Bulletins

Forged Cashiers Checks

• Forged Business Checks
• “HOT” Personal Checks

THE PHONY CHECK for the cost of the vehicle:
Scam artists appear in dealerships when banks are closed and verification of a check cannot be easily obtained.  A “Cashiers check” is one, which the businessperson and the general public consider automatically to be VALID.  This may NOT be the case.  The effort must be made to verify the identity of the customer and the validity of the check with the Bank, even if it requires 24 hours to do so.

THE PHONY CASHIERS CHECK for MORE than the cost of the vehicle:
A scam artist sees your vehicle presented for sale on the Internet. He/She claims to have a cashiers check for much more than the cost of the vehicle.  The hope is that you will accept the check and return the difference in cash to the scammer.

THE PHONY CASHIERS CHECK or CASH for LESS than the cost of the vehicle:
If you are unable to verify the check at the time, a scam artist hopes you will accept his/her counterfeit cashiers check, along with a bogus personal check. Again, DO NOT accept until all are verified.  Even more enticing is the cash/bogus personal check combination.  A partial cash payment does not automatically guarantee the validity of a personal check.

THE PHONY CASHIERS CHECK USED FOR PURCHASE OF A VEHICLE WITHOUT A LIEN:
Supposedly because he and his spouse have not decided how the vehicle they want to purchase will be titled, a SCAMMER requests the Title remain open on the back.  He/She presents the phony check and takes the vehicle immediately to another dealership to trade.

THE SAME VEHICLE is marketed to another dealership by the scam artist for much less than its market value. Based on statements by the scam artist “seller”, this is a strong enticement for the unsuspecting dealer/buyer. 

 

TAKE YOUR TIME AND ALWAYS VERIFY!

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF !!!

Multiple vehicles are being stolen under the following scenario:

Vehicles delivered overnight by car carriers are left with a single key Fob or two (2) key fobs, of which only one (1) is legitimate.  Within a short time, usually two (2) vehicles are stolen, using the actual key FOB swapped or held back by the thieves. 

Thieves DISARM any ONSTAR or other factory tracking system IMMEDIATELY!

The majority of dealerships allow overnight deliveries. Regardless of delivery time of day, Dealers must check that each key FOB delivered does actually “start” its assigned vehicle.  Most of these vehicles are stolen before being entered into PDI. 

The BEST approach is a proactive one and doing the following: 

Prior to accepting any vehicle from the manufacturer into inventory, each & every key FOB should be checked ASAP to determine if it is the actual key FOB.  

As soon as vehicles are delivered:

• BEFORE entering into inventory,
• BEFORE formal acceptance from the manufacturer,
• EACH FOB must be checked to determine BOTH keys actually open and start the vehicle.
  

If there is any failure to match keys to vehicle, keys must be immediately REPROGRAMMED to ensure that any missing FOB will NOT operate the vehicle.  Grounding a vehicle is NOT enough!!!

As a community and industry, ALL dealerships CAN STOP THESE THEFTS!  Meanwhile, we are here to help.  Please contact us any time to discuss these issues.