Was this used car purchase a scam? How?

And I think it is funny that I, within the same couple of days, have learned that such simple words as government and notary are not evident to translate at all, as you and @Cervaise have shown me. Thanks for that! (Says a professional interpreter, who will henceforth lose a couple of precious seconds thinking about what context to apply, European or American, when he hears those words again. It’s a hard life!)