Almost got scammed buying a car, sharing the warning signs I missed

Long story short, I found a car listed well below market value, seller was friendly and responsive, everything felt fine until the transfer day when he started making excuses about the mulkiya being with a "friend" and wanting cash upfront. My gut told me something was off and I walked away, later found out the car wasn't even registered to him. It was a close call and it's made me paranoid about ever buying used again. Since then I've been reading up on how to actually verify ownership properly and found exoticcarcare.ae/how-to-check-car-owner-details/ , which explained a few things I wish I'd known earlier like cross checking the registration against the seller's ID and being wary of anyone rushing the paperwork. Wanted to share in case it helps someone else avoid the same mess. Has anyone here actually been through a proper ownership dispute after buying a car, because I'm curious how bad it gets if you don't catch it in time.