Photo: click2houston.com
One man from Houston is reaching out to the community, hoping some financial incentive would lead to a quicker arrest of the man who stole his car, after posing as an interested buyer.
Ali tells Click2Houston that he decided to put his black Lexus GS 350 up for sale, posting ads both on Facebook and Craigslist. The thief responded to one of them and came to meet Ali at the gas station where he works.
Like any good thief, he had everything down to a T: he talked the talk and walked the walk, and put on a very convincing show. They took the car out for a test drive, and the thief professed to be thoroughly pleased with it.
They shook on it and agreed to meet the next day to finish the transaction. Ali would get $18,500 in cash for the car, and he would meet the buyer near his workplace.
The next day, Ali drove the car to the established location, but the pretend buyer told him they’d have to go to his grandmother’s house to pick up the money. This should have been a red flag for Ali, but he missed it.
“I drive there and he tells me he just has to pick up the money from his grandma's house because he left it there because it's close to his workplace. We're standing outside and he's got the key and I get a phone call. I take that phone call and as soon as I get distracted with that phone call, he jumps in and locks the doors. I immediately knew something was wrong,” Ali tells the publication.
As you probably guessed, the next thing the thief did after locking the doors was to drive off. Now, Ali is hoping making his face known to the public, thanks to the footage caught by the security cameras outside the gas station where he works, will lead to his arrest. To that end, he’s offering a $1,000 reward to whoever can provide information about his identity.
“I just want this guy behind bars before he does it to somebody else,” Ali says. So, this isn’t as much about him getting his car back as it’s about not letting it happen to some other naive car seller.
Like any good thief, he had everything down to a T: he talked the talk and walked the walk, and put on a very convincing show. They took the car out for a test drive, and the thief professed to be thoroughly pleased with it.
They shook on it and agreed to meet the next day to finish the transaction. Ali would get $18,500 in cash for the car, and he would meet the buyer near his workplace.
The next day, Ali drove the car to the established location, but the pretend buyer told him they’d have to go to his grandmother’s house to pick up the money. This should have been a red flag for Ali, but he missed it.
“I drive there and he tells me he just has to pick up the money from his grandma's house because he left it there because it's close to his workplace. We're standing outside and he's got the key and I get a phone call. I take that phone call and as soon as I get distracted with that phone call, he jumps in and locks the doors. I immediately knew something was wrong,” Ali tells the publication.
As you probably guessed, the next thing the thief did after locking the doors was to drive off. Now, Ali is hoping making his face known to the public, thanks to the footage caught by the security cameras outside the gas station where he works, will lead to his arrest. To that end, he’s offering a $1,000 reward to whoever can provide information about his identity.
“I just want this guy behind bars before he does it to somebody else,” Ali says. So, this isn’t as much about him getting his car back as it’s about not letting it happen to some other naive car seller.
Google News