Odometer fraud? What to do?

[Daniboy]

My husband and I were recently involved in the purchase of a car with odometer fraud, and I need to know what to do. We live a city away from where the car was being sold, so we sent our father in law to look at it. The ad stated that it had "low miles" the guy wouldn't show my FIL how to use the thing to check the miles. I understand that a car fax should have been done before purchase, that is not what I am arguing. The title was taken to a third party "dmv certified" place and was marked as actual miles. The car stated it had 1900 and the title 1856. It's a 2007 and was apparently this guys grandparents who one died and left it to him. After a car fax it was found out that the car actually has 135000 miles on it. When we got to the city to pick the car up, we realized my FIL mistake and tried getting our money back. He told us he would meet us the next day and would return the money. He never showed and every time we have tried to call him he tells us his name is something else and a whole different story. He must think we really are that stupid. I have contacted an the attorney general and am awaiting the paperwork to file a complaint. The check engine light came on the day after we got it. We just want our money back... What are legal steps that we can do to do this?

 

[Daniboy]

Oh and we have proof of payment, and we haven't out anything in our name until we figure this out.

 

[army judge]

You can try suing the fraudster, assuming you know his true identity.
In all honesty, that often fails, because collecting n your judgment is harder than suing.
The AG might help, but it's small potatoes to that high powered big shot.
The police in the city where you were snookered might help.
It might be of some comfort to know they had arrested the crook and he was being prosecuted.
Truthfully, I wouldn't hold out much hope.
You rarely save money buying used cars from unknown sources.
That's something you can avoid next time.

 

[disagreeable]

You cannot even prove fraud unless you can prove the guy changed the odometer reading and not that grandpa had it replaced. Why would you believe a car to have mileage that low? Any inspection should reveal it not to be actual mileage.