{"id":505227,"date":"2026-01-10T03:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T03:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/505227\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T03:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T03:28:10","slug":"fraudulent-odometer-rollbacks-on-used-cars-up-14-from-past-year-illinois-5th-worst-state-in-us-chicago-3rd-worst-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/505227\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraudulent odometer rollbacks on used cars up 14% from past year; Illinois 5th worst state in US, Chicago 3rd worst city"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (WLS) — The I-Team is investigating a scam that could fool you when buying a used car.<\/p>\n

There is a sharp increase in odometer rollbacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

Data from Carfax show that almost 2 and a half million cars on the road right now are suspected to have their odometers rolled back, and it only takes seconds to reverse miles on a vehicle.<\/p>\n

If you’re in the market for a used vehicle, especially from a private seller online, beware. Carfax says odometer rollback numbers are up 14 percent from the previous year.<\/p>\n

“What’s especially concerning is that rate year over year is much higher than previous years,” said Em Nguyen, with Carfax.<\/p>\n

“So we are at 150,00 miles, and all I have to do is press the button. And just within a couple seconds, that’s when the dash is going to reset and the subtraction of 100,00 miles instantly,” said Josh Ingle, president of Atlanta Speedometer LLC. “Instantly, and as soon as we unplug this device, the vehicle drives off with whatever miles we programmed into it.”<\/p>\n

The device he’s using is supposed to be used by mechanics to make mileage accurate on vehicles when there’s an error, but the otherwise legitimate tools can also be used to scam potential buyers.<\/p>\n

“The used car market is very competitive, but people don’t want to spend a lot of money. So scammers are saying, ‘hmm what can I do to make this vehicle look more desirable, more attractive to the unsuspecting buyer?’ And rolling back the odometer can be a very big factor,” Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

Carfax says Illinois ranks as the fifth worst state in the nation for the problem.<\/p>\n

“Chicago is third in the nation, with about 77,800 vehicles suspected of having odometer rolled back. This is a worrisome number trending in the wrong direction,” Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

You can also purchase full vehicle history reports through online services like Carfax and AutoCheck by Experian. You should also get used vehicles inspected by a mechanic. You can even ask the seller to cover those costs.<\/p>\n

Carfax <\/a>has a free tool that lets you enter your VIN and see if a vehicle has been flagged for a potential odometer rollback.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) — The I-Team is investigating a scam that could fool you when buying a used car.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":505228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[226314,960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-505227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-226314","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115868684772083124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}