My husband and I back in Oct 2019 purchased a beautiful 2018 Model S P100D for 61k off craigslist from a dealership in Elkhart, Indiana called Universal Auto World. Before you say anything yes the price was crazy low for 4k miles and all the bells and whistles, but after seeing KBB price, we figured the dealer just didn't realize what he had.
My husband is super careful and meticulous about large purchases, had several people look it over and did several VIN checks. Everything checked out. We communicated back and forth with the sales rep about 30 times via phone and email. The dealer, even said they would pick us up at the airport if we flew in to look at the car. We eventually decided to purchase the vehicle sight unseen. Days before the vehicle was to be delivered to a Tesla repair shop for inspection (we were told we had 7 days to return the car) we were told the deliver driver had a heart attack in the hotel in San Diego and they were waiting for another driver to be flown out. Days later the new driver contacts me and says he is waiting to drop off a car in Vegas so the car will be delivered the next day. My husband talk with the delivery driver the next morning and everything is set up for me to meet him at the repair shop that afternoon. I wait for hours. Radio silence. All phones to the dealership, sales associate and driver go straight to voicemail.
We immediately call our bank (USAA) to inform them of a scam. We get passed around to several different people with no associate showing any sense of urgency to stop payment or investigate. We foolishly assumed that USAA would have our back having been members for more than 30 years and dealing with another large bank, Citibank. We have hit roadblock after roadblock. Now they are saying that we owe 61k for a vehicle that we do not have. We have contacted the police departments in both the city we live and the city of purchase. We have contacted the fbi several times and filed multiple reports along with BBB. No one seems to be interested or wants to help. It just seems insane that these crooks can get away with doing this with not even a slap on the hand. How many other victims are there?
After coming across this forum, and having more time on my hands from the recent world events I've started digging deeper into research and have found some interesting patterns. I'm not sure if there is a connection between all these phony dealership websites and the same ring of criminals doing the fraud, but I'm hoping to reach out to more bureaus and FBI again so we can hopefully catch whoever is doing this. For instance, from what I can see, this fake dealership websites all belong to existing small businesses without websites. The crooks change just a number or two so it appears legit. Also, many of this sites use the same website developer VEVS. They appear to be based out of Ukraine. Not sure if this is a coincidence, but seems fishy. Especially after another member posted something about EL Vochito dealership also in Indiana, who stated they were with the Russian mob and threatened to kill him.
Anyone that has had a similar experience and/or who has fallen victim to this scam, could you please reach out to share your info? Even if it's just the name of dealership or website. Any additional info would be helpful.
Thanks for listening.
KJ
My husband is super careful and meticulous about large purchases, had several people look it over and did several VIN checks. Everything checked out. We communicated back and forth with the sales rep about 30 times via phone and email. The dealer, even said they would pick us up at the airport if we flew in to look at the car. We eventually decided to purchase the vehicle sight unseen. Days before the vehicle was to be delivered to a Tesla repair shop for inspection (we were told we had 7 days to return the car) we were told the deliver driver had a heart attack in the hotel in San Diego and they were waiting for another driver to be flown out. Days later the new driver contacts me and says he is waiting to drop off a car in Vegas so the car will be delivered the next day. My husband talk with the delivery driver the next morning and everything is set up for me to meet him at the repair shop that afternoon. I wait for hours. Radio silence. All phones to the dealership, sales associate and driver go straight to voicemail.
We immediately call our bank (USAA) to inform them of a scam. We get passed around to several different people with no associate showing any sense of urgency to stop payment or investigate. We foolishly assumed that USAA would have our back having been members for more than 30 years and dealing with another large bank, Citibank. We have hit roadblock after roadblock. Now they are saying that we owe 61k for a vehicle that we do not have. We have contacted the police departments in both the city we live and the city of purchase. We have contacted the fbi several times and filed multiple reports along with BBB. No one seems to be interested or wants to help. It just seems insane that these crooks can get away with doing this with not even a slap on the hand. How many other victims are there?
After coming across this forum, and having more time on my hands from the recent world events I've started digging deeper into research and have found some interesting patterns. I'm not sure if there is a connection between all these phony dealership websites and the same ring of criminals doing the fraud, but I'm hoping to reach out to more bureaus and FBI again so we can hopefully catch whoever is doing this. For instance, from what I can see, this fake dealership websites all belong to existing small businesses without websites. The crooks change just a number or two so it appears legit. Also, many of this sites use the same website developer VEVS. They appear to be based out of Ukraine. Not sure if this is a coincidence, but seems fishy. Especially after another member posted something about EL Vochito dealership also in Indiana, who stated they were with the Russian mob and threatened to kill him.
Anyone that has had a similar experience and/or who has fallen victim to this scam, could you please reach out to share your info? Even if it's just the name of dealership or website. Any additional info would be helpful.
Thanks for listening.
KJ
