Car thieves target transporters to steal luxury cars
Instead of hotwiring cars on the street, the Miami Beach car thieves targeted vehicle dispatchers and transporters — companies contracted to pick up vehicles and deliver them to car shows, dealers and other destinations across the U.S.
The thieves managed to fool the dispatchers and transporters into changing the destinations to deliver luxury cars directly to them in Florida so they could drive away with it.
"They present paperwork that seems legitimate, and they go away with the vehicle,” said Miami Beach Police spokesperson Christopher Bess.
Police uncovered the scheme in January when Eldamou reported his Rolls-Royce missing. It was supposed to have been picked up in Miami Beach and delivered to an auto shop in Detroit, but never arrived.
Police traced the fake shipping arrangement to Armenian and Russian brokers and spoke to a delivery driver caught up in the scam. The innocent driver had been unknowingly rerouted and delivered luxury cars — including a Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini Urus and Audi R8 — to locations throughout Hallandale Beach.
Video surveillance footage showed suspects following the transport vehicles and picking up the cars after they were rerouted to the wrong location.
To bust the car theft ring, police set up a sting. They organized a controlled delivery of a Lamborghini Urus. Three men arrived in a stolen Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Bentley and paid $700 for delivery of the Lamborghini. Police arrested all three men and recovered two stolen cars at the scene of the crime, but Eldamou’s Rolls-Royce is still missing.
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Explore better ratesHow you can protect your vehicle from scammers
As car transport fraud is a growing trend, police offer these tips to foil con artists:
- Use a GPS tracking system on your car. You can contact your car dealer to install one.
- Research any transport companies that are going to move your car to any destination.
- Confirm no one has rerouted delivery of your car when a third-party service picks up your vehicle for deliveryy.
Otherwise, you may never see your car again.
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