Help: I purchased a factory stolen Bronco Raptor and had no idea

[Ground_zero298]

First thing I’d do is file a police report for stolen vehicle. If the kept it and won’t give it back, plus it’s registered to you with a title.

Besides that the cartel crossed the border and grabbed that guy for 50k he took. He was tortured for the next 6 days then dismembered. Can only imagine what 75k Will get you. Hope when he gets found he makes the news.

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[indio22]

This is actually a common practice in the Mopar scene and with rental companies. Sadly unless you can track down the scammer you are SOL. They use false paperwork across the board including IDs and credit cards to get the vehicles. They swap the visible vins and sell for cash. In the time it takes for the state the false title is from realizes whats going on there is almost nothing you can do. Truly a shitty situation

Apparently the OP does have a photo of the guy who sold him the stolen Bronco (I think it's this photo below). Not sure how good facial rec is these days, or if the guy's face is even in some DB to search, but might be able to use it someday to find out who he is:

 

[V1Rotate]

I think I read it stated somewhere in the previous 17+ pages but there’s a 99% certainty (see below) that the OP was naive enough to buy something IN CASH that’s too good to be true off of CRAIGSLIST from a guy and his lady-friend who look 1000% like scammers (painting w/ a broad brush and profiling I know but lets be real) THEN in the 10 days after he realized it was probably hot and tried to trade it in to get out from under it before it got seized by the cops at gunpoint. The rest is all dateline material. This all assumes he didn’t have anything to do with it criminally speaking which is still debatable

 

[BlueBronco]

I had to call and schedule with a bank he refused anything but cash I asked him 100 times for a cashiers he refused. Makes sense now

No, it always made sense
-Craigslist
-Out of state
-Cash only
-Under market value
-Crazy sob story
-To good to be true

I understand that once the title cleared everything seemed to be legit, it just should have never gotten that far.

 

[8ronco]

The $75K was to good to be true. Good luck as the scammer got away with the cash, your best bet is to find the scammer and take legal action.

Part of the problem is that if you knowingly pay substantially less money for something than what it is worth and it turns out to be stolen, in most states you can be criminally charged with knowingly receiving stolen property. Ford has already likely received an insurance payout on the stolen vehicle and in that case it would now belong to the insurnce company that made the payout. You may be able to purchase the vehicle from whomever owns it now, but your $75k is likely gone with the wind unless you can track down the seller...

 

[Biz]

Part of the problem is that if you knowingly pay substantially less money for something than what it is worth and it turns out to be stolen, in most states you can be criminally charged with knowingly receiving stolen property. Ford has already likely received an insurance payout on the stolen vehicle and in that case it would now belong to the insurnce company that made the payout. You may be able to purchase the vehicle from whomever owns it now, but your $75k is likely gone with the wind unless you can track down the seller...

The window sticker he posted showed $70,000 It's not like he got it for half that.

I've read alot of sh^t stories on this board but usually its all on the OP. I feel in this case you did your do diligence and still got the crap end of the stick. Good luck and hope this plays out in your favor.

 

[EpicExplorer]

It's a crazy story so I feel obligated to be sceptical. Here's another angle:

From how I see it, there's no objective quality evidence so far that shows you paid $75k to someone else.

That opens the possibility for you to have been apart of it (or at least knew it was stolen and got scared and made up the "work truck" scenario) and this thread is a ruse to establish victimhood. Yeah $75k is too good to be true, but not if the caveat is that it's stolen.

Several others have mentioned the red flags. Plus you knew you wanted a pickup for your job but you went out of your way (losing any sensibility of being scammed evidently) and bought a vehicle that doesn't fit your needs.

I'm leaning towards you knew it was stolen. That's why you "immediately" took your truck to the dealership when they called, and started the whole "I didn't know" spiel.

I don't mean to be accusatory, I just feel like the dramatic lawyer trying to nail the defendant like in a A Few Good Men.

For what it's worth I hope justice is served to the appropriate party.

 

[2023bronco]

Yeah, the whole I bought it for tens of thousands of dollars less than market value and resold in just 10 days would be a tough sell to a jury. Just sayin'.

 

[hozer]

IF OP knew, why flip it back to a dealer? He had a clean AZ title and easily could have flipped it private here for more cash than it cost him.

 

[ScottyC]

Bought off Craigslist - drove for 10 days - traded in to dealership....

 

[ChrisB351]

Also that sticker is missing the Ford security background graphic (I don't want to post a picture of my sticker but check your Bronco to see what I'm talking about).

Also to the left of that sticker is the yellow tire pressure sticker, which normally includes a barcode with the VIN number. If you look closely you can see where the scammer somewhat sloppily cut the VIN off.

I feel terrible for OP but this is a sort of fascinating look into organized vehicle theft.

I just compared mine and you are 100% correct

 

[Heavy_GD]

I think I read it stated somewhere in the previous 17+ pages but there’s a 99% certainty (see below) that the OP was naive enough to buy something IN CASH that’s too good to be true off of CRAIGSLIST from a guy and his lady-friend who look 1000% like scammers (painting w/ a broad brush and profiling I know but lets be real) THEN in the 10 days after he realized it was probably hot and tried to trade it in to get out from under it before it got seized by the cops at gunpoint. The rest is all dateline material. This all assumes he didn’t have anything to do with it criminally speaking which is still debatable

 

[ONCEHADABRAPTOR]

Apparently the OP does have a photo of the guy who sold him the stolen Bronco (I think it's this photo below). Not sure how good facial rec is these days, or if the guy's face is even in some DB to search, but might be able to use it someday to find out who he is:

Ya that was him "John"

 

[Silver-Bolt]

Can the Ford Pass app track where the vehicle has been?

 

[ONCEHADABRAPTOR]

It's a crazy story so I feel obligated to be sceptical. Here's another angle:

From how I see it, there's no objective quality evidence so far that shows you paid $75k to someone else.

That opens the possibility for you to have been apart of it (or at least knew it was stolen and got scared and made up the "work truck" scenario) and this thread is a ruse to establish victimhood. Yeah $75k is too good to be true, but not if the caveat is that it's stolen.

Several others have mentioned the red flags. Plus you knew you wanted a pickup for your job but you went out of your way (losing any sensibility of being scammed evidently) and bought a vehicle that doesn't fit your needs.

I'm leaning towards you knew it was stolen. That's why you "immediately" took your truck to the dealership when they called, and started the whole "I didn't know" spiel.

I don't mean to be accusatory, I just feel like the dramatic lawyer trying to nail the defendant like in a A Few Good Men.

For what it's worth I hope justice is served to the appropriate party.

I mean at the end of the day my current tacoma is falling apart I dont go to dealers and without a tax credit and this put me there to avoid sales tax pretty common. I had equity in it more than 75k thats pretty clear. Az title exactly as normal. As stated my now 7 year old Tacoma has paint damage, faded headlights, blown cv boot, needs an alignment. Can walk outside and take pictures of the thing lol. Old tech its slow I need a truck. I bought the bronco without the full intent of keeping as who would at that price. I was just browsing the webs for fun on a sunday afternoon looking for a new vehicle to purchase anyways. What does a dealer do they make profit right? Everyone probably paid some sort of mark up here? I paid a mark up at the dealer for the F150 didnt I? I just had equity to burn. The bronco had damage and they kinda smoked in it. Fresh start. I had it 15 days little over 2 weeks. I am not gonna respond over and over again to the same stuff its all here its public. Im missing the money and one of the vehicles I actually planned to keep. I havent bought something off the lot since 2016

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