If it is a numbers job, then it might not be rebirthing a stolen car, it could also be getting something off the WOVR.
What age the actual car is (not the 944 number), will be a hint to whether this is what happened.
If it is a pre-update (940 front and Mk1 IRS, rather than S90 front and Mk2 IRS) then I think it’s too old to have ever been put on the WOVR.
Different states started using the WOVR in different years, apparently NSW was 1999, I think Victoria was before BUT WA and SA were way later.
Worth being a member just to read the births, deaths & marriages
Maybe it was a dealership's project car? 
jamesinc I am curious what parts I would receive if I ordered them from a dealer 
They will ask for the VIN as they should.
Thus you will receive parts for a 940 but as it has a 960 engine and what seems Iike everything else, only the parts that are interchangeable between 940 and 960 will fit but you already know that
BarelyRunning what @ramrod said. Volvo's own software shows it as a 940/B230 so that's what the dealership would see, I expect.
Usually safer to order by part number. There are parts where the VIN won't necessarily result in receiving the right part. For example, brake rotors! 7/9 series have a bunch of (I particular) front rotor options, so it pays to start by measuring the diameter of the rotor and using that measurement to work out the correct part number. /tangent
