Help a 19-Year-Old Overcome Car Scam

Hi there. Thanks for taking the time to learn about the issue I'm raising money for.

A family friend (a 19-year-old friend of the family who's a college freshman) was scammed in a used car purchase. She's estranged from her parents (not her fault), and when I learned about the issue, I committed to helping her resolve it.

This friend made many mistakes when purchasing the car through Facebook Marketplace, but it doesn't change the fact that she was severely taken advantage of. She purchased a 2013 Nissan Rogue about 10 days ago, paying cash and not having anything documented with a bill of sale. Unfortunately, the transmission is toast and requires $7,000 worth of repairs. This guy knew what he was doing. After quick research on the car, he purchased it about a month ago from an auction, but he claimed it was his son's car. Turns out he has a seller's license (again, he knew exactly what he was doing). He ended up selling the car to himself personally before selling it to our family friend in order to limit our recourse (no dealership to go after). Yes, we're going after him, but it's unlikely we'll ever recover any money from him. I will be going through the appropriate regulatory agency to discredit him and hopefully have his dealer's license revoked, but the fact remains that she needs money to repair the car now so she can get back on the road to get to/from work. If, after raising this money, we happen to have a recovery from the seller, the excess funds will go toward offsetting college tuition/books.

I'm involved because she's a GREAT kid who didn't quite know what she was doing and was clearly taken advantage of. She (and I) would greatly appreciate any contributions to help get her back on her feet.

Thanks for considering!