John Turco ran three VIN checks and even called a Dodge dealership listed on the maintenance records. The dealer rep told him yep, they’d serviced the truck back in August. “I said, ‘OK sounds good, everything’s lining up.” Turco got approved for a car loan and agreed to pay $28,000 for the white Ram pickup listed on Facebook Marketplace. In January, he met the seller in Indiana to complete the transaction.

All seemed well with his Ram truck until he drove it to a doctor’s appointment

Two weeks into ownership, Fairfield Township police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Vehicle Theft and Fraud unit surrounded Turco. “I parked in the parking lot, and I get surrounded by 6 police officers,” Turco told WLWT. 

While one officer immediately assured him he wasn’t in trouble, it was still bad news. Really bad news.

Despite running VIN checks, including confirming the vehicle wasn’t labeled salvage or listed as stolen, Turco still unknowingly purchased a stolen truck.

After paying the seller the $28,000, Turco didn’t have any trouble titling the car in Ohio. He also immediately registered it and obtained new license plates. “I paid for it. They issued me my title. Here’s my license plate. I got everything,” he explained, flummoxed at the turn of events.

Unfortunately, the Ram truck was a “clone.”

Thieves clone vehicles and use their VINs to scam buyers

Thieves steal a car and then replace its VIN stickers with a valid string of digits from a same-model vehicle. Then, they sell the stolen car to an unsuspecting buyer. Since the replaced VIN matches a vehicle that’s just happily existing wherever it normally lives, the clone can make it through purchase, insurance, title, and registration steps.

An undercover Ohio State Highway Patrol sergeant explained how fraudsters cloned this particular Ram truck

“The VIN sticker that’s up on the dashboard, just at the bottom side of the windshield, was slightly off-center. Where Chrysler [Stellantis], when they put them in, they center them,” he said, adding that they also include a scannable QR code. “So, in instances where they clone the vehicles, the people that are cloning them are typically not paying that close attention to the exact placement of the VIN.” 

The tire sticker can also be a giveaway on a cloned car. “The stickers are there to stay. I mean, they’re there for the life of the vehicle. They’re not going to peel up easily. Their edges are always going to be laid down completely flat. It’ll actually be hard for you to even get a fingernail underneath it,” the undercover officer said.

In this case, a dealership in Tennesee had the not-stolen truck with the legitimate VIN. It contacted authorities after it found out someone applied for an Ohio title. Since they didn’t have an Ohio buyer…immediate fraud flag.

The buyer now owes the full car loan but doesn’t have a truck

Since Turco purchased the Ram from a so-called private seller, he isn’t protected as well from the fraudulent act. He’s still responsible for the $450-a-month car payment…for the next five years. After all, the loan company gave him very real funds to buy the stolen Ram.

“I’m a victim now that my credit is going to get killed, or I owe somebody $30,000, and I got nothing,” Turco said. “It’s mind-boggling is what it is.”