Happy Ending: Mom scammed on Craigslist gets free car
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A mom who was swindled out of thousands of dollars for an SUV by a Craigslist scammer had a happy ending on Tuesday when she received a car for free.
Cora Hernandez is a mother of four and one of her children with special needs uses a wheelchair. Hernandez needed a reliable vehicle to transport her children to school and thought she found the perfect car on Craigslist -- a 2009 Honda Pilot for only $6,000.
Hernandez immediately contacted the seller and paid for the SUV. Her next stop was the tax assessor's office to transfer the title and that's when she discovered the Honda Pilot had been reported stolen from Clear Lake Infiniti.
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While many people would have been out of the money and the car, the dealership stepped up and gave Hernandez her title free of charge and donated the SUV to the family. Hernandez was surrounded by her children when Billy Frank, the dealership's general manager, handed her the keys.
"She bought the car," said Frank. "And we feel that if we can make a right out of this wrong its the minimum thing that we can do and luckily we are blessed enough from our community to be able to this."
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Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman also attended the ceremony and said this is an important reminder to anyone looking to buy a vehicle online. The sheriff's office suggests consumers make absolute certain a car's tittle is legitimate before transferring any money. You can read more tips from the sheriff's office here.
