‘I bought a car on Facebook — and now I’m paying | Tech News

A person has been left going through month-to-month funds of £236 for completely nothing after unwittingly buying a “cloned” vehicle by Facebook Marketplace. Sevak Maljian, from Cardiff, had needed to own a Kia EV6 for years and searched extensively for probably the most aggressive deal.

He stumbled upon what seemed to be a respectable itemizing on Facebook Marketplace, promoting the 2022 model for £17,000. As this exceeded Sevak’s price range, he enquired whether or not any discount could possibly be negotiated, explaining it will serve work-related functions. The vendor agreed to decrease the price to £13,500 on situation of money fee.

Everything proceeded with out incident till the physiotherapist found a malfunctioning button on the important thing fob, prompting him to go to his native Kia dealership for examination. It was at this level that he learnt his vehicle had been “cloned” and all of the documentation offered really associated to a totally different car.

Car cloning is a sort of vehicle fraud the place criminals copy the registration quantity plates of a legally registered car and place them on a stolen or similar-looking vehicle. This makes the cloned car seem respectable, typically permitting offenders to keep away from detection for crimes akin to dashing fines, congestion costs or different offences within the UK.

“I feel unprotected that such a thing has happened,” the 36-year-old mentioned. “It’s not my fault, yet I’m dealing with the repercussions. I didn’t commit any crime I simply bought a second-hand car without knowing it was stolen, and had no idea what havoc it would bring to my life.”

Sevak had beforehand consulted platforms together with Autotrader and varied native dealerships earlier than settling on this particular vehicle.

In October 2025, he journeyed to London by practice to gather the car, arranging to fulfill the seller exterior Putney practice station. He bought car insurance coverage and then drove to the handle listed on the V5C logbook, which was accompanied by watermarks and a matching ID.

Sevak verified the VIN quantity talked about within the logbook with that on the entrance windscreen and additionally paid £8 to test the quantity of earlier homeowners, the mileage and the car’s historical past. He asserts the whole lot appeared “legit”.

However, when he took the car to Kia, they instantly observed the important thing had been counterfeited and that the VIN quantity on the chassis did not correspond with the one on the windscreen or door.

Sevak expressed: “They were shocked as to how I was able to access the car. It was such a gut-churning moment. All that excitement had gone. I did everything I could and it wasn’t enough.”

After reporting the incident to the police, the vehicle was seized and found to have been stolen in Kent.

He additionally lodged a case with Report Fraud, although on December 9, 2025, the choice was made to not allocate this for additional investigation because of ‘inadequate viable strains of enquiry’. Sevak has been left paying £236 month-to-month for the loan he took out, with nothing to show for it.

He added: “I’m having to sell my current car to help pay off some of the loan. Even then, I’ll still be in debt. I didn’t need to have this hanging over my head. It’s such a drastic change to my life.

“I’m having to recalculate my funds and put my home renovation on maintain, which I had solely lastly began after years of ready. I do not know what to do anymore.”

A DVLA spokesperson commented: “We perceive how distressing vehicle crime will be. To help cut back the risk of fraud, we encourage patrons to comply with the steering on GOV.UK akin to checking VIN particulars and confirming the vendor’s id. Anyone who believes they might have been a sufferer of fraud ought to contact the police immediately.”

A representative for Kia expressed: “We are saddened to listen to about this buyer’s expertise, and we prolong our sympathy to them.

“They have been in direct contact with our customer contact centre and we have advised them to continue liaising with the police, their insurance provider and the DVLA, as they are best positioned to support the customer in this situation.”

A Report Fraud spokesperson confirmed: “Report Fraud can confirm that it received NFRC251007683380 on 13 October 2025. It was assessed by the Report Fraud Analysis Service at the City of London Police but has not been passed to a police force for investigation at this time.

“Over 850,000 reviews are made yearly. These reviews are assessed in opposition to a number of standards, sadly not each case can be despatched to law enforcement for investigative alternatives.

“There are different ways a report can be dealt with when it isn’t passed to a police force. These include the Report Fraud Victim Services supporting victims of cyber crime and fraud with specialist advice and helping victims to recover losses.”

“Every report helps the police develop an accurate intelligence picture and take disruptive activity like working to take down websites, telephone numbers and email addresses linked to fraud, preventing others from becoming victims.”