Please Help - Model X disappeared from account

[NYcarowner]

Hi All,

I am reaching out for any help I can get. I have owned my Model X since January this year (purchased 3rd party through dealership). Today, in the middle of driving on the highway, I received a notification that both my wife and I were disconnected and no longer have access to our account. I was able to continue driving the car as I had the key fob with me.

We drove home and I then went on my Tesla account as well as the app and see that my car is no longer connected/owned by me. On my app, it is showing only the explore options with no car. I am able to see my past supercharging history though.

On the website, I see a different car that shows [my name]’s car and it is a blue Model 3 that I don’t even recognize. My actual car going by VIN now shows as “Previously Owned” and “Returned”, which I have no idea what that means at all.

I am grateful for anyone who can offer any advice here. I have tried calling my nearest service center (useless), roadside assistance (empathetic but ultimately were not willing to help). Roadside did say they see my car using the full VIN but it was not linked to another owner, which somewhat calmed me bc I thought maybe it was stolen or hacked by someone.

I have contacted the ownership transfer email but they may not get back for 3-5 days.

At this point, I don’t know what to do. It’s our only family car and we have a baby and we’re supposed to head home after visiting family these holidays. This is so extremely upsetting

 

[scottf200]

On the website, I see a different car that shows [my name]’s car and it is a blue Model 3 that I don’t even recognize. My actual car going by VIN now shows as “Previously Owned” and “Returned”, which I have no idea what that means at all.

Very sorry for your situation.

Sounds like someone got a new Model 3 and turned in their X but someone fatfingered the VIN number for their old X.
ie. your X --> previous owned/returned (theirs).

Hard to imagine that they couldn't easily track this down with the VIN number associated with that Model 3 that shows up in your online acct.

I'm assuming you can open/start it since you have the key fob? Did it have unlimited supercharging (ie. and older X)? If not then I suspect you'll have issues charging since you don't have a credit card associated with your car. Not sure how far you have to go home. Destination chargers along the way may work or you may have to stay overnight at a hotel with charging (Tesla destination chargers). Tesla FindUs - Find Us | Tesla lets you just select destination chargers. PlugShare may to.

I'd try Roadside again and ask them to look up that Model 3 VIN and contact them. Escalate it if possible.

 

[NYcarowner]

Thanks for the response Scott. Unfortunately that model 3 linked to my account doesn’t even have a VIN associated. There is an RN number which I assume is actually an order for a car and not a car in someone’s possession?

When I spoke with roadside as well as a local service center, they actually did not even see that car even though I see it myself on my account.

I guess it is quite plausible that someone fatfingered a trade in and screwed me but I can’t seem to find anyone that even can or is willing to help. Roadside suggested I call “customer support” which is option 2 on the general 1888 line, but they seem to be closed until after New Years. The service center basically admitted they have no idea what is going on and can’t help me.

Thanks for the charging advice. I guess I will give it a shot charging at a destination charger before it runs out of battery.

Does anyone have a good way to get in contact with someone who might have a clue?

 

[scottf200]

Thanks for the charging advice. I guess I will give it a shot charging at a destination charger before it runs out of battery.

At one point in your 1st msg you said you drove 'home' and then later said you were going to 'head home'.

So whereever you are they don't have 120v? or you don't have your mobile charger? Not sure how far you are from home and if it is farther than a 100% charge.

I'd even pay a nights stay at a nearby hotel and charge your car to 100%. Have your relative drive you back to their place and pick the car up the next morning or whatever.

I think you can find destination chargers in plugshare like below as well (ie. non-Fast Tesla plug). Click on icons to see details.

 

[NYcarowner]

At one point in your 1st msg you said you drove 'home' and then later said you were going to 'head home'.

So whereever you are they don't have 120v? or you don't have your mobile charger? Not sure how far you are from home and if it is farther than a 100% charge.

I'd even pay a nights stay at a nearby hotel and charge your car to 100%. Have your relative drive you back to their place and pick the car up the next morning or whatever.

I think you can find destination chargers in plugshare like below as well (ie. non-Fast Tesla plug). Click on icons to see details.

Didn’t mean for you to think I was saying you didn’t have a clue if you thought that. I meant someone at Tesla who could help or someone I could escalate it to via email or a different phone line.

