Classic Car Sales Scams – Advanced New Fraud

So there’s a new type of fraud. Well, it’s not brand new but it’s rolling out quite a bit more than it used to be with classic car sales—fake classic car sales.

How Scammers Operate
Here’s what the scammers will do: they will find the name and address of a used car dealership and they will create a website that’s very similar in name. Let’s say it’s called Joe’s cars. They will make a website that is Joe’s used cars inc.com and they’ll get the logo and the picture of the building from Google Earth. They’ll get photos of vehicles that they scrape from different websites and they’ll make a very nice-looking used car classic car for sale website.

The Appeal of Classic Cars
Because classic cars many times are not bought locally, look if you’re selling a 2022 Toyota Corolla you don’t need to go halfway across the country to get that car because you can find one near where you live. But if you want a 1969 Z28 Camaro, you’re going to have to probably take whatever you can get wherever it is in the country. The chances of one of those cars being right next to your house are slim. So people buy them remote. They may want to go look at them but a lot of times you have to send a deposit in advance or take pictures or take videos.

Creating a Fake Website
So what these scammers will do is they’ll make a fake website of a car dealership. They make it look legit. They put the address of a real car dealership so if you Google the address, yep, there’s the car dealership. They’ll put a phone number that rings to them and they’ll get pictures, not necessarily from the car dealership that they’re cloning, that they’re making you know, identity theft, but they’ll find great cars online elsewhere and they’ll take the pictures. No Photoshop, maybe the logo of this fake car dealership on the front license plate, maybe on the sign in the background. They’ll put the fake car dealership name and they’ll put really slick good-looking photos and even videos that they scrape from the internet on the website.

Engaging with the Victim
They take the call and they say, “Yep, this is Joe at Joe’s used cars. Do you want to buy this car?” Yep, and they’ll go back and forth with you. They’ll send you pictures. You can ask them to send a new picture; they’ll send you an updated photo. Eventually, you’ll say, “I want to buy it,” and they’ll say, “Well great, do you want to come see it?” “Well, I’m not really local.” “Okay, well if you send a deposit, we’ll hold it and we’ll either ship it to you or you can send an inspector.” They’ll take a deposit and of course, it’s a scam, right?

Preventing the Scam
So how do you prevent this from happening? The first thing you do is anytime you are going to buy anything or send money remote, make sure you can positively identify the company you’re doing business with. Also, look up their website to see when it was formed. You can do a WHOIS lookup on a domain name, which is a web address. Joe’s cars.com, you can plug it into a website called WHOIS, it’ll tell you what date it was formed. Most of these were formed within the last four or five months because they can’t keep running this scam for too long because they’ll get bad reviews. So if you see the website was formed recently, that’s a red flag.

Verifying Business Details
Then what you do is go onto Google Maps, look up that business, click on it on Google Maps, and look at the actual phone number. Because you can’t fake a phone number on Google Maps because they make you identify the business and call that number and say, “Hey, do you have this car for sale?” If it’s the real place, then you call the real number.

Requesting Proof
The third thing you do to make sure you’re not getting scammed is have the person send you a video of them walking on the lot of that place with a date and then show the car. Because a lot of times the videos they have are videos that were put on the internet months or years ago. Make sure it’s dated, make sure it shows the lot from Google Maps, not another showroom location, and make sure the one you can see on Google Maps.

Inspecting the Title
The last thing you do is ask them to send you a photo of the title of the vehicle. Because if they have the vehicle, they should have the title. If they don’t have the title, that’s a red flag. Or look at the title to see if it’s photoshopped. A lot of times they’ll take in they’ll Photoshop the words on it, the name of their dealership. Remember, the dealership’s name is probably not on the front of the title. So if they send you a title and on the front of the title, on their certificate side, right, this side, if the name of the dealership is listed as the owner, that’s probably a red flag. You might think that’s legit. Dealerships never put a new title in their name. Their name is signed over on the back from the seller and then they sign it over to you.

