Hidalgo County residents are being scammed as they do their vehicle registration renewals through Facebook Marketplace, according to a news release.

According to the release, consumers are requesting that their vehicle title transactions or registration renewals be processed via text through a phone number provided to them by someone they meet through Facebook Marketplace.

“The fraudsters send them a code and request they pay the excessive and phony fees at a local retail store.  They then ask that they report to a county tax office and report to a certain window where their paperwork is supposed to be ready,” the news release said. “They in turn find out that no deal has been done and nothing has been processed.”

This is leaving consumers without receiving their titles and registration stickers, and the consumer is then ignored by the phone number that they have been texting with

“If it seems too good to be true, it’s probably a scam. Titles are required to be turned over to the county tax office before a transfer can be done,” Hidalgo County Tax Assessor-Collector Pablo Villarreal Jr. said in the news release. 

Villarreal urges the public to report these scams to authorities.

“Businesses must be a full-service deputy, limited-service deputy, or licensed title service in order to process motor vehicle transactions in Hidalgo County,” Villarreal added. “It is best to mark the page as a scam on Facebook and report it to consumer reports.”