I'm A Potential Victim Of Fraud And Stalking. Please Help

Location: Illinois

# The Story:

I purchased a used car from Facebook marketplace (first mistake) with an odometer that was tampered with.

When I originally reached out to the seller on Facebook, I asked for the VIN number on the vehicle. He sent it. I ran the Carfax. Everything came back clean. No damage. No accidents. 37,000 miles.

The next day, I asked to meet at a police station to check out the car. At first glance, everything seemed in good shape. I inspected the exterior and interior. I test drove. The odometer read 37,000 miles.

I check the VIN number on the title. It matches the VIN number on the vehicle. I buy the car for $13,000 cash.

Fast forward. I get home and my wife inspects the vehicle. She notices there are signs of repairs. She checked my chat log and noticed the VIN number in the chat log doesn't match the VIN number on the title or the VIN number on the vehicle.

The actual mileage on the car I purchased was 198,000 miles. We inspect the car closer and find an apple air tag hidden extremely well in the vehicle.

I've spoken to the police in the town where the transaction was made (Police A). I've spoken to the police in my town where I found the air tag (Police B). I've spoken to the police at the secretary of state.

Last I was told, from Police A, is that the report will take a couple days to be approved. Last I was told, from Police B, is that they will try to extract the data from the air tag.

The Secretary of State Police told me to file an official complaint. They also told me that there was likely a title jump which would make the legal process complicated to find the seller.

# Evidence I have gathered:

I have a video recording of myself purchasing the car. It shows myself and the seller physically making the cash/title transaction.

I have the Facebook marketplace chat log which shows I was sent a false VIN number for the vehicle.

I have a video of us finding the air tag hidden in the car.

I have the title. It shows the name of a company as the owner and the address. The title is also clearly tampered with. Ink was removed from the odometer reading on the title (the last digit was removed). And ink was removed from the address (the last number in the address was removed); however, I was able to figure out the number that was removed.

The title is signed by the owner of the company on the title (although I highly suspect the signature was forged).

The company name listed on the title is registered as active with the secretary of state. I have the full name of the owner of the company. The company address is located in a residential house 6 minutes from the police station where the transaction was made.

# My Theory:

I think the owner of the company on the title is the ringleader of the scam. I think the seller removed ink from the title to help protect the owner of the company on the title. I'm not sure why else there would be ink removed from the title.

I think the problem will be that when the police talk to the owner of the company, he will say he doesn't know anything about the guy who sold me the vehicle.

I think, if the apple tag belongs to the seller, they were planning on coming back to steal the vehicle overnight. But I had given the police the air tag the same day of the sale.

# My Questions:

1. Was there officially one or more crimes committed against me?

2. Should I reach out to a lawyer or let the police manage the process for now?

3. Should I go public? I can post the seller's image to local Facebook groups to try to see if anyone can help identify the seller.

4. Is there anything I missed or anything else you could advise me on?

I really appreciate any support. $13,000 is a very large amount of money to me. I completely broke down yesterday. I'm not sure of the chances of getting my money back, but I figured it's best to give it the chance. Thanks ahead of time.