Vehicle fraudulently transferred out of account without permission

[zoomer0056]

Uhm... read the whole thread? OP described the issue at length.
Also, it's very easy to slide a piece of paper down and cover up the VIN.

Lightening rod up ... Yup, read it when it was new, fake bill of sale and all. I wonder what percentage of Tesla owners cover up the VIN. If it's that important it should be common knowledge. The news media would be all over Elon if they knew. Seems a risky visible VIN only exists in this particular thread.

 

[jorhett]

Also, it's very easy to slide a piece of paper down and cover up the VIN.

easy ...and illegal. You can be ticketed for doing so. (very unlikely unless your car is involved in an accident, but possible)

VINs are usually sequential. They are not intended to be unguessable numbers.

 

[CyberGus]

easy ...and illegal. You can be ticketed for doing so. (very unlikely unless your car is involved in an accident, but possible)

VINs are usually sequential. They are not intended to be unguessable numbers.

It's certainly illegal to alter a VIN, but I can't believe anyone ever got a ticket simply for covering it. Anyone here with a ticket for that...??

VINs include a check-digit to inhibit fraud. It's not SHA512 but it's something?

 

[CyberGus]

Lightening rod up ... Yup, read it when it was new, fake bill of sale and all. I wonder what percentage of Tesla owners cover up the VIN. If it's that important it should be common knowledge. The news media would be all over Elon if they knew. Seems a risky visible VIN only exists in this particular thread.

I wonder if LifeLock will let me lock my VIN

 

[Huachipato]

In one of my cars I used to have an oversized windshield sunshade and one corner would accidentally sometimes cover the VIN.

I mean I am get it, this situation would suck if it happened to anybody but haveing the VIN of order makes can be just as dangerous if you find a dealer willing to fudge the rules a bit like they did for OP.

 

[zoomer0056]

Please keep us posted

The OP sold the car. It's no longer a problem and we can close this thread.

 

[SDRick]

Sure would be nice to know if the new buyer overcame what the OP couldn't, and if the new buyer did prevail with Tesla, how was it accomplished?

 

[Chuck305]

When I sold my M3P to CarMax they didn't ask me to release the ownership on the app and I didn't think of it at the time. I was reminded when they moved the car from location to location as the app would alert me to doors/windows opening and closing and location changing.

 

[White Shadow]

Some states have the VIN on the registration sticker in the windshield. NY has had that for decades...

And on many cars (not sure about Telsa though), the VIN can be found all over the car on many panels, so it can be easy to find it if you know where to look, even if the VIN plate at the base of the windshield is covered and there's no VIN on the registration sticker.

 

[White Shadow]

Forgot to say......anyone can easily find a VIN just by entering your license plate number into an app. Give me your license plate info and I'll give you your VIN.

EDIT: I pulled this image off of Google. Using the plate number, I know this is a 2018 Model 3, VIN 5YJ3E1EA7F058552

 

[seenhear]

Forgot to say......anyone can easily find a VIN just by entering your license plate number into an app. Give me your license plate info and I'll give you your VIN.

EDIT: I pulled this image off of Google. Using the plate number, I know this is a 2018 Model 3, VIN 5YJ3E1EA7F058552

Yes exactly. Assuming OP's story is true, and we have no reason to assume otherwise, it would seem that anyone with the VIN of a Tesla could initiate a fraudulent change of ownership with Tesla and take control of the car via the app.

You can also look up vehicle history, where it's been registered, where it's been repaired, etc. This is why when I post pics of my car online, I generally obscure the license plate and VIN.

My car (pictured in my avatar image) is currently listed for sale on Craigslist. I had an "interested" person who seemed truly interested in the car not just my phone number (which is most common with CL scammers) but something was off. He was asking questions about it that didn't make sense that made it sound like he was trying to come across like he knew about Teslas (when in fact it revealed the opposite). He asked several questions, but kept asking for a picture of the front of the car. I intentionally did not post a picture that showed the lic. plate, but virtually everything else of interest was visible. Finally I gave in and sent a picture of the front, but taped a piece of paper over the lic.plate. I also scrubbed the image of my gps location metadata. Never heard from the guy again.

 

[geordi]

He asked several questions, but kept asking for a picture of the front of the car. I intentionally did not post a picture that showed the lic. plate, but virtually everything else of interest was visible. Finally I gave in and sent a picture of the front, but taped a piece of paper over the lic.plate. I also scrubbed the image of my gps location metadata. Never heard from the guy again.

I don't know how these scammers expect to make their scam work, but what they are often looking for are images that can be used in other for sale listings where they have nothing to sell, but are 100% looking to scam people instead.

Anytime I am looking at a sale listing now, I pull down any images to my computer and run them through a Google reverse image search to see if the same images have been used elsewhere / previously. There are a LOT of scam listings out there.

 

[White Shadow]

Yeah, scammers are going to scam....or at least try to scam. It's a jungle out there.

 

[father_of_6]

I wish I would've known about this thread a year ago. I've been smashing windows, hotwiring, and pickpocketing for keycards this whole time.

 

[geordi]

I wish I would've known about this thread a year ago. I've been smashing windows, hotwiring, and pickpocketing for keycards this whole time.

It's WAY easier to just buy a rollback and load them up. Less damage, faster, and nobody questions a guy wearing a high-viz vest.

 

[apacheguy]

Do you ever drive your car in public? If so, it is trivial for anyone on the road to photograph your license plate and obtain your VIN.

You can also look up vehicle history, where it's been registered, where it's been repaired, etc. This is why when I post pics of my car online, I generally obscure the license plate and VIN.

 

[cgell]

Do you ever drive your car in public? If so, it is trivial for anyone on the road to photograph your license plate and obtain your VIN.

True, but you can say the same about your home address. Your mailbox has the number and anyone driving by can easily find your name from the address. Does that mean you would post your home address online? I would think you would avoid it when possible. I know I would.

 

[seenhear]

Do you ever drive your car in public? If so, it is trivial for anyone on the road to photograph your license plate and obtain your VIN.

Obviously. But I don't typically have my car for sale on CL, which makes it a better target for this kind of thing.

You seem to be missing the point though. You are emphasizing how easy it is to get the VIN, as if we should just not worry about it. The fact that it's so easy is exactly the issue here. Anyone can get a VIN easily, so Tesla should lock down their ownership transfer process more so it's not so easy for someone to do this. Once word gets out, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more of this kind of scam happening, unless/until Telsa changes their procedures.

 

[Krash]

I suggest we look for a new title for this thread. (self edited)

 

[zoomer0056]

I’m looking for a new title for this thread. Report this post with any suggestions. I’ll edit this post with any winner and honorable mentions unless such recommendations prefer to stay anonymous.

Just end it and start another else you do disservice to the OP and original intent. To change it because it's continually morphing means you have to change most thread titles. I am assuming that's why you want to re-title.