I've heard similar stories before. I used to lease a buliding from a lawn and garden dealer. He was accused of this activity. The business in a different building beside me told me they parked trailer loads of lawn and garden equipment in the building during the night, then reported it stolen the next day.
I don't know if any of it's true.
I never liked the idea of titleing lawn mowers, tractors, snowmobiles, ATV's, etc... but I think it would help some of the theft and fraud including internet fraud. The items we see on internet auctions that are many times fraud are big ticket items that don't carry titles.