Texas woman sells $70,000 Polaris side-by-side. The buyer wires money. Then he sends someone shady to pick it up

When selling a big-ticket item online, it's important to follow one simple rule. Don't ever hand it over until the money's secured. One Texas seller followed that rule to the letter when selling a Polaris side-by-side on Facebook Marketplace. She watched the payoff confirmation come through in black and white, but she still ended up with nothing afterward.

Even the bank was duped: ‘Pretty legit'

Content creator Lesley Ann Young (@lesleyanntx) shared what she described as a “massive theft ring” targeting her and her husband's Polaris Razor Pro XP side-by-side. Her video has since accumulated more than 69,000 views.

Young said the vehicle was worth between $60,000 and $70,000, and her husband listed it on Facebook Marketplace. He hoped to pay off the remaining loan balance and put the difference toward a boat. A buyer eventually came forward, claiming to run a hotshot trucking company hauling cattle. He told Young and her husband he wanted to buy the Polaris as a tax write-off for his business, and that he couldn't pick it up himself since he was out of town.

According to Young, the transaction initially looked completely legitimate.

“My husband spoke to [the buyer's] bank, which is … Regions [in] Dallas, Texas,” Young said. “My husband spoke to our finance company that we had the side-by-side through, which was Symphony. Symphony spoke to Regions in Dallas. It was a pretty legit thing.”

Then, as far as the couple could see, the buyer “wired the money from their bank to Symphony.”

“In a couple hours, my husband got the notification from Symphony that the note was at a zero balance,” Young said. “It was paid completely off … a little over $20,000.”

@lesleyanntx Thief ring #victim #thief #sxs #police #viral ♬ original sound – Lesley Ann Young

The bait-and-switch: ‘Straight terror'

The next day, the buyer sent a hotshot driver to pick up the Polaris. Young's husband loaded it onto the driver's trailer himself, and the sale seemed complete.

It wasn't.

While at a family gathering that weekend, Young's husband checked the Symphony app out of habit.

“It stated that the money was taken back, and the account that the money was sent from was closed,” Young said. “Straight terror. Because now we don't have the machine, and we can't get ahold of this individual.”

Young said they immediately contacted their insurance company and the police. She also personally reached out to the hotshot driver who'd picked up the machine, asking if anything about the job had seemed suspicious. The driver said he'd dropped the Polaris off at a warehouse in Fort Worth around 11 p.m. that same night.

Despite having the buyer's driver's license, phone number, and address on file, Young said none of it led anywhere useful. She posted everything she had publicly.

“Once I did that, people started coming out of the woodwork stating that this individual had done the same exact thing to them within the same time period,” she said. “And wouldn't you freaking know, we're the first ones to be hit within the county that we live in with this activity. We have had people that are in the surrounding counties as well as the surrounding cities around us that have reached out that also have other criminal charges filed against this individual.”

Young ultimately said “this is going to be a very long, drawn-out case.”

“Once he is found, I promise he will see [me] face to face, whether it's behind a bar or it is in a courtroom,” she said. “I will be attending.”

Does this sort of Polaris scam happen often?

According to Florida news publication WTXL, a situation similar to Young's happened to a Tallahassee, Florida woman named Kendall Wainwright. Wainwright sold her truck on Facebook Marketplace to a buyer. He appeared to pay off her GM Financial loan in full.

She released the vehicle only after receiving confirmation of the loan payment. But about a week later, GM Financial notified her the payment had been reversed. Local law enforcement said the case was “connected to a massive multi-state fraud ring.”

Wire transfer scams are not unique to vehicle purchases. Rather, they're a standard form of fraud.

Tennessee's Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) issued a consumer alert for vehicle owners. It warned sellers not to release a vehicle until “after the payment is verified and the money clears.” TDCI outlined how the scam works.

“The unscrupulous buyer (either through a phony wire transfer or a fake cashier's check) appears to provide the funds to the seller in order to complete the sale,” TDCI wrote. “With the worthless money in hand and believing that the deal is done, the unsuspecting seller then gives the vehicle to the buyer … Days later, the seller realizes that the sale is cancelled either because the cashier's check bounces or the wire funds were rescinded by the seller.”

TDCI also warned that “most insurance companies will not cover an auto theft that occurs via fraud.”

Buzz News has reached out to Young via TikTok comment, as well as Polaris via email.