Contacting DMV
So if they send you one with their name printed on the front, that’s also a red flag. The last thing you can do to verify the title is you can contact the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state where that title was issued from and ask them. They won’t tell you the name because that’s privacy laws, but they can tell you if there’s actually a title issued from that state and they can tell you the title number and it should match what the scammer sent you.

Be Cautious
Be very careful because these scammers are taking tens of thousands of dollars from victims for deposits on vehicles that they don’t even have and they’ll bluff you and say, “Yeah, you can come look at it,” because they know you’re far away and you probably won’t.

Additional Precautions
Worst case scenario, if it’s a lot of money, you could go on Craigslist and find a local inspector that can go down and look at the vehicle. They may not be a car inspector but at least they can go put their hands on it, put their eyes on it, take a picture of it as a third party. It might cost you 50, 100 bucks to have somebody local go to a dealership and see the car but that will also keep you from getting scammed in that way. It still could be a scam; it still could be that dealership selling a bad car, but at least you’re not sending money, wiring it to somebody outside the country that made up a fake car dealership website to steal your hard-earned money.

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What Do You Get With A Car Title Service

So you have ordered the car titles document package. What do you get? When does it come? Well, here’s what happens once you place the order.

Document Preparation
We immediately start preparing documents for your car title process. They’re usually done within a few hours, almost always the same day, and you’ll get an email that will confirm all the spellings and the VIN number to make sure everything’s correct after we printed it out to make sure it’s ready to go. Once you verify everything’s right, then we send you out this package.

Package Contents and Signing
It’s a full portfolio of all your documents, all the different places they need to be signed. Some states allow for digital signatures; if that’s the case, we don’t need to send you any package, you can sign it online. Normally, most states are still in the paper era, and if that’s the case, we send you this package with all the signatures identified: where to sign it, where to put your name, where to put your address.

Instructions and Convenience
Once it’s signed, we’ll give you an envelope exactly where to send it back to for filing. Also, for convenience, there’s a full instruction sheet. Everything’s filled in; you don’t have to normally fill in really anything. There’s also a QR code to make it easier for instructions. It’ll have little arrow stickers.

Document Processing
Once it gets sent back, either to us or to whoever it needs to get sent to for processing, it’ll have direct access for you to get your title. Once all the documents have been reviewed, the title is sent directly to you with your name on it. It’s not in anybody else’s name, it doesn’t come to us, it comes directly to you. But that’s an example of your car title packaging that comes to you.

Shipping Information
We sent it USPS Priority Mail with tracking. It’s two-day shipping, so you’ll have it very quickly. Again, in states where they allow for digital signatures, all this is done electronically. Most states are still on paper.

Future of Electronic Titles
If you followed our channel, you can see that there is an eART program, and the eART Coalition is a group that we’re a member of, along with many other prominent companies like DocuSign and some DMVs. We’re in the process of transitioning different DMVs over to electronic titles so you don’t need all that paperwork, but that’s still a few years away.

Additional Information
In the meantime, we’ll get all the documents to you, where to sign them. A couple things you might have to check off boxes, but that’s the package you get and when you get it. If you have any questions, you can contact our Operations Department, they’ll go through it with you. But that’s the package you get from car titles when we do the paperwork for you to get your title easier.

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How To Get A Clear Title For A Vehicle

So what is a clear title on a car? What’s a clear vehicle title? Well, a title as you probably know is a government document issued only by a government agency. It’s actually a documented piece of paper. There are some efforts to try to make titles paperless where it’s digital. That hasn’t happened yet, so for the time being titles are all paper documents. Make sure that if you’re buying a vehicle not only are you getting a piece of paper but it’s also a clear title.

Importance of a Clear Title
What does that mean? It means it doesn’t have any liens on it. It means it’s not stolen, means it’s not a salvage or parts only, that there’s no back taxes on it. If somebody doesn’t hand you a piece of paper without any stamps on it or any liens on it, you might be buying a vehicle that you could have a problem with later. You don’t want to be in that position. If you have a vehicle that you’re purchasing and there’s any kind of reference to a lien on the title or salvage, you could have problems switching the title to your name. A clear title is incredibly important to make sure that you’re not buying something that you’re not going to be able to own, that the money is going away.

