Fraudsters registering Teslas for state rebates with bouncing checks?

[cantdecide]

Has anyone else seen any evidence of fraudsters registering cars with state DMVs (with bouncing checks) in order to get state and other local rebates?

I live in Colorado and have a model X that I have registered in Colorado (I have no relationship with CA DMV for a few years).
However I recently received from CA DMV a notice of bounced check with a fee of $60 for this.
It appears that someone has used a bouncing check to attempt to register my car in California.
The theory I have is that someone is doing this in order to get the state and utility rebates.
Has anyone else seen evidence of this?

I was wondering if someone accidentally got the VIN wrong when registering their own car, but that doesn't explain why they would use a bouncing check... unless they realized their mistake and canceled the check.

 

[commasign]

Interesting. Did you call California DMV to report it? The bounced check could be a red herring. Agree that common things being common, it could have been a legit registration attempt but the person entered the wrong VIN.

 

[CoastalCruiser]

I have not. However, I just this week bought an EV and applied for the California rebate for the first time. I was rather surprised at how much documentation was required. They didn't just want the VIN. It was several docs, including a scan of the entire purchase agreement.

Not sure if the requirements have been this rigorous, but now that fraud has been mentioned I'm glad they are.

One other thing I didn't know before applying is that $2500 is not the cap. I qualified for a $4000 rebate. Pretty serious money.

 

[cantdecide]

Tesla finance is dealing with it for me for now... I'll update if I hear anything again but I'm guessing in this particular case Tesla+DMV will sort it out.

 

[ReddyLeaf]

Tesla finance is dealing with it for me for now... I'll update if I hear anything again but I'm guessing in this particular case Tesla+DMV will sort it out.

I would definitely check your credit reports and probably put a freeze on, just in case. I’m a bit paranoid though.