Stolen Convertibles *Recovered* - need to find owners

Al is this legit or a plug for a finders fee? Seems to me that even a private dick would have enough sense to contact the police in a case of stolen cars. Believe it or not the police know about hidden VINs, and can check those to verify any reported thefts through NCIC in a mater of seconds.

If all VINs have been ground down and can not be recovered by acid etching (before they had CSI, there was Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford and the cops knew about acid etching to recover stamped VINs in 1955). Then all three cars are mine and I will take them, because it will be up to a court of law to dispose of the recovered property not some detective (generally sold at the annual police auction with the funds going into the county coffers of the county they were recovered in).

Huh? Ok, i know im missing something here.

Al has this posted as a site anouncement... http://www.camaros.net/forums/announcement.php?f=11

Dave is putting a spin on it that makes it sound like Al's being scam...

investigator assigned to an auto theft task force in San Diego Sounds like a cop to me not a PI... All ID numbers have been altered Being altered might complicate things for old Broderick...

I doubt Al would have the announcement plastered all over the site without some confidence the guy was legit... A call to the main number might provide a clue... ;)

My reading lead me to believe it might have been a PI. If it is the local constabulary, then I'm all for helping out (as a former cop myself). You can usually acid etch if it is the original sheet metal. Altered tags are fairly common (which is why the factory puts partial hidden VINs all over major parts) and tells the cops were to look for them.

Must be getting cynical in my old age.

Larger Dave

I don't know about this one, my radar is going off.
Police know how and where to find hidden VIN's and have access to all vehicle theft and registration information, so it would be very unusual for them to ask for the publics help.
Police use @Hotmail for thier email service?
The main number listed 858-627-4000 does appear to be San Diego Regional Auto Theft Task Force, so maybe it's all legit.
It would be great to get these cars back to the owners.

I don't know about this one, my radar is going off.
Police know how and where to find hidden VIN's.
Police have access to all vehicle theft and registration information.
Telephone number does not come up in reverse directory.
Police use @Hotmail for thier email service?

I haven't talked to Al but he's not one to fall for a scam, he's been very pro active at fighting scammer at all levels. Yes police use public mail service like hotmail when dealing with the public, it keeps both their personal home and work accounts out of the line of fire. The guy says all ID numbers have been altered. Is that so far fetched? If they can't determin a vin (hidden or otherwise) they have no way to trace a previous owner...

As for the Phone numbers they belongs to this group ( http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/vtask.html ) in San Diego. It's called the San Diego RATT (Regional Auto Theft Team) Reverse lookup doesn't work on numbers that are non-pub with the telcos...

It's wise to be cautious but keep in mind the administration here at the site does everything it can to protect the site and it's members in the fight against the dark side of the hobby. In this case the San Diego Cops have several cars they would like to see returned to the rightful owners...

Thanks Dennis, I did find that main number for RATT and edited my post before I saw your reply.
I also found this press release which may be related:
http://www.sdsheriff.net/press/misc/Auto%20Theft%20Investigation%20-%20Arrest%20by%20RATT.pdf (http://www.sdsheriff.net/press/misc/Auto%20Theft%20Investigation%20-%20Arrest%20by%20RATT.pdf)

I think the key here is that the numbers have been altered. On older cars there are not as many hidden VIN's to locate. If you cannot find an original VIN to run, word of mouth is the best way to attempt to locate a previous owner. NCIC is not set up to do a search with no VIN number. :(

Sounds like a phishing scam to me. He's not using an official e-mail address, nor and official title (Captain, Sergeant, Detective). Also, if he's in San Diego, why is he focused on Arizona/Nevada?

Sounds like a phishing scam to me. He's not using an official e-mail address, nor and official title (Captain, Sergeant, Detective). Also, if he's in San Diego, why is he focused on Arizona/Nevada?

Can you explain how this scam works when the only contact is a phone number that takes you to a legitmate agency - San Diego RATT (Regional Auto Theft Team) ?

Maybe evidence leads them to believe the cars came from the other states. During the initial bust they recovered more than these Camaros. Maybe everything else recovered was traceable to AZ and NV...

Can you explain how this scam works when the only contact is a phone number that takes you to a legitmate agency - San Diego RATT (Regional Auto Theft Team) ?

Maybe evidence leads them to believe the cars came from the other states. During the initial bust they recovered more than these Camaros. Maybe everything else recovered was traceable to AZ and NV...
I didn't call the phone number because I do not have access to long distance at the moment, however, he does list an e-mail address which is very very unofficial. I don't really know how it would work, it just seems phishy. That's my opinion.