ORLANDO, Fla — A truck that’s been in the Hempsted family nearly seven years was essentially taken from them, at least on paper.
“So, it’s been a huge pain, but I don’t know how else to get around it,” Christine Hempsted told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal.
It appears someone cloned the Orange County family’s Toyota Tacoma and registered it in another state hundreds of miles away. Christine Hempsted said she couldn’t re-register the truck in Florida after someone else registered it in Massachusetts.
Part of what makes it so bizarre is that that they’ve never had the truck out of their possession since they got it in 2018. But because someone registered it up north earlier this year, they were stuck with expired Florida tags.
Do you have a consumer complaint or need help from Jeff Deal and Action 9? Click the banner below to submit a tip.
Hempsted said at first both states seemed confused about what was going on and how to handle it.
She’s always found registering the family vehicles in Florida to be pretty easy. She usually does it online.
“I’ve been doing it like that for years,” she said.
Christine Hempstead recently went to the Orange County Tax Collector’s website to register all the family vehicles. She had no problems, except with their 2019 Toyota Tacoma. There was no option to renew it online.
‘It’s super shady’: Consumers claim local car dealership didn’t pay off trade-in balance on time
Hempsted said, “At first, I thought I did a two year registration on that one for some strange reason, where I did one year on everything else.”
That wasn’t the case. When she went to the office in person, she learned there was a big problem. Records showed somehow the truck had been transferred to someone else in March and then registered in Massachusetts. It was registered under the same make, model, color and Vehicle Identification Number or VIN.
Jeff Deal asked, “But you guys had the car in your possession this entire time?”
Hempsted answered, “Oh, the entire time. We renew it every year online, and yeah, it’s never gone to anybody else.”
That that meant Christine couldn’t register it Florida. She said at first Florida and the Massachusetts were confused, but it now appears it was likely a cloned vehicle.
That’s something Eyewitness News Traffic Anchor Alexa Lorenzo first investigated last year.
Retired FHP Trooper Joe Lopez told her, “Look at this as identity theft, but you’re stealing the identity of another vehicle.”
‘He needs to be stopped’: More customers accuse fence company of taking money, not doing work
Basically, criminals will steal a car, get a VIN from a legally registered, similar vehicle and then alter the VIN on the stolen car which essentially creates a clone. They will then either sell it or use it for other illegal activity.
Lorenzo asked, “They go through several steps to make this look real?”
Lopez replied, “Yeah, it’s business, organized crime.”
After Action 9’s Jeff Deal contacted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, it said it reached out to Florida officials about the issue. A few days later, when Christine Hempsted contacted Massachusetts again, it let her know the registration up there had been revoked. That allowed her to finally register it in Florida. Neither Massachusetts nor Florida have confirmed how it happened. Nor have they said if anyone has been arrested in connection with this case.
But Hempsted is thankful, the time consuming and frustrating process that lasted more than a month is finally over.
She said, “When you call Massachusetts, like the first time, I was on hold with them for an hour before I finally got through. Then that guy says I’m in the wrong department.”
People who buy cloned cars are also victims. They have the car confiscated and typically lose all the money they paid. To protect yourself check the VIN plate for tampering and get a copy of the vehicle history report.
‘Very gross looking’: Action 9 investigates street meat after consumers complain
Here are some additional tips from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to help protect you from cloned vehicle issues:
- Verify the vehicle VIN through the department’s Motor Vehicle Information Check to verify ownership and vehicle description information.
- Analyze the ownership pattern for any new or late model vehicle with no lien holder.
- Check out the VIN plate on the dashboard for any evidence of tampering including scratches or other damage.
- Look for incorrect spellings on paperwork, like vehicle titles.
- Trust your instincts: If you don’t like the answers or the deal sounds too good to be true, walk away! If you’re car shopping, beware of a car being sold for substantially less than comparable makes and models.
You can find more details here: https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/mv/mv_fraud.pdf
©2025 Cox Media Group
