The OP got pretty quiet.....
And I wonder why! Some of the comments in this thread, imho, were completely uncalled for. All of us stood to gain a lot of valuable info as this problem played out. Every now and again a thread is started which deals with the issue of cloning and VIN tags being sold on ebay. We just might have had a real live case to study -now it's probably been wasted. If I were the OP I doubt I would read past the third page, and probably never come back.
The fact is, she lives in Texas. Hearing about what (would) or (might) happen in California or Wisconsin or Florida may or may not be relevant. They certainly do have problems, not necessarily insurmountable, but problems. I think we just pissed away a great opportunity to learn something from it.
And for those of you who were so smug in your smart-*** responses, let's hope that you don't ever get taken on any transaction, cars or otherwise. Not that it would, because you are so smart. But you know what they say - Karma is a *****.
C
