PHOENIX — It’s a scheme people won’t know they're a victim of until it’s too late.
Crooks "cloning" legitimate vehicle VIN numbers so they can fraudulently obtain the car’s title and then use that to get money from a title loan company.
It happened to a couple out in Paradise Valley. The owners sold their truck, but when they went to the MVD to transfer the title, they were told there was a $12,000 lien they needed to pay off first.
Lan Lee, the co-owner of Last8Certified in the Valley specializes in this type of crime. Lee said he was an inspector with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and handled countless cases where this happened.
“It doesn’t take long,” Lee said.
While it might seem new, Lee said this scam has been around for decades. From what he's seen, schemers can make tens of thousands of dollars.
For this scheme to start, Lee said it’s when the buyer and seller meet up. He said usually the scammer will bring someone along with them and ask to look at the car’s title. That’s when one of them will take a picture of it when the owner is not looking. Giving them the seller’s name, VIN number, address, and title number.
Lee said they then create forged documents that make it appear as if a legitimate title transfer and bill of sale happened. Lee said in cases he’s worked on, scammers obtain fake or stolen notary stamps.
As for the VIN number itself, Lee said it’s relatively simple to create.
“What they usually do is they use a label maker and they will put the VIN on there and then they just put it over the original VIN,” Lee said.
They then take the fraudulent documents to a title loan company to put a lien on a car, that is not theirs and receive money. By the time the rightful owner finds out, it’s too late.
If the crook is caught, Lee said they could face fraud and forgery charges. However, Lee said in the majority of cases, the schemers either use false or stolen ID cards and references to get approval from the title loan company.
“It’s very rare that we find out who the perpetrator is,” Lee said.
His best advice for ensuring this doesn’t happen to people selling their cars is to never give out personal information, whether online or in person. Lee also recommends that people check their title status on the MVD's website.
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