Ohio man buys a Ram truck from Facebook Marketplace, only to find himself surrounded by six cops at his doctor’s office two weeks later

A Ram pickup truck owner has had a very bad time of things lately.

John Turco bought himself a Ram pickup truck off of Facebook Marketplace.

Two weeks later, John was attending his Doctor’s appointment, like most do.

Little did he expect to find six police officers waiting for him.

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Surely owning a Ram isn’t a criminal offence?

Before we get into all of that, let us take you back to the beginning.

John Turco – like most of us – was scrolling Facebook Marketplace one day when he came across a Ram pickup truck.

Liking the look of the white Ram truck, John enquired about it.

The owner had previously lived in Tennessee, so the Tennessee title matched up.

John also ran three VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) checks – all came back clear on the vehicle.

He even rang up the Dodge dealership in Tennessee, where the truck had been serviced.

“And it lined up when I called the Dodge dealer, gave him the VIN number and they said ‘Yes, we serviced that truck in August of 24,’ and I said, ‘OK sounds good, everything’s lining up.'”

John got approved for a $28,000 loan, met the owner in Indiana, and took home his new Ram.

Turns out, owning this Ram is a crime

After having bought insurance, John went to the Butler County Clerk of Courts, who processed his out-of-state title for the truck.

Naturally, John felt happy with his new truck. He attended a Doctor’s appointment two weeks later, as most people do.

However, most people don’t have Fairfield Township Police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol waiting for them outside.

An officer immediately assured Turco that he wasn’t in any trouble, which was a relief.

However, what came next was anything but.

Turco tricked into buying cloned truck

It turns out that John Turco was unknowingly sold a stolen truck.

Unfortunately, he fell victim to a pretty elaborate scam called ‘cloning’.

Essentially, car thieves will steal a car. Then, they will replace the VIN stickers with those from a valid, un-stolen model of the same make.

Then, they pass the buck to unfortunate, innocent buyers such as John.

In this case, the dealership in Tennesee had the not-stolen truck with the legitimate VIN.

They then contacted the police after they found out someone had applied for an Ohio title.

Since they didn’t have an Ohio buyer, it was an obvious alarm.

Turco left truck-less and on the hook

Sadly, this story has a really unfortunate ending for John Turco.

Not only did he lose his truck (because it was stolen), but he is still on the hook for the $28,000 loan.

Despite unknowingly buying a stolen car, he was still given a very real loan to buy the vehicle.

“I’m a victim now that my credit is going to get killed, or I owe somebody $30,000, and I got nothing,” Turco said.

Turco is now responsible for the loan he took out on the truck which is $450 a month for the next 5 years.

Aside from that, he also lost the money he put into it for an oil change, hard top, new sideboards, plus all of the BMV costs.

“It’s mind-boggling is what it is,” Turco lamented.

And that is a top tip from us here at Supercar Blondie.

Please be extremely careful when buying cars with out-of-state titles – crimes of this nature are on the rise.