SAN ANTONIO — It's not unusual to see vehicles advertised on sites like Craigslist, but one San Antonio family now knows firsthand how far scammers will go to get your money.
George and Laura Martinez needed reliable transportation after their current vehicle broke down. They found a Hyundai Sonata online, and the seller, who claimed to be a college student, said she was selling an extra vehicle.
That seller had a vehicle title and CARFAX report, showed the Martinezes a driver's license that matched the car title, and even met the family so they could do a test drive.
The family liked what they were shown, and paid $10,000 for the car.
It wasn't until they brought the documents to a Bexar County title office that they learned the truth.
"They said it was a fake document and it had been altered," George Martinez said. "We then realized we had been scammed."
It turns out the seller never actually owned the vehicle, which was most likely stolen. Now the family must wait for police to take it into evidence; if it's tied to a crime, any use of the car could land them in legal trouble.
Bexar County Tax Assessor Albert Uresti told KENS 5 he doesn't see these types of scams often, but they do happen.
Uresti said scammers have a variety of ways to change or forge title documents. Sometimes they use chemicals to alter an existing title and fade out ink on the document. In other cases, a scammer will try to digitally recreate titles.
"Some of these people are very slick and they know how to con people," Uresti said. "All of the people doing these fake titles are con artists."
In this case, the scammers made several technical errors that proved to be an easy giveaway for Uresti. Also, the scammers misspelled "Houston" as "Houstn."
Uresti said anyone buying a vehicle from someone online should ask the seller to go to a local Bexar County Tax Office and ask the county to check the title beforehand.
"Come into our office and we will check all the paperwork to make sure it is being done correctly," Uresti said. "Even if you call us we will try to help you however we can."
Buyers can also go to this Texas Department of Motor Vehicles website and pay for a title check.
The Martinez family – which started a GoFundMe to try and recuperate the money they lost – said they they will likely never see that money again. But they want to make sure others know about this type of scam before it happens to them.
"I don't want anyone in San Antonio to fall victim to this," Martinez said. "Especially people who are saving their money for their kids' education or saving their money for their house."
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