Two men were arrested in Corona for allegedly selling stolen rental cars to unsuspecting people online.
Police said a woman found a great deal on Craigslist for a car she wanted. When she met the seller, he showed her the car’s title and a driver’s license with a matching name. She paid him $23,000 in cash and drove away.
The victim only found out the truth when she went to register the vehicle at the DMV.
“As it turned out, the suspect had used not only a fraudulent California title for the vehicle, but he had also provided our victim with a fake California driver’s license,” Sgt. Robert Montanez told KNX News’ Emily Valdez.
The scammer had rented the car through the Turo app, according to Montanez.
The woman reported it to the police, but she also did her own online sleuthing and found a similar ad on Craigslist. Undercover officers arranged to meet with the seller for a sting operation.
“Unsurprisingly so, when he turned up, the vehicle that he was trying to sell – in this case, to our detectives – was also a rental vehicle,” Montanez said.
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Police arrested two men from Phoenix allegedly involved in the scam. They believe there may be more victims in Southern California.
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