Checking for a Clear Title
There is a series of things you can do to check on that. Don’t try to do anything online like an online VIN check, Carfax, VIN Checker, VIN audit. Those are not accurate at all. They may tell you some basic information, but they don’t have anything about liens. The salvage information is questionable at best and it’s not going to tell you anything about prior owners or back taxes. The only way you can check is by getting the information directly from the government agencies and you have to do that in person. They won’t do it over the phone, they won’t do it by email. You may be able to mail them a paper document for them to mail you a printout, but you’re not going to be able to do it in a way that you think is going to be convenient by calling them up or emailing them.

Steps to Verify a Clear Title
What you have to do is you have to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state where the car was last titled, not in your state, in wherever the car was last titled to ask them, are there any liens on the vehicle? Because let’s say if a car came from Texas and you’re in Alabama, if you go to Alabama DMV, they won’t have the information about Texas liens at the Alabama DMV, so you have to go to Texas. The next thing you want to do is make sure it’s not stolen. You might think, well, the DMV should know that, right? Well, they might not. The only people that know about that 100% is the law enforcement. If you go to the local police department in the county where you live or for the city where you live in person, they won’t do it over the phone. You have to bring your photo ID so they can know who you are, bring the VIN number, they can run it through what’s called NCIC, National Crime Information Computer, and they will be able to tell you if there’s an open active stolen on that vehicle. Online’s not going to give you 100%, DMV won’t give you 100%.

Additional Checks
Then what you want to do is check the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) to make sure it’s not a salvage or parts only. There’s some design on a title that could make it impossible to ever get a new title if it’s considered junk or considered a certificate of destruction. It has nothing to do with the condition, the car could be in great shape, perfectly new, it still could have a junk title because of the insurance company’s liability. The last thing you want to do is check for any back taxes. Whatever state it was last registered in, if there’s any back taxes owed or past due fees, they could hold up the title unless those are cleared. And there’s only a few that do that: California, Illinois, a couple other states. But you also want to make sure that it doesn’t have anything about it that would keep you from getting a title. So a clear title is important, that’s how you’ll find out. Don’t take the easy way in just running a $15 Carfax. It is very likely going to miss a lot of things that could keep you from getting a title and that’s not going to be good if you spent a lot of money for that vehicle.

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Drive Through Scanner Diagnoses Cars

Gearheads and Car Enthusiasts
So most of you watching this channel are Gearheads car nerds you love to work on cars you love to know about cars so what do you think about this little invention dealers are now using an AI scanner to diagnose cars and so here’s what it looks like see this Loop speaking of loop it’s a it’s a loop of a video but we’ll get rid of that in a second so it doesn’t annoy you all you got to do is drive the car through this Loop and it diagnoses the car well how does it work according to the provider it’s a high-tech vehicle inspection system that’s in 300 dealerships customers drive through the scanner gets a full Condition Report with defects and it does physical defects and also mechanical defects very straightforward you will be back in your video in just a few seconds.

Expert Consultations
In the mean time remember that actual human.com offers you live one-on-one private video consultation with an expert in this exact subject we want to listen to your story we want to hear your questions we want to give you expert advisement of your options and tell you what we know about your particular situation now back to your video drive-thru large scanner takes photos including the underbody and it spots def defects but it also does potential issues of mechanical issues finding things that technicians might even fail to find described as an MRI scan for automobiles.

Is This the Future?
I don’t know what do you think this picture here was taken at Chevrolet dealership you can see U there’s a Cadillac dealership called Finlay I believe they’re in Nevada so as somebody who knows about cars what do you think about this is this is this worth it is this going to work is this going to be the wave of the future or mechanic obsolete I don’t know you tell me if this kind of technology is good for identifying repair issues on vehicles.

