Mother loses $16K after unknowingly buying stolen car on Facebook Marketplace

Samantha Spitz
·3 min read
5

DENVER (KDVR) — A mother of three is out $16,000 after a vehicle she bought on Facebook Marketplace turned out to be stolen.

After saving up for years, Yvette Blake, a single mother of three and part-time student, said she finally saved enough for a new car.

“I found someone on Facebook Marketplace with what I guess you could say has been my dream car that I’ve been wanting for a really long time,” Blake said. “The first time we went to see the car, I took a picture of the VIN, the title and went back home. I called the non-emergency number to run the VIN number. They looked it up, it came back clean, no accidents. I also pulled the Carfax on it.”

Coloradans lost millions to scams in 2023

After due diligence and negotiating a good price, the car was hers — until a few days later when the DMV said the title was fake.

“I was speechless,” Blake said. “I still am, as to how or why someone could do that.”

Blake said she went to Colorado State Patrol for a VIN inspection only to find the vehicle was stolen.

“They right away called a tow truck to tow it back to Texas to its owner,” Blake said. “It’s a shame. My kids were so happy to see the new car and now it’s gone, and mom got scammed is all I can tell them.”

How to check the title history before you buy a used car

AAA spokesperson Skyler McKinley said those in the market for a used car should utilize VehicleHistory.gov.

“There’s a small fee, but it’s going to give you the entire title history for that vehicle. It’s going to tell you if the title is legitimate. It will pop up, generally, if the vehicle is stolen,” McKinley said. “You’ll want to do that on top of the Carfax, and you’ll want to go through VehicleHistory.gov instead of other law enforcement, because it’s going to query every database in the country to make sure the car is legit.”

And while it may not catch everything, McKinley said it’s a good start.

“From a AAA perspective, unless you’re regularly in the habit of buying and selling cars through individual sales, always be skeptical. Try to work with a dealer if you can,” McKinley said. “It’s not just because of potential title scams, it’s because you could be buying a lemon without knowing it.”

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Blake tried to reach the seller but said he blocked her on Facebook and then deleted the account.

“I checked off all the right boxes,” Blake said. “I thought I was in the clear, and it still wasn’t enough. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to help Blake recover some of the money lost in this transaction.

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