Grand Theft Internet

MASON CITY, IA--Cases of reported auto theft are now at a 20 year low.

Even though the number of vehicles on the road nationwide is double what it was two decades ago.

So, what's behind the trend?

Car makers are installing standard security items like: ignition immobilizers, which make cars hard to start without the key.
alarm systems and GPS tracking technology are also helping.

But in these tougher and tighter times, the amount of reported fraud is on the way up in Minnesota, Iowa and other states.

Insurance claims from bogus vehicle damage, fires and theft.

One of the fastest growing problem areas for enterprising criminals is the internet, where a good, or a very bad deal is only a click, or two away.

Chris from Iowa doesn't want to reveal his full name or where he lives.

But he describes what it was like to be scammed during a purchase over the internet, in his case, eBay Motors.

"Extremely stressful, extremely stressful," said Chris, "probably one of the worst automotive purchasing experiences you'll ever have. I just feel like you got completely taken advantage of and you know there's no recourse."

Chris won an auction and bought a 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra.

"I mean it was a good price, it was a good price, but I was one of those ones where you go, is this too good to be true.  And you know I think back and yes it was it was too good to be true.

He had the car delivered from Pennsylvania and it ran great.

"I would say yeah it was probably close to a dream car for me at the time,” said Chris.

But the dream went sour when an insurance investigator called him months later to get a closer look at the car.

"it was like, oh man heart wrenching, heart wrenching, then you just go oh, this could be bad if this actually comes true," said Chris.

The Iowa State Patrol took a portion of the vehicle apart before it was sure it had been stolen in New York State.

Its vehicle identification numbers, or VIN, were actually glued on from another wrecked mustang.

Investigators call it a "salvage switch."

"It was, it was terrible," said Chris, "you know to see them take my car that I had a lot of money invested in, it was a very heart wrenching experience for me I guess, taken advantage of, you knew this could go real bad and if it does then you know you got taken and you didn't even see it coming.

Chris figures he lost more than $20,000 on the car, the delivery and the lawyer he hired after it was taken away.

His case is believed to one of 150 more related to two brothers named Darius and and Krzysztof Grabowski out of Pennsylvania.

They plead guilty to a more than $3 million dollar auto theft scheme in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania area.

Many of the vehicles were sold nationwide on eBay.

There's been several times where I have to take cars where I really do feel bad that I have to take that car-but that's what I have to do, said Iowa State Trooper Ken Haut.

Haut is a member of the ISP vehicle theft unit.

He works undercover and says internet vehicle related fraud is on the rise.

Haut said, "It’s starting to become a big deal, like I said it’s an easy route to steal from somebody."

Theft cases come in all types like this Minnesota car, seized with 3 different VINs in Iowa, to stolen ATV's, like one an Amboy, Minnesota man bought from someone off Craigslist in Iowa.

If it has an engine or wheels it's a target for thieves.

"The crooks are going to go to the spot where it’s easiest to make their money," said Haut, "And that's what they're using, the internet is getting to be one of the easier places to make their money and it is very easy."

Des Moines area investigator Vern Foughty said if he just chased internet auto fraud alone, he wouldn't be able to keep up.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau investigator is tracking stolen cars, cloned vehicles like a Hummer limo which had a VIN from a car in Florida and others he suspects were deliberately burned.

"Where there's a will there's a way, said Foughty, "and the thieves seem to come up with a way to do it."

Foughty has sought-out fraud for more than 40 years and he says as soon as investigators catch-on, criminals are usually working another angle.

"So it gets to be a real cat and mouse game," said Foughty.

How easy is it to spot an internet scam?

Mason City dealer Steve Johnson has purchased several cars online.

We asked him to find a bogus ad for us and in a matter of moments he found a deal too good to be true.

A 2005 Acura for an incredible price.

The owner claims they need to sell it quickly due to a divorce.

"For $2,940 with 34,000 miles, I'll take 10 them, if I could get it," said Johnson.

Through some simple internet research, Johnson discovered a car of that quality is worth around $15,000.

It's the first of many red flags like: no license plate and no phone number, just an email address.

So we sent an email to someone who calls themselves Rosemary.

We ask Johnson who he thinks Rosemary is. "Probably some guy sitting at a coffee shop somewhere with his laptop," he said.

