I'm almost certain this would be illegal, as well as a breach of the computer misuse act. I've been wondering this myself though - it would have been cool to stick that plate on my car.

Shame, then. My thoughts exactly!

By "illegal" do you mean "criminal"? Because a wrong that is redressable through civil rather than criminal process is still illegal under the normal definition of the word.

Probably. Fraud is when you mislead someone and you make a benefit. And that's criminal, not civil.

But if you use it for yourself and you pay a fair amount, say production+shipping+administration, you are not really making a benefit.

Say a store has a stereo on sale for $300 and you decide that since the wholesale price was only $120, a fair price would be $150. You're saying as long as you plan to use it personally, you could lay down three fifties and walk out with it without 'benefiting'? Your benefit in that case would be the $150 you avoided paying.

You get the licence plate. That's the benefit. You didn't have it before, you have it now, it's something someone (incl you) value. "benefit" doesn't mean "profit".