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.
Yup, same scam. Call with a poorly recorded voice. Then a text requesting I go to the site (which is official.vin) and email the report. Who the hell puts caps in their email address? Is that supposed to make it look official.
Craigslist Scam from 215-560-0989 RachelDaviesaC@yahoo.com – premiumcarfaxreport.com which redirects to official.vin. “You just enter your vin then get a report”
708-779-1747 premiumvinreports.com redirects to Official.vin requested I buy a report from them before we meet because she is ready to buy. Send report to JasmineClarksonEN@yahoo.com
When I said I have a report from KBB I will send you the Bot response was “Just lmk after you’ve pulled the report and we can make a time to meet up”
Complete sales marketing scam for this bogus website.
Same same same…bots…stopped after I used the word scam and fraud in my replies. I don’t know how one would fight this with credit card company, but you should try. Because the merchant account they use will get more difficult with them if/when they get a lot of reversals.
I just got someone wanting to buy my car with the number of 805-678-1756 telling me to send it to AmeliaParrPEY@yahoo.com. They called then hung up then texted me saying “You just enter your vin then get a report – Please email that to me.” thankfully i came here
Same exact story for me. Thanks guys!
THE SITE IS A TOTAL SCAM.
I was contacted by number 484-983-6431. and asked to send a vin report for the car I was selling. A link to official.vin was texted to me.
I offered a carfax report, but was told they didn’t trust carfax, and wanted Official Vin.
Stupidly (grrrr), I followed the link and filled out all info requested on the site, including the vin, credit card info, name, address, email address, etc.
After 5 minutes of receiving nothing from the company, I began to research and realized I had been scammed. I immediately cancelled my cards, and alerted my bank.
I called back the above original number several times and no reply. No reply to my follow up texts, either.
BEWARE. SCAM COMPANY.
I received a request to pay for the report and send it via text from ad I have on Autotrader.
It’s a total scam. I have a car for sale on autotrader. Received a text asking about me car then she asked me to get the report and email it. I did that then no reply back on the car. I email OfficialVIN, bounced back. Then i called them and told the operator that i wanted my money back because it was a scam. Ask him why they have people texting asking for the service. He said they didn’t do that. I reply then why is the number of the woman that texted me not aworking number. He quickly reply that they would refund my money. I did call my credit card company and reporte
d it. Getting rich $18.95 at a time. Scam!
Yup another scam texter wanted me to send a carfaxreportpremium.com to her email.
That address is official.vin.
They just want you to buy the report.
Her email sophielnceYRE@yahoo.com bounced back.
Another one. Want an email VINCHECKGOLD.COM history check to TheresaPaigeoYf@yahoo.com. Text came from 607-354-5504.
Official VIN appears to pull valid vehicle information but I am very suspect of their site and motives. It seems that part of their sales strategy is to pose as buyers to get car sellers to run a report on their site. While they appear to at least have some information on the vehicle, the original intent of the call focuses on getting the seller to run the report (and pay) and I highly doubt it will turn into anything. When I offered to send over a CarFax report instead, the sense of urgency to set up an appointment to see the vehicle immediately waned and the caller mentioned that he would “check his email” later. Further evidence of this can be seen in the weakness of their TLS certificate and how they have obscured the domain owner information, not to mention the similar patterns in the random yahoo.com email addresses. I posted on AutoTrader and was contacted by VaughanWandaeG@yahoo.com (760) 249-0712