up either. If you go searching for reviews of Alite's products online you'll find many positive reviews, but read them carefully and you'll notice that they come across as generic, like these reviewers were paid to make their posts. There may be a reason for that — in a review from November 2024, one user pointed out that none of Alite's positive reviews seem to be real.

"Please be aware of the negative reviews given by United States customers only but not other countries. I believe the positive feedback he gets from other countries is fake and written by the owner since this company is located away from the US. This product does not work and the return policy is horrible. I'm located in Washington DC, and this product doesn't suit or fit in our license plate because the fonts and letters are blue. This scam company only sells them in black and does not offer returns."

It also doesn't seem to be clear where exactly the company is located. CBS News says that Alite is allegedly based in London, which is backed up by an address that can be found on the bottom of Alite's webpage, but a customer told CBS their order came from Ukraine. That same customer also said they were ignored by Alite when they requested a refund. Alite may not even be the manufacturer of the film it sells either, as CBS noticed another company's name was on the back of the strips that one of the drivers purchased.

Even in spite of this, some drivers remain defiant. Tim McNicholas, the customer who said he was too busy not to speed, had a message for people who say that instead of going through all this trouble to avoid a speeding ticket, he should just slow down. "My response to those people would be grow up, become an adult and gain some common sense and then drive a little bit on your own to see what 25 miles an hour does. It'll increase the time that you need to get any tasks done ... and I understand it if they're doing it in school zones, right? I get that, that's safety. But they're doing it everywhere."