Photo: Facebook / Scuderia South Africa
There’s a new scam being used by car thieves and the number of incidents is high enough to warrant an official warning from several carmakers, including Ferrari.
The scam is apparently heavily used in South Africa and several Ferrari owners have already become victims. Gulf News reports that, just recently, a Ferrari 812 Superfast was stolen this way, while other victims drove Audis and Toyotas.
Last week, Scuderia South Africa took to Facebook to issue a public service announcement for its clients, to help them avoid becoming victims of the scam. It involves the thieves calling up owners and informing them of a recall for a made-up reason. The thieves would pose as workers at the Ferrari dealership and, the next day after the call, they would arrive with a flatbed at the client’s house.
They would have official-looking paperwork with them, which the victim would sign, thinking they would be reunited with their car sometime later, after whatever issue was plaguing it would be fixed. The thieves would load the Ferrari onto the flatbed and drive off with it, and the victim would only know what happened after one or two days, when they would call the local dealership for a status update.
Gulf News says that most cars stolen this way are rushed right away across the border into Mozambique, where they’re stripped of the engines, transmissions and other valuables that can be sold off faster.
Ferrari notes that the call to the dealership should be placed before handing off the keys, because that’s the only way in which clients can verify if the recall is legitimate.
“Should there be a recall of Ferrari vehicles, or service campaigns of any kind, Ferrari headquarters will never call you directly requesting the collection of your car,” the PSA says. “If you get a call from someone you believe is falsely claiming to be a Ferrari employee, please contact the dealership in question directly to validate the information.”
Last week, Scuderia South Africa took to Facebook to issue a public service announcement for its clients, to help them avoid becoming victims of the scam. It involves the thieves calling up owners and informing them of a recall for a made-up reason. The thieves would pose as workers at the Ferrari dealership and, the next day after the call, they would arrive with a flatbed at the client’s house.
They would have official-looking paperwork with them, which the victim would sign, thinking they would be reunited with their car sometime later, after whatever issue was plaguing it would be fixed. The thieves would load the Ferrari onto the flatbed and drive off with it, and the victim would only know what happened after one or two days, when they would call the local dealership for a status update.
Gulf News says that most cars stolen this way are rushed right away across the border into Mozambique, where they’re stripped of the engines, transmissions and other valuables that can be sold off faster.
Ferrari notes that the call to the dealership should be placed before handing off the keys, because that’s the only way in which clients can verify if the recall is legitimate.
“Should there be a recall of Ferrari vehicles, or service campaigns of any kind, Ferrari headquarters will never call you directly requesting the collection of your car,” the PSA says. “If you get a call from someone you believe is falsely claiming to be a Ferrari employee, please contact the dealership in question directly to validate the information.”
Google News