We had a similar scam go on in my state a few years
ago. The perpetrators went through the classifieds and
Pennysaver articles, and contacted slews of people,
gave them whatever they wanted in asking price for
their vehicle. When they showed-up to pick-up the
vehicle (bikes/cars/what have you)...they paid with a
cashier's check with a fake name and even went to the
trouble of manufacturing or having manufactured fake
IDs.
You think.."so what? when the show-up to re-register
it somewhere, they're caught, right?" Well good
thought. But what they did was drive the cars/bikes
down-town or out of state and put super-low curb-side
pricing on them or gave hard-luck stories to people on
the street about how they needed money badly and had
to sell their newly purchased vehicle. Told them that
the car was still registered in the previous owners
name, that they didn't have the money to have it
re-registered, but could/would hand over the signed
title when you gave them CASH (and they would only
take cash).
Police never cought the perpetrators.
A friend of a friend lost his motorcycle like that and
was never located (either never re-registered or
chopped).
Um...new addage; Seller beware (??).
-Terry
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