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Zombie Car Title Liens From Old Records

Now this article may seem like it has to do with real estate loans but it actually has a lot in common with car title leans. If you have a car title lean on your vehicle, maybe what’s called a zombie lean, where it’s disappeared, it’s gone, they’re not getting the car, they’re not contacting you and then all of a sudden it pops up later when you’re trying to get a title. Does that sound like you? Do you have a vehicle that has a lean that’s long since been gone? The lender hasn’t contacted you, maybe they sold it to a collection agency, maybe they did a charge off and all of a sudden now you’re trying to sell your car and this lean is blocking you on your title and it’s showing up on your title record. How do you get rid of it? How do you deal with it?

Real Estate Parallels
So we’re going to look at this article that has to do with a mortgage on a house, but all of the same things happen with a lean on a vehicle title. And The Story Goes Like This: imagine the shock a homeowner’s second mortgage, long believed to be paid off or forgiven, comes back from the dead in the form of a letter from a debt collector. Repay the loan now or face foreclosure. Now you probably didn’t get a letter, but you don’t have to get a letter. If you try to get a title from the DMV, the DMV is going to be the letter. They’re going to say you can’t get a title because there’s a zombie lean on your car title. In real estate, they call it zombie mortgage debts on properties that homeowners believe are long dead through settlement, loan modification, foreclosure, or even charge off. Many homeowners are being blindsided by notices demanding payment. You were probably blindsided by the DMV telling you there’s a lean on your vehicle that you thought was long gone.

Borrower Confusion
Borrowers believe their mortgages were modified, discharged, or forgiven as they received no further communication for years. We hear that a lot. People have not heard from their lean holder, not heard from their bank, and all of a sudden now there’s a lean on their title. Debt collectors were buying these debts for cheap without the consent or knowledge of the borrower and then pursuing the amount. Now pursuing the amount is one thing, but blocking your title is something else. So what can you do about this if some long dead zombie car title lean is showing up and blocking your title?

Sending a Lean Release Package
Well, the first thing to do is to send a lean release package to the original lean holder. Forget about the debt collector, forget about the collection agency. See if your original loan was through, let’s say, Chase Bank. Send a lean release package to Chase Bank. Here’s why: they’re the only one that can sign off on releasing the lean with the DMV. Now remember, we’re not attorneys, we’re not giving you legal advice, but the DMV is not allowed to accept a letter from a debt collector collection agency. Even if you paid a collection agency, they can’t sign the lean release because they’re not the original lender.

Legal Nuances
In fact, when the original lender sold that lean or sold that debt to the debt collector, it’s possible that they no longer are allowed to keep the lean on your title record. Again, that’s a legal question that sometimes courts will say no. If you charged it off or did a write-off or sold it to a debt collector, you can’t keep the lean because you’re charging it off. Some have decided the other way. But if you do send a proper lean release package to the lean holder, we have other videos that explain exactly how to do this. If not, you can click our website cartitles.com or leanrelease.com, a separate website, that will give you instructions on how to do this. We also have a title service if you want assistance with it.

Procedure and Documentation
If you send it to the lean holder in the right way, the right format, the right procedure, chances are some clerk is going to pull up that title and say, “Yep, that’s a charge off, that’s a write off.” They sign it, and they send it back to you. Now you might say, “I already tried to call them, I already tried to email them.” Forget call and email; that doesn’t work. You have to do it with a proper package of physical paper documents. You can’t do it by email, you can’t do it by phone; it’ll never work, never work. Plus, if you do it with documentation, now you also have the option if for some reason they’re out of business or they don’t show up or they don’t send it back, you can then file it with your County Magistrate to have the magistrate sign it in alternate to the lean holder.

Importance of Resolution
The important thing to recognize is these zombie car loans, these zombie title leans are blocking many people from being able to get their title, and it’s creating a problem for well-meaning vehicle owners. You may have bought it from somebody, maybe you charged it off a long time ago from being able to sell their vehicle, renew their registration, move to another state. A lot of these things are becoming big problems. So it’s important to get that zombie lean off of your car loan as soon as possible.

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