You gotta be careful these days about who you sell your car to..

Because scammers are everywhere!

It’s an unfortunate fact of life, but in this day and age, you really have to watch your back.

The man who wrote this story got some big revenge on a guy who stole his identity after he sold him a car.

Let’s take a look at what went down!

The traffic tickets became the least of his problems…

“A few years back my old car was on its last legs; my mechanic said it wouldn’t last much longer and the best thing to do was sell it cheap and move on before it gave out and was ready to be scrapped.

I loved that little car, but I put it up on Craigslist for $500 and got a bite. The guy buying it was in his 20s with a pregnant wife and his dad was footing the bill. I was clear with them that it was sold as-is and I couldn’t make any promises about it’s longevity.

Okay, it’s a deal!

The buyer said that if it lasted 6 months he’d be happy with the purchase, so he signed the bill of sale and I handed over the title.

I immediately went to the DMV website and registered it as a sale and assumed he would finish the process by transferring the title. Turns out I was wrong about two things: the car lasted much longer than 6 months, and he didn’t bother to pay the $77 to transfer the title.

I discovered this when I received a photo radar ticket for running a red light. I was confused because the street was way across town in an area I rarely visit.

When I went online to view the high-res traffic cam photos I found it was the buyer in my old car, but my name was still attached to the plates!

After some serious cursing I copied all the records, dates, bill of sale, etc. and mailed copies off to the courthouse. It was his citation but I had to prove it to the court.

This was a big pain in the neck…

Two weeks later I got another letter from the fuzz. Another ticket, this time for speeding. Same driver, same car, same plates with my name still attached. Again, I had to copy all the paperwork, write a long letter to the clerk, and mail it all off to the courthouse.

The third ticket really made me mad. I started making calls, and discovered that this scam is pretty common. Some folks buy a junker and rack up fines until they wreck or abandon the car, and their name was never on it so nobody bothers to punish them for it.

It’s all on the previous owner to clean up the mess and prove who was at fault. This time I wrote an extra-long letter to the court clerk and did a little research to include the guy’s picture, home address, and listed phone number.

A few months went by and I thought it was over. Hell, the car should have given out by then anyway. Then then fourth ticket arrived, showing him in high-res zipping past a radar cam in my old car with my old bumper sticker still on the back (Giant Meteor 2016!) and all his kids piled into the backseat.

This is ridiculous!

The fifth and sixth tickets felt like Groundhogs day. I didn’t even both to put the paperwork away, I kept it out on my desk ready to copy. By the time the seventh ticket arrived we were well over a year beyond the sale, and enough was enough.

This wasn’t just some dude forgetting to do some paperwork, or not knowing the right way to go about buying a car. This was intentional.

It was time for some pro revenge.

First I called the police and, after a week of back and forth, finally spoke with a traffic cop who said “enough is enough” and went to pay the guy a visit.

He said he couldn’t disclose what would happen during that discussion, but the total amount of the likely-unpaid traffic tickets was enough to get his attention. The tickets and late fees were several times the value of the car.

That wasn’t enough. Just having to pay his tickets wasn’t appropriate for the 7 freaking times I had to copy that bill of sale for the court clerk.

Wow…

So I started going back through my records of every ticket and every photo, and I found an interesting theme: in every photo, his tiny kids were in the car, including the newborn infant, all packed into the backseat.

Hmmmm . . .

I called Child Protective Services anonymously.

I didn’t provide any information that was not 100% factual and verifiable. The tickets showed that this guy was operating an identity fraud scheme out of his home, essentially stealing my identity and who knows how many others.

His children were present throughout. Furthermore, he regularly violated traffic rules and put his children in serious danger by speeding, running red lights, and committing other traffic violations.

If he was doing this stuff so often in front of a big white camera how do you think he was driving when he wasn’t being watched?

I declined to provide my name or number, as I had nothing more to offer and didn’t want to be involved in the case any further.

I gave them all the evidence I had of three small children in repeated dangerous and illegal situations, all of which were verifiable by photo evidence and court documents.

Never Miss a Story

Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.

After that I stopped getting traffic tickets from him.

Maybe the car finally gave out…”

Check out what folks had to say about this on Reddit.

This person shared a story.

Another Reddit user had a lot to say.

This individual spoke up.

Another reader weighed in.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about people who have to go to court to get their land back after their neighbor sells it.

And this person shared their thoughts.

I’m glad this guy got caught!

Because there’s no way this is the first time he did something like this.

What a creep!

The guy he sold his car to ended up being super sketchy!