Imagine walking outside your home or workplace to find the car you had saved up money for being repossessed, and there was nothing you could do about it.

That’s the position Courtney Horton of Lubbock feels as though she’s in now.

On January 7, she had purchased a 2002 Toyota Corolla from the Lubbock Texas Online Garage Sale Facebook page off of a private seller who handles business through payments, an alternative she felt more financially comfortable with at the time. They agreed on a payment plan of a $500 deposit, and $150 payments twice a month. Everything seemed to be going smoothly at first, according to Horton, until the private seller began requesting more money from her at odd times.

Just last week, the car was repossessed in the parking lot of where Horton works. A loan had not been paid on the car, however, loans were never discussed between Horton and the private seller. She says she was solely making the payments to him.

“You illegally sold me a vehicle and accepted money for it from me.You lied to me about having the title to it. It is your fault that you got a loan on the car and didn’t pay for it, and that’s why it was repossesd,” said Horton.

Frustrated and concerned, Horton took to social media to ask if anyone in the public had had a similar experience with the private seller.

“When you pull out a loan in a car and then don’t pay for it, the car is forefeited to the loan company making it their property, meaning it is no longer your car givng you no legal right to sell it,” writes Horton in one of the post’s comments.

That’s when she began to feel she wasn’t alone.

“I’m not the first one, and the fact that he’s done this to more than one person is ridiculous.”

Horton says that after she addressed the private seller about her car’s repossession, that that is when communication between them came to a halt. Now short on money, and on the search for a new car, Horton says she really hopes that more people are made aware of the possible scam and don’t become victims.

“He’s been taken off the sites now, but the damage is still done.”

EverythingLubbock reached out to the private seller, Jacob Medina, for a statement regarding the accusations made against him by Horton and other individuals who had reported they found themselves in similar situations:

“Business is business whether it’s from a private seller or big business same rules apply and if they can’t handle it then buy a car cash instead of payments. I was only trying to help that’s all I try to do, but I guess some people like to take advantage of the help that one gives.”

In regard to this particular case, Mandy Myers of the the South Plains Auto Theft Task Force responded, “You never want to buy a vehicle that has a lien. It’s actually illegal in the state of Texas to sell mortgaged property.”

According to Myers, this isn’t the only case of a vehicle scam in town. The task force reports that they have been working on similar cases, and that they have actually been popping up recently. She offers advice to those, buyers and sellers alike, to exercise even more caution when conducting business on social media.

“Go with your instinct. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, there’s probably something wrong with it,” advises Myers. “If anyone comes up to you an says ‘well, you can take over my payment, you pay me, and I’ll pay the lien holder.’  Don’t ever do that. There’s no guarantee that they’re actually making the payments on the vehicle and you have the vehicle, so they’ll come and repo it from you.”

She also advises that should you ever feel as though you’re in a suspicious situation that may potentially be a scam, to always contact your local law enforcement (either Lubbock Police or the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office).