So as many of you know I am selling my 2008 Boxster S and someone who said they were interested in it asked me for a copy of the title, which I copied, scanned & emailed to the person. That was 2 days ago and prior to me sending it they were emailing me left & right and now nothing. Maybe I am just being paranoid but is this something I should worry about if the person is a scammer? I cannot see what they would do with the title since it really does not have any information they could not get elsewhere, such as name, address, VIN#, etc., right?

 

You might be right to be a little paranoid. People are crazy and scams abound. Did they say why the needed a copy of the title before coming to even see the car of putting down a refundable deposit??

Make sure you save all of the email correspondence between you and the "buyer".

 

He implied that he wanted to be sure I had the car and the title was clean/clear, which it is. And yes, I am saving all the emails between us. He also said he was deaf and could not use the phone so email was best.

 

i hate to sound pessimistic but that sounds like a scam !especially the part about the person being deaf and cant use the phone.most deaf people have access to TDD(telecommunications Devices for the Deaf).

 

I feel the same way now as well. I still don't think that he could scam me with just a copy of the car's title since it only has the car's VIN# and my name/address - what can he do with that? But he could try to scam someone else into believing that he is me and try to sell the car as his own.

I have saved all the emails between us and reported to the FBI for investigation. Anyone know if I can find out anything about him (IP Adress, etc.)? Here is the email of the possible scammer in case anyone else is contacted by him:

kevin.greenier@gmail.com

 

I hope he's not trying to take out a car title loan in your name?...

http://www.affil.org/consumer_rsc/car_loan.php

 

True but if so I hope that the bank would check on it first! I also reported it to the FBI and local DMV so maybe they can flag the title or something.

 

You probably have nothing to worry about. Next time, It's probably a good idea to cover up a couple details on the title (ie. a few words or letters), but still allow the viewer to identify that it is you on the title, and then send it to them.

I'd probably run a free credit check on yourself in a month or so, just to make sure no one took out any loans in your name.

 

I'd make sure your car and everything is secure at home. Robberies and personal theft are on the rise. This is a bad time for a lot of people.

 

Just to be on the safe side, you can contact Transunion, Equifax & Experion to put a lock on your credit report. These do expire after a set period of time, but could be helpful.