A auto salesman fired for siphoning tens of thousands of pounds from a Detroit-region Stellantis dealership is accused of ripping off dozens of his former customers by pretending that he nevertheless worked for the retail store.
Ricardo Perez, 38, was terminated by Dick Scott Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Plymouth, Mich., very last July soon after professionals learned he had defrauded the retail store.
Police stated Perez then started getting in touch with his previous buyers and giving them appealing specials for trade-ins and car or truck leases, with no telling them he had been fired. He would meet with victims in parking plenty to conduct offers, convincing them the open up-air meeting was to guard from COVID-19.
Victims would give him their cars, thinking they had been returning it to the dealership, and Perez would offer it himself. He kept some autos as a “rental” to use whilst scamming other people, stated Ray Watters, the law enforcement main in Lincoln Park, Mich., wherever Perez was arrested this month.
“Most of the time, he would consider their down payments, a weighty down payment, and explain to them there was no payment essential for 3 months when in actuality there were payments needed right away,” Watters told Crain’s Detroit Company, a sibling publication of Automotive News. “What they imagined was like a $500 a thirty day period payment on their truck was essentially closer to $800, and the auto they traded in was never ever traded in. So, then they discover out, not only are they three months behind on their new truck, but they’re also powering on payments for the car or truck they assumed they turned in.”
Perez would even go to dealerships and sign leases on behalf of victims, police claimed.
“At some position,” Watters mentioned, “he will have to have been a respectable salesman because he experienced pretty a pursuing.”