Official VIN (officialvin.com) is a web-based platform which performs vehicle history reports.
The site was registered on January 2nd, 2018 by OfficialVIN Service.
Official VIN Overview
Official VIN’s operation is based around the principle of creating a more secure vehicle acquisition experience in terms of being able to perform history reports on any vehicle within a few short minutes.
While Official VIN fails to provide information regarding their origins, according to their domain, they are actively operating in a partnership with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System along with undisclosed government agencies and industry partners.
These various partnerships enable Official VIN to obtain a designated vehicles history report and provides them to the consumer for a rate of $18.95 a piece.
How does Official VIN Work?
According to research, Official VIN appears to function as an intermediary service platform for their partnered organizations.
As stated at their domain, the majority of vehicle history reports acquired are obtained through affiliation with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS).
Those looking to research the history of a particular vehicle are able to enter the vehicles VIN number along with the designated zip code.
Within a few short minutes, Official VIN obtains the report from NMVTIS and renders the obtained history report in an order form which prompts the user to order their vehicle history report for $18.95.
Among the criteria covered in a vehicles history report would be title problem checks, prior damage checks, odometer checks, salvage/theft/lien checks along with historical events such as impound, export, recall and online sale records.
Due to operating in affiliation with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, Official VIN infers and supports that each obtained vehicle history report is backed with 100% transparency.
Question Marks and Red Flags
Official VIN is only compatible with US citizens which likely infers that their operation is based out of the United States. Official VIN is allegedly owned by OfficialVIN Service, although we were unsuccessful in finding any records at the Better Business Bureau to support their claim.
While the footer of their site incorporates a cumulative total vehicles checks widget of over 13.8 million, it raises speculation in regards the accuracy of this claim due to the fact that according to a WHOIS report, officialvin.com was a privately registered site that has a creation date of January 2nd, 2018.
Whether the alleged total vehicles checked is through Official VIN or through the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, we are uncertain, but it seems highly unlikely it would pertain to Official VIN’s operation.
Among of the most pressing concerns regarding Official VIN that should be answered would be what is their corporate number and why the site doesn’t incorporate identifiable features regarding their operation.
In order to find anything of value regarding identity we had to scrounge their Privacy Policy which only disclosed OfficialVIN Service along with support@officialvin.com as identifying features.
Community Feedback
When we first published this review, Official VIN was only a couple of months old and had yet failed to acquire much community feedback.
A couple months after composing the original publication though, we have received many reports of unethical business practices in regards to Official VIN.
Shared below this review are some of the disturbing reports and the professional courtesy one could promptly expect from Official VIN.
Phone Numbers Reported
- 767-907-8606
- 573-539-4979
- 573-401-9686
- 573-389-0593
- 740-901-6526
- 215-560-0989
- 708-779-1747
- 805-678-1756
- 484-983-6473
- 484-983-6431
- 607-354-5504
- 760-249-0712
- 267-794-1455
- 470-615-8516
- 573-562-0431
- 573-574-9389
- 762-524-8923
- 470-274-9630
- 708-640-8439
- 740-330-1602
- 909-686-3058
Email Addresses Reported
- NatalieMcLeanGuU@Yahoo.com
- TheresaClarkNY@yahoo.com
- PeterKerrSC@yahoo.com
- AngelaHamiltonpD@yahoo.com
- SamRobertsonCZ@yahoo.com
- PhilWilkinsoYt@yahoo.com
- RachelDaviesaC@yahoo.com
- JasmineClarksonEN@yahoo.com
- AmeliaParrPEY@yahoo.com
- sophielnceYRE@yahoo.com
- TheresaPaigeoYf@yahoo.com
- VaughanWandaeG@yahoo.com
- AnthonyRutherfordHo@yahoo.com
- PeterRutherfordpbT@yahoo.com
- michelleNorthwyp@yahoo.com
- BrianGibsonbi@yahoo.com
- JoanneMacLeodZHy@yahoo.com
- WatsonAlexandrasR@yahoo.com
Complaints regarding the disclosed telephone numbers and email addresses have been filed against Official VIN.
Popularity
OfficialVIN.com has reflected an unnatural and unprecedented surge in growth according to SimiliarWeb.
Reflecting a global rank of 423,066 with a US rank of 91,591, Official VIN went from supporting 9,000 monthly visitors in January 2018 to over 150,000 as of February 2018.
During the time of writing this review (March 2018), Official VIN receives approximately 44.48% of their traffic from referral based sources while 17.90% is composed from e-mail based sources.
During the time of updating this review (May 1st, 2018), OfficialVIN.com has significantly loss traffic circulation and went from reflecting a global rank of 423,066 to 1,505,472. Previously, Official VIN was reflecting signs of utilizing inorganic traffic acquisition practices to acquire additional traffic but according to recent research and community feedback their site has declined in popularity and trustability.
