Temporary tags are, it seems, a permanent fixture around Houston.

Everyone sees them, many flapping in the wind on the backs of cars in front of them on the freeway. They are on BMWs parked in the back of Sharpstown apartment complexes and Audis idling outside the Westin Galleria.

Often, even the untrained eye can spot an obvious fake. Those are easy for police to spot: the entire month is written out — Texas only uses three letters — or the font is not the block style the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles uses.

Other forgeries take a more trained eye like those of Travis County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office Sgt. Jose Escribano, who runs one of the few task forces ferreting out fake tags.

More alarmingly, Escribano said, many are not forgeries at all. They are legit temporary tags in the Texas system put there by illegitimate businesses, via a loophole so big they are driving cars and trucks through it and onto the streets.

Escribano and a handful of other investigators estimate as many as 2 million bogus Texas tags are on vehicles across the country, in part because it is so easy to gain access to the state’s online tag printing portal — and so tough to shut criminals down when they do.

Source: Houston is home to countless fake temporary license tags, and a Texas loophole is to blame