The Expert Podcast

The car title scams are getting much, much more sophisticated. Be very wary if you're purchasing a used vehicle from a private seller on platforms like Craigslist or Facebook. Scammers are using new techniques that allow them to sell a car four or five times over, collecting money from different buyers for the same vehicle without facing any consequences.

Here's how this particular scam worked, and it's becoming more common. This case comes from Colorado, where the victim was from, but the vehicle was sold in Texas.

The scammer listed a car on Facebook Marketplace, a popular platform for private vehicle sales. The victim flew down from Colorado to Houston, met with a real person, received the title, and paid cash for the truck. The seller only had one key fob, which didn’t initially seem like a big deal since people sometimes lose keys. However, when the victim went to the recorder's office in their county in Colorado to get the title transferred, they were informed that something was off.

The recorder noticed that the VIN number on the title didn’t look right. Upon further inspection, the VIN numbers on the vehicle—inside the doors, on the dashboard, and under the hood—all matched the title. The name on the title came back to a real person, and the license plates also matched. However, a detective noticed that the title had been "washed."

Title washing is a fraudulent process where someone uses chemicals to erase or alter certain letters and numbers on a title and then prints new ones. In this case, the title originally belonged to a different vehicle. The actual vehicle sold was a parts-only vehicle, meaning it was a recovered theft and couldn't legally be titled.

To make matters worse, a hidden tracking device was found on the truck. Why does this matter? Scammers use tracking devices to locate the vehicle later and steal it back. Because the victim never had the car legally titled in their name, they couldn't report it stolen. The scammer could then resell the same car to another unsuspecting buyer, repeating the cycle over and over while continuously collecting money.

If you're buying a vehicle from a private seller, always do your due diligence before handing over any money. Have the title checked by the DMV and request a police inspection of the vehicle in person. If a seller refuses, saying they don’t want to deal with the hassle, walk away—there are plenty of other cars for sale.

Never buy a vehicle without a title. If the seller promises to send it later, claims you can apply for a duplicate, or says a bill of sale is enough, don’t take the risk. Most of the time, the process might work out, but in 20-30% of cases, you will never be able to get a title, leaving you with a useless vehicle. Unfortunately, there's no guaranteed way to check in advance unless both the vehicle and the seller go to the DMV together—something many scammers will refuse to do.

A vehicle could be stolen, have existing liens, or be designated as a parts-only vehicle. If any of these are the case, you won’t be able to get a title, no matter how much money you’ve paid or even if you have a bill of sale and insurance. Some vehicles are permanently ineligible for titling due to their VIN history.

Don’t rely solely on Carfax or other VIN checkers, as these are consumer-level searches that aren’t 100% reliable. To fully verify a vehicle’s legitimacy, you need to check three government sources: the police department for stolen records, the DMV for liens, and NMVTIS for salvage history. If the vehicle doesn’t pass all three checks, you won’t be able to get a title.

While these scams don’t happen in every case, the risk is high enough that you should always be cautious—especially when spending tens of thousands of dollars. A 20% chance of losing all your money is a serious risk. Make sure you perform thorough due diligence before committing to any car purchase.

If you already have a vehicle with no title, you can visit cartitles.com for instructions on how to attempt getting a title. We also offer title consultations and services to assist with paperwork.

Be aware of the scams that are out there—this is just one of the latest ways fraudsters are exploiting innocent buyers. If you found this information helpful, check out other videos on our channel for more tips on avoiding scams and resolving vehicle title issues.