Fraud Alert - fake title and transfer documents

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By Julie Castaneda | January 22, 2021 at 5:30 PM CST - Updated January 22 at 9:01 PM

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A Lubbock man is warning others after he says he was scammed buying a truck off Craigslist.


Kaden Seale says it took a long time to save up money to buy a new truck. He spent a lot of time searching for a new or used truck. That’s when he says he saw an ad on craigslist.


“I gave the lady a call. She answered and said that the truck was here in Lubbock,” said Seale.


The woman told Seale she was selling the truck after the recent death of her son.


“Saturday, I went and looked at the truck, checked all the paperwork that she had with her, the VINs, everything matched up, it seemed legitimate,” Seale said.


They agreed to meet on Tuesday to complete the sale after the holiday.


“She gave me a legitimate title with the VIN number, license plate number. She gave me registration paperwork where the name, and address, VIN number - everything matches the truck,” Seale said. “She even gave me a bill of sale and a Carfax where everything matches the truck, and legitimate title.”


Seale said he verified the VIN and nothing came back suspicious, so he paid for the truck and took all the paperwork to the DMV.


“Wasn’t until I went to get the title transferred into my name that it came back the name and address on the title wasn’t the name and address in the system at the DMV for who owned the vehicle,” Seale said.


After a quick search, the Lubbock Police Department found that the truck was a rental from Avis in Houston, but the truck wasn’t reported stolen.
“They said that it was rented with a stolen credit card and it had been missing 15 days,” Seale said.


Seale said he has been working with LPD to identify the scammer.


“The lady was between age 60 and 65 years old that sold me the truck,” Seale said. “Had legitimate paperwork, legitimate story, everything on selling the vehicle. (I) wasn’t expecting to be scammed at all.”


“Whoever is behind this scam is very good at what they’re doing,” Seale said. “I guess they’re renting vehicles with stolen credit cards and taking them other places and making fake paperwork and selling them.”


Now he wants to warn everyone to prevent this from happening to anyone else.


“Take the time to have them meet you. If it’s like a good amount of money, have them actually meet you at the DMV where you can try to get the title switched over there,” Seale said. “Do further investigation on the paperwork and stuff.”


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