Keep your Vin# to yourself!
 

Hi,

Just some friendly advise...do NOT post your VIN # on this, or any other Forum. There are a lot of unscrupulous people on the Net and I have seen these VIN #s abused by some Bad people.

Sound Paranoid? Well, after posting his VIN # to a friendly Lotus Forum, a friend had his Lotus Esprit put up for Sale on eBay! We all recognized it right away as possibly being our Friend's Car. We asked him if he was selling his Car. He said he wasn't, checked the eBay listing and then alerted eBay.

By using a proper VIN # and some stock photos, the Seller listed the Car, complete with CarFax, requiring a 15% deposit within 48hrs. of the Auction Close from the Winning Bidder. All the Seller was after was the Deposit money.

An unwitting Buyer would have been out some $3,000 in the form of a Deposit if they had won the Auction. There are other ways to abuse it as well such as getting a Loan on the Car using False ID, etc. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

I can't believe all of the scams on ebay these days. I would never buy a car out there...

Other than when selling your car, I can't see too many reasons why one WOULD post a VIN on a web site or forum.

Seems risky given the nutty things we read about everyday.

Thanks Jim!

Very Scary Great Advice.... :dance:

You don't have to work to hard to find a VIN. eBay, autotrader, or any parking lot on the planet reveals hundreds of them. As mentioned before, there's not a lot of reasons to post a VIN.

I think it would be of service to give tips in spotting fraudulent auction/item listing than protecting you're vehicle's identity.

For eBay

• Don't buy a car from some one with a feed back of zero.
• View the car before you buy it (aviod "immdiate deposits")
• Never even look at an auction that asks you to contact the seller first at a certain email address. Always use ebay's contact form first.
• Don't buy a car from a one day auction.
• Even if everything looks ok, contact the seller any way to establish any kind of communication.

If a theif is scowering message boards for VINs and pix, he's not very efficient.

Hey Jeph...what's your VIN number?

It's 7, I'm pretty sure it's just 7. But with a lot of hard work I may be able to get it up to an 8 or something.

Hi,

Generally sound advice. But, eBay is a very efficient means to find that proverbial One which is Born Every Minute! Considering the Haul to be made from a single misrepresented Car, you don't need to find too many...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Keep working...one day you will realize your dream. Think 8.