NEWS BLIPS
Seller Beware For Fraudulent Vehicle Sales To Greater Chicago Area
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through RVDA's website.
The Chicago Police Department releases an important notice to motor vehicle dealers throughout the nation on exercising extraordinary caution when verifying the identity of customers who attempt to purchase vehicles via the internet and have them shipped to the Chicagoland area, after seeing an epidemic of vehicles being purchased via identity theft and shipped to the Chicago area from around the country.
According to the CPD, "The vehicles are usually valued at $50,000 or more. The transactions usually start through an internet search. Credit applications and other paperwork are either filled out online or sent to the dealership via FedEx after they are requested to be sent to an address in the Chicago area (often times a vacant building). The offenders create a phony email account in the victim's name as well as a fake driver’s license with the victim’s information, and they use Google Voice or other applications whose phone numbers are not traceable. The offenders oftentimes seek to arrange their own transportation for the vehicles to be shipped. This is an elaborate scheme that can be stopped if dealerships conduct a thorough examination of online loan applications and related paperwork and institute a waiting period before shipping the vehicle."
For questions contact Sgt. Keith A. Blair, Commanding Officer, Chicago Major Auto Theft, at keith.blair@chicagopolice.org. More details here.