ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Gwinnett County Police are warning those who are searching for a car to purchase online through social media platforms. Police are warning people of stolen cars with altered vehicle identification numbers (VIN) sold on Facebook Marketplace.
Sell a stolen car and go to jail; that is what Gwinnett County Police said an officer’s body camera captured when they said, a women allegedly tried to sell a stolen Honda CRV to investigators posing as buyers on Facebook Marketplace.
Police said the woman tried to flee when she saw police at the alleged attempted sale.
“These vehicles are being sold at around $29,000, $30,000 they are pretty pricey, they are making out with a lot of victims’ money,” said Juan Madiedo, Gwinnett County Police Public Information Officer.
Madiedo said a large group of people are suspected of stealing different Honda CRV’s from New York, altering the VIN numbers and then selling them on Facebook Marketplace in Metro Atlanta.
According to the incident report from Gwinnett County Police, officers got a call from one victim who said a mechanic working on his CRV alerted him to a discrepancy in VIN numbers.
“It opened the door to a lot of other victims,” said Madiedo.
Victims also including dealerships thinking they are selling legit cars.
Shameel Shad, the general manager at Atlanta Used Cars, said earlier this year they bought a car from a Carvana Auction. After selling it the buyer called to tell them it was stolen.
Shad said they provided the Carvana purchase paperwork to police who were able to track the VIN to a stolen car from Hertz Rental Car Company. He said that Carvana issued them a check after they also investigated on their end.
“Saving up money for a down payment, or for the whole car and purchasing it, and being accused of stealing it definitely from law enforcement, is definitely not a good experience at all,” explained Shad.
Shad said they are now triple checking the VINs on all cars they purchase, from the windshield to the door, to the car’s computer.
“There is an endless amount of ways that people can commit fraud in this business, vin swapping is the most simple and easiest to catch. But there are a lot of other crafty ways,” said Shad.
Police said the second person they are looking for believed to be connected in Georgia is Karen Mendez. If you have information on the person’s whereabouts you are asked to call 911.
Some things people can do to protect themselves; meet at a public location, preferable a police station; have your VIN number inspected before purchasing; plus purchase an on-board diagnostic scanner to reveal the genuine VIN number from the car’s computer.
Copyright 2025 WANF. All rights reserved.
