Graves County Sheriff’s Office is urging people to use caution when buying vehicles off of Facebook Marketplace.
Sheriff Jon Hayden says that the Cartels are stealing thousands of cars and trucks from all over the U.S and “Cloning them”.
Cloning means that they re-brand the vehicle with a VIN number from a legitimate automobile that isn’t stolen. Then change out the VIN plates, and certification labels throughout the car.
Once a cloned vehicle is purchased, and brought to the DMV. The DMV releases that the vehicle has a “twin” registered somewhere else with a legitimate automobile registered and title.
When this happens, both vehicles have to be given a detailed inspection to determine which one is actually a stolen vehicle. Whoever is the owner of the illegitimate “twin” loses the vehicle to the insurance company that paid of the theft claim.
This has occurred four times in Graves County within the last year. In all four instances, the vehicles were bought on Marketplace.
