Call Rafael: Mother of 6 allowed to register stolen car sold on Facebook Marketplace

Murrow found her perfect vehicle and did everything possible to make sure she was not ripped off. She made sure the vehicle identification number, also known as VIN, matched from the windshield, to the doors, to the glove box.

“I wanted to verify that everything was legitimate. It’s a good deal. Is it a good deal? Trust but verify. I did everything to verify,” said the mother of six children.

On Facebook Marketplace, Murrow found a black 2022 GMC AT4 with 100,000 miles. She ran the VIN through CarFax and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and it all checked out. On March 3, she met the seller outside her bank in Johnson County, which she thought was a safe place for a test drive.

“I saved for three years to buy a decent vehicle for my kids and I”, added Murrow.

The next day, she had the seller meet at her home and she paid him $27,000 in cash. The seller drove off, and she went to the BMV. The cost of registration would be more than $2,100. But Murrow felt uneasy even though the VIN on the door jam, the glove box and the windshield were the same.

Through research, she discovered she could check one more place, the undercarriage.

“I scraped everything underneath. I know I sound crazy, it’s a mom thing. Someone robbed me and something is not right,” Murrow said.

In the undercarriage, she discovered a separate VIN, the real number belonging to the truck. Her 2022 truck was really a 2020 model year vehicle — a vehicle she learned was reported stolen this past January in Dallas, Texas.

“I had a sinking feeling—I just knew I had been had and I was not okay with it,” Murrow said.

She filed a police report with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, which confirmed the transaction and the status of the vehicle.

FOX59/CB4’s Rafael Sanchez asked whether the state of Indiana would profit from an individual who paid fees on a vehicle that was unknowingly stolen, then seized by authorities, and not being driven on Indiana’s roads.

People like Carolyn should be able to petition for a refund by providing a police report and other supporting documentation to prove their situation.

As of this article’s publication, FOX59/CBS4 has not received a response from the Indiana Department of Revenue.

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles is responsible for vehicle registrations and the collection of fees.

A spokesperson from the BMV shared the following statement:

“The BMV does not issue sales tax refunds in fraud cases. Our agency does not keep the tax payments—those are remitted to the counties. If a refund were possible, the county or the Department of Revenue (DOR) would be the proper place to seek one.”