We ask why he doesn't think Rosemary is for real. "Well because I doubt anybody is going to sell a 2005 Acura TL for $2,900, just too good a deal huh," said Johnson.

A few emails later our seller with the ad on the Minneapolis Craigslist web site soon claims to be a Rosemary Johnson from Denver, Colorado.

But her official looking email and bill of sale suggests the deal is being handled by eBay and someone in Orlando, Florida.

EBay’s web site contains several cautions for customers and it advises they do not do this sort of thing.

The costly issue of shipping is included in the deal, which our experts say is too good to be true.

Then the biggest red flag of all, whoever it is wants us to pay via Money Gram.

But here's the real surprise.

By placing the item number from Rosemary's ad in a Google search we turn up several other would-be buyers raising questions, about other vehicles offered for sale this year.

To top it off, eBay’s web site tells us no such item exists.

We also found another Mason City auto trader who told us he sent $3,000 by Western Union to place a deposit on a pickup he saw online.

Later he discovered at least 8 other people had done the same thing.

So some thief made at least $27,000 off a photo of a truck sitting on a dealer's lot in Texas.

"In the past year we've definitely seen an increase in the number of who come to us with a concern," said Matthew Ritter with Clear Lake Bank and Trust about internet schemes and fraud.

Ritter warns customers there's little protection in some methods of payment, "Once you send a wire the funds are gone and there's a relatively good chance you’re not going to get those funds back."

Even Western Union's web site cautions customers against using its services for similar transactions.

Other experts also caution that despite slick looking web sites, many online escrow sites are fraudulent. They say you should choose your own escrow company and if the seller insists on one particular site, it could be a red flag.

Steve Johnson said he's taken chance’s but he tries to deal personally with people, "If you can't go there in person and see the item, talk to somebody and make the transaction that's the only I believe of doing it."

Its advice Chris lives by.

He's not sure who talked to over the phone, but the guy knew his stuff and like many scammers, he had a convincing story.

"He just couldn't afford to have it anymore," said Chris, "That was his story, and that was his wife's story too, she was making him sell the car and I was like, okay. I talked to the wife, or whoever I thought was the wife."

Thoughts of what he'd do if he caught up with the people who ripped him off do cross his mind from time to time.

Oh my God, I don't think by law I could probably do any of those things, said Chris, but unthinkable things you could probably imagine, ball bats, you know whatever. It's kind of crazy and probably sleep good at night, pretty much everybody else that just pays the bills, does what they're supposed to do, saves and just buys something they think is their dream car, and get completely blind-sided with this, I don't see how they do it, but they do."

It took at least a year before he found the courage to purchase another Mustang, this time from a person in Kansas on eBay.

"You really just need to inspect the car yourself, or have the DOT inspect it, anyone you can have inspect the car, a dealer," said Chris.

In the case of his latest Mustang, he got his father to go look at it for him.

He checked the VIN and eventually met the owner to buy the car.

Chris admits his experience has really made him think twice, "I suspect everything is too good to be true until somebody proves me otherwise now pretty much, you know I have my guard up on everything, now comparatively, especially when it comes to high ticket items, I want to make sure they’re legit, and I do everything in my power to make sure they're legit, before I do anything."

The Grabowski brothers could serve 15-to-20 years in prison.

They're also required to repay their victims.

Chris hasn't seen any money and he really doesn't expect any either.

But the sad fact for some victims is they not only lost the money they had for a car, they may also be on the hook to repay a loan.

If you're purchasing online, the experts we talked to have these suggestions:

-Buy locally if you can, check out the seller and personally meet them.
 
-Check the vehicle identification numbers and know about what its worth.

-Use common sense and walk away if the deal doesn't seem right.


The federal government may be on the verge of improving the way it tracks VIN information.

The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) currently allows 36 states to communicate back and forth about VIN information from vehicles.

It was established in 1992, but law enforcement sources said not every state participates and it has to do with funding.

By January of 2010 all states are mandated to be on the system.

But VIN registration computers in Canada, South America and Europe still do not talk to U.S. Systems.


The Minnesota State Patrol is also planning to make a concerted effort to deal with auto theft cases.

They are training a group of troopers to concentrate on vehicle theft.

The most recent numbers show around 10,000 vehicles stolen in Minnesota, but only about 17% of them were cleared with an arrest.

About 50-60% of those vehicles were actually recovered as well.

The State Patrol wants to put more car thieves behind bars.