Man selling his Chevrolet Corvette on Facebook Marketplace didn't realize it'd been stolen for days
- A seller was selling a Chevrolet Corvette via Facebook Marketplace
- However, he was unaware that it had been stolen
- Here are the red flags to look out for
Published on Nov 30, 2024 at 6:00 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Nov 26, 2024 at 4:39 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
An experienced seller was trying to sell his Chevrolet Corvette via Facebook Marketplace in the US – but was unaware that his car had actually been stolen.
The theft in Washington sadly went unnoticed for days.
However, the car has thankfully now been found in Connecticut.
His cautionary TikTok has been viewed over 30,400 times.
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The stolen Chevrolet Corvette
“I’ve never had an issue,” Frederick Paulino (@killvroom) insisted in his initial TikTok.
He added: “Any time I sell anything over even 100 I meet them at my local police station.”
He explained that he was trying to sell his white, black top C8 Corvette for $61,000 on Facebook Marketplace.
To his surprise, a buyer who lived six hours away contacted him and agreed to pay his asking price with an extra $1,000 if Paulino met him halfway between where they both lived and $500 thrown in for issues.
Their meet-up was delayed after the buyer claimed that his son ‘got sick’ however Paulino stuck with it believing he was a ‘dad wanting a cool car’.
Sadly, sometimes buyers get caught out too like this man who bought ‘the world’s worst 69 Camaro’.
One YouTuber bought the world’s lowest truck for cheap on Facebook Marketplace and ended up with a ‘death trap’.
The scam
@killvroom sorry if my voice isn’t too clear, I’m having the worst day of my life. I know there’s other people going through worse but we all have our own struggles. If you have any information please contact me 🙏 #greenscreen #fyp #viral #c8 #corvette #stolencar ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
When Paulino eventually met him at their agreed location, he noticed the man looked a lot younger than 26 as he’d claimed.
However, suspicions were raised.
“You would expect these banks to immediately know if these checks are fake or not,” argued Paulino, although he kept the title until it cleared.
After depositing the check and seeing the $62,500 balance in his account, Paulino couldn’t believe his luck.
@killvroom sorry if my voice isn’t too clear, I’m having the worst day of my life. I know there’s other people going through worse but we all have our own struggles. If you have any information please contact me 🙏 #greenscreen #fyp #viral #c8 #corvette #stolencar ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
Sadly, the next day the cheque bounced and there was no record of the ‘dad’ at his bank and no way to track him down with his fake ID.
Sadly, per the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, these scams are relatively common.
Red flags include someone offering to pay you ‘an amount higher than your asking price’
Luckily for Paulino, the Chevrolet Corvette was found several days abandoned at an apartment complex in Connecticut after his first TikTok went viral.
Scams aren’t only reserved for car sales, however, like this $1.5 million house that was built on a man’s land without his permission.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
