In Russia, there may be a sharp increase in cases of fraud in the sale of cars involving elderly owners in the coming year. This was announced by Anton Palyulin, a lecturer at the Department of Legal Disciplines at the Synergy University.
The scheme itself looks simple — a pensioner owns the car, he makes a deal, receives money, but later claims that he allegedly acted under pressure from fraudsters.
After that, the elderly seller demands the car back, but without returning the funds to the buyer. Such cases often end in court, where proving good faith is not easy.
Based on the growth of real estate fraud, we can expect an increase in car fraud by 50–70%. You should not assume that a foreign car owned by a gullible pensioner is more of an exception.
The lawyer recommended being extremely careful in negotiations: the seller's mistakes in elementary details, confusion with the dates of the technical inspection, and uncertainty in the history of operation are alarming.
Checks through the traffic police for restrictions, pledges and wanted status are mandatory. The most reliable way to protect yourself is to record the entire transaction process on video.
