Another scam to watch out for

I just went a few rounds of email with a guy about an O/T car on eBay before he finally said enough to let it slip for me to figure out what his angle is - he was after the VIN off the car, probably to use on another car that's either stolen or that he can't get a clean ***le on for whatever reason. He picked our particular car because it's not likely to be on the road anytime soon, it's half apart with no motor or trans in it. Also it's old enough here in NY to be a non-***le car, and has sat long enough to be out of their system (7 years inactive).

The guy went to a lot of effort - the sob story: "your car looks just like mine that was stolen from (town two hours away) while I was stationed in Germany from 1984-1986" ... he had the right county, the right Sheriff's department and even looked up the phone number online. (eBay says he lives in Kansas, 1500 miles away, now). When I pointed out lots of cars were that color and that when his was taken it was probably just a worthless clunker someone had towed, he had a story for that. "My cousin and I painted it that color and it wasn't worthless, it was a big block SS". I pointed out this car wasn't and couldn't possibly be the rare muscle car he said his was, and a few days later the answer to that was the investigator had tried to email me (no emails recieved) and would subpoena eBay for my contact info if they didn't hear back soon. He included names of a state and a Sheriff's investigators - the latter I looked up to find there was no such person. It just went from absurd to more absurd - some places you can barely get a cop to show up to take a report when the car was stolen yesterday, you're telling me they're going to start legal process on a 25+ year old theft because someone sees a car that's the same color as their stolen one was? But it all boils down to he's trying to scare me into giving him the number on the car, with a lot of misspelled big words along the way.


If I'd realized sooner what he was after, I would have made up a VIN sequence using my books that has a couple of too-high digits in the sequential portion and asked "was your car's VIN ******x?" and I imagine he would have said no and that he was sorry to bother me - and go off thinking he's got a good number. Maybe it would even fool a DMV that way, who knows.


But the bottom line is, since new people sign up here every day - be on the lookout for this kind of BS. The numbers on your car are only the business of you, your state's DMV, and the next owner if you decide to sell it. And of course the police if they pull you over and want to check it over with a fine-toothed comb. Anyone else needs them, they'd better have legal paperwork, like a search warrant, to see them.

 

I never thought of doing that and I'm a pretty clever guy.

I guess the response he would have got from me would have been tell me your vin number and I'll check it against mine. Or maybe let me go check if this car is a repaint.

Ultimately I guess I would have told him to put his money where his mouth is and have the official invertugator contact me.

Never the less it looks like you're alright and this is good information. Thanks

 

Maybe he wanted the VIN to report it stolen. Basically steal the car from you?

 

someone did that to us before with a boat i had listed i had no clue until dmv contacted me about it.
some people need a good a$$ beating.

 

Thanks RNY... you just gave ****** a new angle on us hambers!!! ****!!

 

I had a guy call me on a 65 Mustang I was selling a few years back who wanted the vin. thought maybe he wanted the letter that designates the drivetrain in these cars... I told him it was a "C" code car. V8-2bbl-auto. I think it was a C... anyways he got kind of pissy and hung up when I asked him why he would need the vin for a car he hasn't even seen yet.

this was a car out of the system as well. unless you are looking at a late model and want to do a car fax, the only time a person needs the vin is when they are about to buy and they want to match it to the paperwork that came with the car.

 

So you're telling me that you have my Chopped n Dropped '34 Candy red over gold that was stolen in 1966 from the Route 66 Motel just outside of Amarillo? What's the vin again?

I never thought of doing the vin thing, I do need a number for a '51 TD if any one has one.

 

In CA, all cars have to be registered, even if non-op. I guess this is one good reason to actually do that. If it is already a legally registered number, then this scam is no good.

 

In AZ, all cars have to be ***led. They only need to be registered if they're used on the road. But all registered cars need to be insured for liability.

 

In MO they don't have non-op, period. The ***le never goes out of the system. Your only option is to have a number that isn't in the system then go though the hastle of getting an original ***le issued.

But if you have a vin and sign an affidavit that the vehicle is in your possession you can get a ***le by making a mechanics lien against it.

 

I had a guy like that on one of my O/T hot rods..dont do it.
even if they say they want to run a car fax..I told him i would run the car fax and send it to him..(with the vin bocked out of corse)..scammers everywhere all with an angle..
come look at the dam thing and do or dont buy it..but i aint playing tire kicker on line or over the phone, or giving out sensitive info

Hey RNY..thanks for the heads up

 

Even if they have the VIN #, wouldn't they also still have to have an actual valid plate on the car somewhere to match? That to me would seem like the hard thing to pull off. Making and altering VIN plates will likely get you some notable cooling off time if caught.

But, a lot of scammers seem to be both incredibly clever and incredibly stupid at the same time. So, wouldn't put it past anyone to try what would seem to be the stupidest thing to most normal people. Some people will spend 10 times the effort to cheat somebody that it would be to just do things right way.

