Greg's Corner

This car scam could have police at your door

By Greg Collier

When someone falls victim to a used car scam, the best-case scenario is they only lose their money. In some other instances, victims have been severely injured or worse. However, in at least one instance, police showed up at a victim’s home looking to arrest them.

A man from Los Angeles makes his living buying cars, then flipping them for a profit. Recently, he bought a high-end car off Craigslist that he thought he got for a bargain. As a seasoned pro in the used car game, the man thought he had covered all of his bases. The seller’s driver’s license matched the name on the title, and the title appeared to be legitimate.

The man was getting ready to take the car to an auction when not only did police show up at his home, but they had their guns drawn. As with most used car scams from Craigslist, the man had bought a stolen car and police assumed he stole it.

It turned out, the person who stole the car did so from a car sharing platform called Turo. It’s like Airbnb, except for cars. People make money by renting out their car when they’re not using it.

Thankfully, everything was cleared up, but the man who bought the car was out $32,000.

When buying a used car from any online marketplace, there are some steps you should take to prevent being scammed. As with just about any scam, if the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Try to get the seller to meet you either at the DMV, the local police station, or AAA. According to the news report we saw, AAA can verify that the real owner of the car matches the name on the title. Use a vehicle history report service like CARFAX or AutoCheck to check the car’s history. And lastly, ask to see the seller’s identification and the car’s VIN before going to meet the seller. Scammers often don’t give up that information voluntarily.