And thanks for the tips on the destination chargers. I am aware of those and we have a ChargePoint account so I am going to charge on one of those to get enough battery to get us home. I did type my initial message really quickly and we are staying with family in a different state, but I called both “home” so that’s my bad for the confusion.

 

[Tronguy]

Um. There was a recent case somewhere here in the Tesla Motors Forums where some thief managed to hack a Tesla account, transferring the car to their newly created account.. then sold the car based upon the idea that they had the account.

There was all sorts of foo-fer-aw about this, including that the poster claimed that Tesla wasn't any help.

Make sure that you've got your car garaged and under lock and key, lest some nefarious type show up with their phone and make off with your car. Seriously.

 

[NYcarowner]

Thanks Tronguy. I found that thread and just read through it. I just enabled 2FA (and really should have had it to begin with) and never lost access to my account at any point. I am hoping that this is not a hacking/identity theft issue but likely won’t be able to confirm until I can talk to someone at Tesla once they reopen in two days.

 

[scottf200]

I have owned my Model X since January this year (purchased 3rd party through dealership).

Um. There was a recent case somewhere here in the Tesla Motors Forums where some thief managed to hack a Tesla account, transferring the car to their newly created account.. then sold the car based upon the idea that they had the account.

@NYcarowner did you originally use Tesla . com dashboard option like the below to add your car?

Potentially try to add it again ... related to @Tronguy 's comments. I think he is saying they could potentially user their phone and the Tesla app tied to your car to track/locate your car. Not sure if you can disable that within the cars options.

 

[scottf200]

Not sure if you can disable that within the cars options.

Looks like you can just turn it (tracking/mobile) within the car.
------------------------------

Turn Off Total Mobile Access Inside the Car​

Turning off mobile access will prevent other app users from seeing the car’s location.

To do this, on your main touchscreen, go to Quick Controls and Safety and toggle off “Allow Mobile Access.”

 

[NYcarowner]

@NYcarowner did you originally use Tesla . com dashboard option like the below to add your car?

Potentially try to add it again ... related to @Tronguy 's comments. I think he is saying they could potentially user their phone and the Tesla app tied to your car to track/locate your car. Not sure if you can disable that within the cars options.

Yup I tried to re-add it myself and got the below error message when I entered the VIN

“Unable to claim ownership

• Check you have the correct VIN
• Confirm car is not leased
• Confirm car is not associated with an enterprise account

Reach out to the current owner if this issue persists.”

 

[NYcarowner]

Looks like you can just turn it (tracking/mobile) within the car.
------------------------------

Turn Off Total Mobile Access Inside the Car​

Turning off mobile access will prevent other app users from seeing the car’s location.

To do this, on your main touchscreen, go to Quick Controls and Safety and toggle off “Allow Mobile Access.”

Thanks for the tip, I will do this right now!

 

[Rice&Curry]

The scams are getting worse, i think we have to be very careful buying a car from a dealer or an unknown character- if it is an individual you may need to verify his/her/their social media profile or employment reference with the HR dept so that you can weed out the scam artists. It's a lot of money so it makes sense. Also may be go to DMV and explain them the problem and see what they advise. I hope you have the title papers.

 

[Tronguy]

Thanks Tronguy. I found that thread and just read through it. I just enabled 2FA (and really should have had it to begin with) and never lost access to my account at any point. I am hoping that this is not a hacking/identity theft issue but likely won’t be able to confirm until I can talk to someone at Tesla once they reopen in two days.

Listen, I don't know what I'm talking about. But suppose you're user A and we got a hacker, B. Hacker creates an account, let's call it B_Account. He then hacks into your account, the A_Account. Playing both sides of the game, he then transfers ownership of the car from A_Account to B_Account. And then disappears over the horizon with your car in his account.

In this scenario, you never lost access to your account; you just lost the car. The two-factor stuff is cool, I've got that, too. But at this point, assuming that the above scenario is true, the horses have left the barn so closing the door doesn't help much.

If the above is all true, then the one saving bit about all this is that you still have physical possession of the car. Which is why physically securing the car so that some person with a newly made-up key card (picked up from a socially-engineered service rep at a Tesla Service Center, maybe?) can't just walk up to your car and make off with it. I don't think that a hacker could enable a phone to the point of getting into your car with it.. But there are services, like TeslaFi, that, given a VIN number, user ID, and password, can very definitely connect to the car and Do Things.

