Scam or no? Kinda seems like one.

Title in hand is not necessarily adequate. Someone in the Phoenix area recently got scammed with what he thought was a valid title. The seller apparently reported to the state that he had lost the title. After he got a replacement title, he "sold" the vehicle using the original title. The best way to protect yourself from that kind of fraud is to do the transaction at a state facility.

 

Some states only recognize the original. Anyone who comes up with that has a valid claim. Don't know a work around for it.
Duane

 

In Arizona the original title is invalid once a replacement title is issued. The victim ended up with an SUV he could not register. The scammer probably took the replacement title to one of those quick loan places and hocked it for a few bucks.

 

LOL this is not stolen valor

 

In most states, a duplicate invalids the original. More states are going the electronic route. It's a big cluster f. I don't have to deal with it anymore.
Duane

 

Scam for sure. Too much useless background story.

 

Oklahoma requires the seller's signature to be notarized. While not fraud proof, it does add a bit more protection for both parties.

As far as the scam you mentioned, what did the scammer gain from doing this?

 

Played along for a few emails, but nothing interesting happened and they finally broke contact. Appreciate the input everyone, I got a little excited thinking about a $2000 Taco... If only!

Ben

 

Notarizing is required here, too.

One of the TV stations theorized the scammer probably took the valid title to one of the numerous title loan companies in the Phoenix area and used it to take out a loan on the vehicle.

 

Makes sense. I don't know how people come up with this stuff.