The police have warned consumers to be more cautious when buying vehicles online after a car and two motorcycles being sold on two trading web sites turned out to have been stolen from their owners.
Investigator Police Officer 3 Dennis Telen said their office, the Quezon City Police District’s anticar theft unit, has seized the stolen vehicles.
One of these, a blue 1996 Honda Civic with license
plate UGL 441, was recovered last Tuesday after its owner, Rolando Yu, saw it being advertised on AyosDito.com and immediately reported the matter to authorities.
According to Yu, the vehicle was borrowed by a friend who never returned it. When his friend passed away, Yu had the car placed in the hold order list of the Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group (HPG).
The police investigator added that his unit also recovered two stolen motorcycles which were being advertised on Sulit.com.
The people selling the vehicles were subsequently charged with violating Republic Act No. 1612 or the Anti-Fencing Law even though they claimed that they merely bought the motorcycles from other people.
In Yu’s case, the police traced his car to the man who had posted the advertisement.
The seller, however, told investigators that he had bought the vehicle from another man who had a genuine original receipt and certificate of registration issued by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
Telen, meanwhile, reminded car buyers to first verify the documents being presented by the vendor with the LTO.
At the same time, they should check the vehicle’s license plate number, engine and chassis numbers with the HPG record section to see if it is included in the list of stolen vehicles, he said.