I happen to garage my car; in a scenario that you're in, I'd be turning off the garage door opener and engaging the physical inside locks on the garage door until that VIN is back in my account. If you're street parking.. Time to put your car somewhere where it's not street parked. Heck, asking if the local police department can clamp the car for you? How much do you have to worry about a rogue tow truck?

 

[NYcarowner]

Listen, I don't know what I'm talking about. But suppose you're user A and we got a hacker, B. Hacker creates an account, let's call it B_Account. He then hacks into your account, the A_Account. Playing both sides of the game, he then transfers ownership of the car from A_Account to B_Account. And then disappears over the horizon with your car in his account.

In this scenario, you never lost access to your account; you just lost the car. The two-factor stuff is cool, I've got that, too. But at this point, assuming that the above scenario is true, the horses have left the barn so closing the door doesn't help much.

If the above is all true, then the one saving bit about all this is that you still have physical possession of the car. Which is why physically securing the car so that some person with a newly made-up key card (picked up from a socially-engineered service rep at a Tesla Service Center, maybe?) can't just walk up to your car and make off with it. I don't think that a hacker could enable a phone to the point of getting into your car with it.. But there are services, like TeslaFi, that, given a VIN number, user ID, and password, can very definitely connect to the car and Do Things.

I happen to garage my car; in a scenario that you're in, I'd be turning off the garage door opener and engaging the physical inside locks on the garage door until that VIN is back in my account. If you're street parking.. Time to put your car somewhere where it's not street parked. Heck, asking if the local police department can clamp the car for you? How much do you have to worry about a rogue tow truck?

We will definitely garage the car tonight. I think one small glimmer of hope that this was some mistake on Tesla’s end and not the work of a thief/hacker is that my family had a previous car that was sold and in the Tesla account, it shows as “Transferred” under Previously Owned as opposed to the “Returned” that shows on mine. So maybe if this is accurate, the car would not have transferred from account A to account B in that scenario. Maybe I am being overly optimistic though.

 

[MikeKFE]

I noticed you posted this same thing on Reddit and then deleted the post and your Reddit account an hour later.

Why?

 

[NYcarowner]

I noticed you posted this same thing on Reddit and then deleted the post and your Reddit account an hour later.

Why?

The people here are more helpful. And I’m getting spammed with porn/phishing in DMs over there. I rarely post on Reddit so it was more of an annoyance and unlikely to yield any useful discussion.

 

[scottf200]

We will definitely garage the car tonight. I think one small glimmer of hope that this was some mistake on Tesla’s end and not the work of a thief/hacker is that my family had a previous car that was sold and in the Tesla account, it shows as “Transferred” under Previously Owned as opposed to the “Returned” that shows on mine. So maybe if this is accurate, the car would not have transferred from account A to account B in that scenario. Maybe I am being overly optimistic though.

I'd probably enable PIN to drive as well.

To activate PIN to Drive on your vehicle touchscreen, tap 'Controls' > 'Safety & Security' > 'PIN to Drive. ' You will be prompted to create your four-digit verification.

 

[Les236]

Definitely enable PIN to Drive. I keep mine this way.

 

[RoBoRaT]

We will definitely garage the car tonight. I think one small glimmer of hope that this was some mistake on Tesla’s end and not the work of a thief/hacker is that my family had a previous car that was sold and in the Tesla account, it shows as “Transferred” under Previously Owned as opposed to the “Returned” that shows on mine. So maybe if this is accurate, the car would not have transferred from account A to account B in that scenario. Maybe I am being overly optimistic though.

Just to make sure we're "tracking" the same VIN/Model X - is the VIN etched on your X match the VIN on the online account, and purchase agreement, etc?

 

[Tronguy]

Just to make sure we're "tracking" the same VIN/Model X - is the VIN etched on your X match the VIN on the online account, and purchase agreement, etc?

And just to make life more difficult.. Check your registration. About 18 years ago a DMV drone managed to fat-finger the VIN number on the registration and title for a new Civic I had bought. I didn't catch it until a year or two later when, for no particular reason, I happened to actually read the VIN number under the windshield.

It didn't get fixed until the year an offspring bought the car off of me, took the car to another state, at which point new registration, title, and insurance went through with the right numbers.

Wouldn't it be weird if some back-end comparison failed and started all this on the Model X because somebody put a digit down wrong?