The Expert Podcast

Car title scams are getting much more sophisticated. Be very wary if you're purchasing a used vehicle from a private seller, like on Craigslist or Facebook, because scammers are using some new techniques that allow them to sell a car four or five times over and get the same money from different people for one car, without facing any consequences. Here's how this one worked, and this is becoming more common. This is an article from Colorado; the victim was from Colorado, and the vehicle was sold in Texas.

What the scammer did was put a car on Facebook Marketplace, which is where a lot of vehicles are sold in the private sector. The person flew down from Colorado to Houston, met with a real person, got the title, and paid cash for the truck. The seller only had one key fob, which is not a big deal because some people lose their keys. They went to the recorder's office in their county in Colorado to get the title transferred. The recorder said there's something off about this title. The VIN number doesn't look right. They looked at the VIN numbers on the vehicle inside the doors, on the dash, and under the hood, and they all matched the title. The name on the title came back to a real person, and the license plates matched. However, there was a detective who noticed the title had been washed.

What does that mean? When a title’s washed, a person literally takes that paper and puts chemicals on it to remove some of the letters and numbers and then types in different ones. So, that title was actually for a different vehicle. They put the VIN number on the vehicle they sold. The actual vehicle that was sold was a parts-only vehicle; it was a recovered theft. And to make it worse, they couldn’t get a title for it. They also found a tracking device hidden on the truck. When the police looked at it, they found the tracking device.

Why does that matter? What happens is the scammer will track the vehicle, go back later, and take the vehicle from your driveway, then resell it again with another title. You can't report it stolen because you never had it in your name, so it will never get reported stolen. They can keep reselling it over and over again and keep collecting money.

So, when you're buying a vehicle from any private seller, even if you're getting a title, do all of your due diligence before you give them any money. Have that title checked out by the DMV, have the police check the vehicle in person. Some sellers might not let you do that; they might say, "Look, I don’t want to deal with all this. I’ll find another buyer." That’s fine—find another car. There are plenty of cars for sale out there. Also, if you’re not getting a title and the seller promises, "I’ll send you the title later" or "You can apply for a duplicate," or "You could just use a bill of sale," unless you're getting a legitimate title handed to you at the time of your purchase, don’t buy any used cars without getting a title.

Most of the time, it will work out, but 20 or 30% of the time, you will never be able to get a title. The problem is, you'll never know that in advance. There's no way you can check 100% unless you bring the vehicle and the person to the DMV, which, a lot of times, they won’t want you to do. The vehicle could be stolen, it could have liens on it, it could be a parts-only vehicle, and if any of those are the case, you’re completely out of luck. You can never get a title for that car, even if you pay good money for it, even if you have a bill of sale, even if you put insurance on it. It doesn’t matter what you do. There are some vehicles that are just ineligible for a title because of the history of the VIN.

Don’t think that Carfax or any of these VIN checkers will save you from that problem. If you look at the terms and conditions, a lot of these VIN checkers will tell you right on there, "This is not 100%. This is just a basic consumer-level search." It’s not the same as the police department checking for stolen vehicles, the DMV checking for liens, or the NMVTIS checking for salvage. You have to check on three government sources to make sure your vehicle's legit. If it’s not legit, you’ll never get a title, and it’s pretty rare, like I said, 20 to 30% of the time. But if you're coming out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars, you don't want to take that risk that 20% of the time, you might lose all your money.

So, make sure you’re performing your due diligence before you get into a car deal. If you do run into a problem where you have a vehicle with no title, you can click the link below to CarTitles.com for instructions on how to try to get a title. We have title consultation; we even have title services if you want us to do paperwork for you. But be aware of these scams that are out there. This is just one of the newest ones that people are using to take money from innocent victims.

If you liked this video, be sure to click on a few others on our channel to see if there’s other information that might be helpful to you about the same subject or maybe even other related subjects that could assist you with your resolution of your issue.