I mentioned this at work today. Found out a lot about this kind of thing. There was an operation in GA a few years back. Guy got a late model 7 series BMW for 23K. Escalade for 15K and so on. They were all registered. One guy thought something was up, took his truck to local police. They ran the vin, no problems. He still wasn't convinced. Kept pulling the string, NCIS got involved, they figured it out. They would shave the VIN just about everywhere, but on the BMW, they missed the fan shroud. They would then go to used lots in other states, copy the VIN for a similar vehicle and make fake VIN plates for dash and other parts, and sell em. Since the vehicle was in another state and never reported stolen, the double VIN never threw a flag. The guy who bought the escalade was *** out, repossessed by insurance company and he still had to pay the loan! The guy with the BMW called USAA, they said, no problem and gave him a check for the replacement price. Not what he paid, but the replacement!! Good deal for him, the guy doing the scam was in the Navy and had sold over 20 cars on base. He is still in prison.