 

I think you nailed it in your second paragraph Stude Dude. While a lot of scammers can be quite clever in their methods you can usually see though them by their less then stellar moves. I think some of those scammers work harder at working their scams than if they had a real job.

Thanks for the Heads up RNY, It's one of those things that most of us never tend to think about.

 

Same in NY really but in NY they didnt have ***les up until the early 70s I think it was. We just had transferrable registrations.

 

where in ks is the guy? I could stop by and say hi...

 

RNY - thanks - well-written and certainly timely. Way to keep your own interests paramount.

dj

 

This may sound stupid (never stopped me before though) ... here in Canada he "could" actually get an ownership made using that VIN. He would swear out an afadavit that he bought (fill in the blank)________ from a farmer (original ownership papers lost), that he is now the rightfull owner of the car ... and they WILL print him up an ownership (after paying the tax on the value listed on the fake bill of sale).

The rest is obvious ... show up at your place with a trailer, load the car (when no one is home) and drive away ... if he does get pulled over he would show the cop the ownership in his name that matches the serial number of the vehicle. It's not stealing if you can "prove" you "own" it.

If this was all done using fake ID. The guy could sell it cheap and sell it quick ... when **** hits the fan, he is long gone and the new "owner" (oblivious to what really happened) is out his new car (it gets returned to the person it was stolen from) and his cash.

 

You would have the car with the number, a history of registration (as long as you plated it) a ***le with an issue date, and he has a three year statute of limitation ( in some cases) and would have to prove ownership, registration and previously existing ***le circa 1984 - 1986, if he had a bogus ***le done it would be issued recent. However this guy was going to try to skin the cat he wasn't thinking out the legal aspect of this scam. True this would be a ginormous pain as we are all guilty till we can prove our innocence, but other than giving you *** cramps I don't see how this guy could obtain anything within legal means. Still, never give any numbers out. The best reply would be to ask him to have the officer contact you through process, explain to him that it is legally out of his hands and that he should let the authorities do their job, and OK bye now, him.

 

Your accurate definition is amusing and the sad truth at the time. But it hits the point and makes people of our kind vulnerable..we simply don't think that way. Especially not, if one ***umes to be a****st like minded fellows. Good post, though. Even made me think of it, and I was just curiously improving my knowledge about U.S. legal stuff..cheers.

 

I guess being from NJ - the land of crooks and con jobs I am well aware of this ruse. I never give out vin info or even let people see a ***le until money is exchanged first. One person once had the nerve to ask me to fax the ***le so he can "see" it. BS. Never going to happen here. NEVER post the complete vin on a for sale ad and of course NEVER, NEVER on evilbay. Its not that hard to get paperwork once you have a vin to use.

 

I have sold several Camaro's and Impala's on Craigslist and E bay. Always someone wanting the VIN#'s. I tell them I don't share that info with any one except the buyer. To many people reproducing VIN and Cowl tags for Chevrolet's.

 

when i was trying to sell my coupe i had a girl from california email me asking for pictures, and one of the serial number. guess what? she got neither.

 

not sure about you fellas but i get the vin on any old car before i buy it so i can have my registration service run the numbers and make sure the car doesn't have ***le problems. judging the responses here look like alot of people don't do that which seems crazy to me

not sure what the point would be to use a legit vin that is on someone else's car would be, if you were clever enough to make his vin stamp look more legit than your legit stamp doubt he'd be going this route.

either a really stupid person or your paranoid....

 

I do the same thing. I always check the vin before I buy any vehicle because I personally know someone who restored a 59 vette and then lost the car because he never checked to see if it was hot. The car was finished too.No joke. Whats to stop anyone who actually comes and looks at your car from doing anything shady? One more reason to ALWAYS ***le evrything you get right away and keep it updated no matter what stage your in on the rebuild.

 

Check this out.

419 Eater - The largest scambaiting community on the planet!

 

Sounds like an urban myth but it has to have happened to somebody. I never understood waiting to get a ***le either. If there's a problem I want to know right away. Naturally there *was* a problem with my '51 that I never would have realized if I didn't try to get the ***le changed. I got it taken care of after much h***le.

I keep the tags and insurance on even if I'm still cobbling it together. Just my luck I'll hit someone during a test drive.

 

Hell : I give people that call me the wrong SS number - my Mothers name, anything they want. They could have just made it all up and be better off than talking to me.

 

****ing crazy

 

Damn!! They will never give up!! Thanks for the info!!

 

Two points here:

For some models (like 60's chevy SS) the VIN is very important. To protect yourself, just blank out the sequence number. For example, I own a 164678Xoooooo. That will tell the prospective buyer what he needs to know while protecting yourself.

However, After reading about the mid-year vette that was stolen in 1970 and recovered 2009, If I'm ever lucky enough to buy a high-dollar car, I'm gonna run the VIN first.