Cracking down on clean scanning fraud, the Texas Department of Public Safety's (DPS) has announced the arrest of five individuals and the issuance of warrants for 14 others in the Houston area earlier this month. This comes as part of a wider operation by the DPS Regulatory Services Division, which has been targeting illegal activities at vehicle inspection stations across the state.

The investigation, carried out in collaboration with the DPS’ Criminal Investigations Division, the Texas Highway Patrol, and the Houston Police Department, has been ongoing for several months. It includes surveillance and arrests at various inspection stations suspected of engaging in clean scanning, DPS said in a statement. From February 13, 2023 to November 7, 2024, the agency has secured or served 88 arrest warrants related to the fraudulent vehicle inspections, the statement detailed.

Clean scanning, the practice of illegally certifying that a vehicle has passed emission and safety tests without a proper check, poses a risk to environmental and road safety standards. In the most recent operation that concluded on November 7, individuals were apprehended for their role in what was described as organized criminal activity, the DPS specified.

With these recent operations, DPS reinforces its commitment to partnership with local, state, and federal entities to mitigate and put an end to such unlawful activities. DPS urges the public to come forward with any information on suspected clean scanning practices, and has provided a hotline at (512) 424-0290 for reporting purposes, the department stated in their press release.