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A thief posing as an auto transporterstolea $65,000 car from an auction and tried shipping it overseas.
Investigators at the port in Newark, N.J., discovered the scheme. The 2008 BMW X6 was already in a shipping container aboard a ship.
Officials from U.S.
Customs and Border
Protection were able to redirect the container and expected to recover the unit at press time.
Manheim reported the incident in a security alert distributed through the National Auto Auction Association Oct. 2.
According to the alert from Alan Walker,
Manheim’s director of corporate security, a man showed up at an auction claiming he was contracted to pick up the
vehicle.
The suspect had the purchasing dealer’s information and a description of the vehicle, but no VIN information.
Auction officials helped the suspect locate the
vehicle – since he had most of the pertinent
information. The suspect supplied a driver’s license to obtain the gate release.
The license information later proved counterfeit and the vehicle was
reported as stolen.
Two similar cases have been uncovered.
In each case, the buying dealer had put the vehicle on Central Dispatch, a
legitimate Web-based transportation brokerage site. The company did not respond to calls for
comment.
The dealer includes his information, the year, make and model of the
vehicle, the current location of the vehicle and the
intended destination.
Transporters then bid on the costs and the dealer chooses the transporter that he wants.
The suspect is a white male, with short blonde or brown hair and a “stocky build with an accent, possibly Russian.”
Manheim and the NAAA are warning all security personnel and anyone who issues gate releases at auction facilities to be aware of these situations. If any personnel notice anything suspicious, they are advised to call the buying dealer for confirmation before releasing the vehicle.
“We felt it was important that NAAA members were aware of this incident so they could make educated decisions about how to conduct business,” Walker said.
“Attempted fraud is something all NAAA members, including Manheim, take extremely
seriously and it’s important that auctions, dealers, and transporters remain vigilant.”
Mike Peck, general
manager for McNutt Auto Transport Service, was surprised by the alert. He said auctions, especially the chains, do a great job of screening people and preventing this type of theft.
“This is a very rare
incident,” Peck said. |