Should Official VIN be Trusted?
Official VIN functions as an independent and nearly anonymous operation which are normally indications one should avoid when considering using any incentivized platform.
At first, we found Official VIN trustable due to their affiliation with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System although troubling consumer feedback has made us reconsider our position. Therefore, we are no longer suggesting that Official VIN is trustworthy.
Official VIN Review – The Ruling
When it comes to utilizing or fulfilling a purchase through a newly created domain such as officialvin.com, we always encourage to exercise caution and check for insightful community feedback before committing.
Combining the updated community consensus in accordance with the research we disclosed in the review above, we are not recommending Official VIN.
Ditto – same pattern from Craigslist posting – “bad connection” – asked me to go to carbgchecked.com which redirects to official.vin: call went straight to her VM 570-920-1690 AnnaLawrenceLPe@yahoo.com
You can add 540-883-4369 to the list, just happened to my roommate! Same exact wording
Just got the same – phone call, bad connection and then a series of texts which led to “do you mind sending me a history report”. Asked me to go to vinchecksnow.com and email the report to JasonTaylorpH.yahoo.com. The phone number was from (724) 937-3896. Thankfully I came across this site before falling for this scam.
Got a phone call from (610) 735-5640 today.. I heard some voices/noise on the line before the hung up. A google the number and it’s a Scam/Spam number so I started to block it in my phone, but since I’m selling my vehicle, I decided against it. A few moments later, I get a text message from the same number, it’s an inquiry–when is the best time to see it? A couple of text messages later, they request that I got to pull a report from beepbeepautoreport.com so they can check the background on my vehicle… I tell them I have a car fax that I will forward to them and that’s enough. Anything else is on them. They say, Nope. Gotta have that. And I should send it to JasonTaylorpH@yahoo.com.
He really wants to see my vehicle. Has been looking at them for a long time. I’m like good for you. Now move along.
I am hook line and sinker. I filled out a complaint with BBB and cancelled my credit card. Is there anything else that I can do?
Definitely a scam, I had someone call and then hang up. They started to text me and ask for information that was on the post. Then stated they would want to have me get the vehicle report and maintenance. They also stated, the 2006 Mitsubishi was what they were looking for, which is extremely rare.
The guy’s phone number is 717-895-2018 and his email address is wilkinspiersqR@yahoo.com
He was wanting me to go to vinchecksnow.com which is not secure, but it’s a redirect.
Then he stated, “Once I see a clean report from asapvinchecks.com we can setup a time for a test drive.”
Definitely a scam. The exact same thing happened to me. Phone call, bad connection, followed up by a text, website, and then disinterested after I paid $18.95 which made me google it. The number used was 724-750-3922.
Same story here. The phone number is 570-920-1541.
OMG this just happened to me. Luckily enough I dont trust anyone and was already suspicious once they hung up. Same exact thing happened with 717-212-3380 and SarahHamiltonilm@yahoo.com. After they wouldnt tell me if they lived in FL, I didnt even move with it since they are using a PA number and I am in FL. Kept texting other info instead of answering me. Instead of saying yes or NO, they said Great LOok forward to seeing the report and have been thinking about getting an 07 Vehicle. Yea because someone just wants a 11 yr old car. SMH
Same as what has been previously reported. My husband went ahead with the check but after doing so felt something was fishy. After doing a little research we have now disputed the charge and locked his card. Add (717)863-4671 and VictorMorganHD@yahoo.com to the list.
You can add 717-536-6508 and email JonathanFraserziB@yahoo.com. He was asking me to go to vinnchecksnow.com and then switched to asapvinnchecks.com. It felt like a total scam and then I checked those sites out and it directed me to official vin.
Same thing happened here! Add 717-864-1399 to the list. AlexandraAbrahamgh@yahoo.com
They call you and when you try to call back it’s impossible, instead they want to text you. Our car supposedly “looks perfect online” (it’s pretty worn down and has some problems that we described on Craigslist). Asking for the price again although it’s clearly stated in the ad. The most suspicious part was the last message “ive been thinking about getting a 2005 pontiac for a little while now”. Nobody would want that. 😉
Tried selling car off craigslist. received a computer call with a guys voice asking if the car was still available. As soon as i said yes, i was hung up on. Shortly after i received a couple texts saying he had bad reception at the moment. And was asking about the price, which i didn’t give because it sounded fishy. Then they asked me to do a vehicle history report at easyvinchecks.net which redirected me to official.vin and asked me to email the results to LisaHardacrezol@yahoo.com.
I received a call/text from (302) 488-2885 asking to send a history report from easyvinchecks.com, then send the info to HeatherWelchMP@yahoo.com please add this number and email to the list of scammers.