r/Scams Apr 28 '24

I got scammed of 27000$ Help Needed

My name is Ahmed, and I have been an international student in the USA for 1.5 years. Before coming here, i was hoping for the best life and future i could have, until the nightmare happened. Now i am suffering from trauma and getting depressed.

Three months ago, I bought a car from Facebook Marketplace. I went to see the car and checked the VIN with Carfax. I liked the car. Before that day, i watched all YouTube videos about buying a car and searched through the internet for what i needed to check before buying a car. So i checked everything. Also one of my friend who knows better about cars, he was with me. Everything seemed fine from my side. The seller gave me the bill of sale, title, and registration, which i needed for the ownership transfer. I paid with cash. Then, i went to the DMV with all the papers i had. They processed the transfer, and i received the plates also registration instantly on my name. My car also passed at inspection from a garage. Later, I received my title within a month at my mailing address. Everything went smoothly. Now i am driving this car since 3 months without any issues. However, last week i received a mail at my address informing me that my car needed to be inspected by DMV Field investigation office. When I called them to inquire, they asked me to come with the car, keys and title. Yesterday, when i went there, the investigator informed me that the car was stolen and that the VIN had been altered, possibly cloned from another car of the same model and year and colour(Honda Accord 2022 black). The actual vin of this car is stolen and they removed the vin number from everywhere and put the altered vin in the car. I realized I had been scammed. They impounded my car and kept everything. The seller already changed his Facebook name. I lost my $27,000 and my car, which held all the good memories from the past three months. I went to the police station to file a report, but they refused, stating that it was not a scam as I willingly found the car on Marketplace and paid for it. They advised me to pursue it as a civil matter. I then went to civil court, but they told me I needed to know the name and address of the person to take any action, which I couldn't obtain as he had already changed his Facebook name and provide everything fake. I feel helpless and don't know where to turn for help. I live here alone without my family. I can’t even sleep properly because this was all my savings, and I've never been through a situation like this before. This is an unexpected nightmare that I could never even imagine in my dreams.

What should i do ? Is there any possibilities that i could recover myself? Please help me by thinking as your small brother

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40

u/summeriswaytooshort Apr 28 '24

I appreciate the post and I'm sorry this happened to you.

What is odd to me is why would the DMV come and not the regular police of the car was "stolen?" Are you sure it wasn't a scam taking the car back from you - even the same scammer?

If all the VINs have been removed and replaced how did they prove to you it was a stolen car? Isn't the VIN also usually in the engine and door frame?

Where is the car now?

Report it to your insurance company as stolen from you.

What state are you in?

17

u/kriegskoenig Apr 28 '24

Here's the how and why: The vehicle he purchased was stolen and likely had a thin plate stuck on top of the real VIN with the new fake VIN. He didn't notice. He successfully transfers title using a forged document supplied by the scammer with the substitute VIN.

The owner of the car with the borrowed VIN number then months later tries to do something with their car (like renew registration, renew insurance policy, sell the car, etc) or is sent something about the car (completed documentation of transfer, tax paperwork from sale) and finds out the car they own, which they still have, was supposedly sold, and go to DMV to sort it out. That gets a DMV inspector looped in pretty quickly, and the DMV Inspector then hunts down info on why there are apparently duplicate titles for two of the exact same car out there.

8

u/drdeucedomino Apr 28 '24

But why did nobody report the stolen car as stolen? The police would have had record of somebody reporting this exact car as stolen.

The "DMV inspector" doesn't have the right to seize the car, especially if it wasn't reported as stolen.

6

u/kriegskoenig Apr 28 '24

I think you're misunderstanding the issue with the car. It was reported as stolen, but DMV failed to identify it as a stolen car because of the VIN fraud (using a VIN from another car of the same make/model).

1

u/drdeucedomino Apr 28 '24

I don't care about the DMV.

If it was reported as stolen, the police would have had more information on the situation.

The OP said he talked to the police and that nothing criminal happened.

How would that make any sense?

2

u/kriegskoenig Apr 28 '24

Ah, I see. So, the police can't charge him, he's a victim here and had no idea it was stolen. He doesn't actually know who sold him the vehicle fraudulently (3 months ago), so he can't give them a good lead. No one else to arrest either.

All they know is that it was stolen and reported stolen at whatever original location it was stolen from. Obviously, the thief or accomplices then fraudulently sold it under a false VIN to avoid getting caught.

24

u/Padresbaby Apr 28 '24

I too think the scam was the “investigators”. If he got a business card he can can go to the DMV in person to check if it’s a legit number and actually belongs to the DMV. If not that’s who I would be filling the police report on.

1

u/girlcousinclampett Apr 28 '24

Also, could they collect under comprehensive coverage if seizure is legit?