UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 23, 2016. 431 automobiles belonging to people with unpaid debts got seized in Sverdlovsk Region this year, the local division of the Federal Court Officers’ Service reports.

‘Court officers regularly go on raids to identify and seize automobiles that belong to people involved in enforcement proceedings. The launch of our Mobile Search app this year helped double the number of debtors’ cars we could find.

The idea is quite simple: a court officer walks through a parking lot with a mobile device in their hand and scans all the license plates with an in-built camera; the app then identifies the amount of money a particular car owner might owe,’ the press service explains.

It is reported that an automobile can get seized within the framework of any enforcement proceedings where sums of over 3,000 RUR are involved.