I just looked up how criminals disguise a car's identity. Check this out - just thought it was interesting with the burned Porsche, where it was abandoned, and the Amerifleet rolling garage - maybe a scheme to steal cars and turn them into something "legit" didn't work out as planned:
A recent bust of a VIN switching ring in Florida found that more than a thousand vehicles had been stolen and doctored to conceal their true identity.
Nor is it always possible to detect a VIN switch, with the result that a vehicle might change hands several times without any owner realizing their car is hot.
Often, the crime only comes to light when big-time car thieves are arrested and their activities are thoroughly investigated, or when two identical VINs are recorded in different states.
According to the NICB,
the most common crime is known as the Salvage Switch. A badly damaged car is bought or acquired by a crook using a false name for the title. The vehicle is then officially listed as salvaged and the crook uses both the title and the VIN on a similar stolen car.
Another crime, though not really a case of VIN switching, is known as Strip and Run. This is a complex scam in which crooks steal a car and strip it of just about everything thats removable.
The car is listed by police and insurers as stolen and therefore cant be sold by the thieves.
So, they abandon whats left the frame, with its VIN somewhere it can be found.
Once found by the police, its now considered by the authorities as recovered and is no longer listed as stolen. In other words, its a legit auto, just without its parts, and can be sold.
The car frame, its VIN and its title are then usually auctioned off by insurers or police, where you guessed it the crooks buy it back.
Then they reinstall all the pieces they removed and suddenly they have a complete, legally owned car, which they can sell.
http://www.scambusters.org/vinswitching.html
