More Scams on Wheels: The Rise of Vehicle Title Fraud
Download MP3Here’s another vehicle title scam that’s out there that a lot of people got in trouble for. This is in Pennsylvania—people charged with auto title fraud allegedly, and this scheme stretched to many different companies that were doing car titles. The Attorney General says there was a massive auto title fraud scheme. There was a car dealer, Auto and Truck Sales, and a notary and tag company among 21 businesses being charged, and five residents among 30 people.
So what was going on here? Well, basically what they were doing is they were forging documents and using fraudulent methods to get titles for vehicles that shouldn’t be getting titles. Some were stolen, some had liens, some had prior owners that were objecting. And according to the article, allegedly there are hundreds if not thousands of titles that were issued. Some of them are going to be revoked. In some cases, they were doing total vehicle salvage vehicles and falsified information so they would get titles for them without doing an inspection—that’s title washing.
They’re also accused of changing VIN numbers so they couldn’t be detected. Suspects allowed hundreds of damaged, potentially dangerous vehicles on the road. And beyond just the damaged vehicles, there were vehicles that had liens on them that these people were erasing. So the moral of the story is this: if you have a vehicle you need to get a title for, that’s a tricky situation—that’s fine. There are many good ways you can get a title. But don’t do something sketchy. And more importantly, don’t pay anybody to get you a title...
Unless you know how they’re doing it. Because a lot of these title companies say, “Look, give us 500 bucks, give us 600 bucks—we’ll get you a title, no questions asked, don’t worry about it.” The problem is you have to sign documents or that title is going into your name. And if you’re a part of that, even unknowingly, you can get in trouble—or best case scenario, your title can be revoked. A vehicle title is a very serious document. Just because you’re not the one getting your hands dirty doing something wrong with the title doesn’t mean that it’s not going to come back and affect you.
So look, if you want to have somebody help you get a title, that’s fine—but make sure you know exactly what they’re doing. Make sure it’s legal. Make sure you see the paperwork that’s being submitted on your behalf. Because when a title application goes in that’s got your name on it, it’s on your behalf—that’s getting a title there, it’s on your authority. So you don’t want to be the one that is left holding the bag if these people take off with your money.
They might get you a sketchy title. You’re not going to be the one that can get out of it, because you can’t say, “Hey, my name’s not on it.” These people are getting you a title with your name on it. So make sure it’s done right, make sure you know what you’re doing, and don’t take any shortcuts. Because a title is a very serious government document that you’re applying for—with penalty of perjury. If you look at the bottom of an application, it says, “I swear that this is done correctly.” And if you do it wrong, you can get in trouble or lose your vehicle.
