VIN numbers are stolen and duplicated all the time. Have friend in Alaska who has an original vintage T-Bird with all the original paperwork. He went to register for new plates and was told he'd sold the vehicle and it was registered in Colorado. Took him a year to prove that this wasn't the case and authorities finally nullified the Colorado title and re-instituted his Alaska title.
As for checking with authorities on the state of a used vehicle, I have another friend who bought a good used car in a private sale after checking with authorities, running the VIN, doing a title search, etc. He financed it thru his Credit Union which did some of the same background checks. A few months later authorities knocked on his door to impound the vehicle and place him under arrest for having possession of a stolen vehicle. Turns out it was stolen in New Jersey, had the paperwork forged up for new title in Texas where he bought it. The original owner reported it stolen and paid off their note, so they no longer owned the car. The Texas authorities took the car, but released him when the found out what had happened, but he was still on the hook for his financing thru the Credit Union. He asked what he could do and was advised by the authorities to report the vehicle as stolen to get out from under the financing.
