A Florida man walked into a car dealership and left in a $140,000 Porsche after paying with a fake cheque which he printed from his home computer.
Casey William Kelley, 42, was arrested for the grand theft of a motor vehicle and using a false banknote, after it was reported to Walton County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO).
During the investigation, it was determined Kelley had purchased a Porsche 911 Turbo from a Porsche dealership in Destin, Florida, by using a fraudulent cheque written for $139,203.05 (£106,000) on Monday 27 July. The Porsche was reported stolen to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
The next day, Kelley presented a cheque in the amount of $61,521 (£47,000) to a jeweller in Miramar Beach attempting to purchase three Rolex watches.
However, the jeweller kept the watches until they could determine whether the cheque would cash. They then reported to the WCSO that the cheque was a fake.
Kelley was arrested on Wednesday afternoon (29 July), telling investigators he had printed out the cashier’s cheques from his home computer and had not obtained them from his bank.
He was transported and booked into the Walton County Jail without incident.
According to Walton County Sheriff, Michael A. Adkinson Jr., the picture of Kelley with his new whip was posted on to social media after he ‘purchased’ it. Awkward…
Members of the public were quick to criticise the car dealership for not verifying the cheque before handing over the car.
One person said: “The Porsche dealer just takes a check for that much without verifying it first?! Wow. At least the jeweler knew what to do!!” Another added: “Bold…stupid (and really stupid of the dealership that sold the Porsche), but very bold….Nice job WCSO.” [sic]
A third person pointed out: “Must be a really good printer. The manufacturer should use this in an ad.”
It seems that these days, people will go to extraordinary lengths to pull a fast one. But nothing is more elaborate than pretending you’ve been kidnapped and attempting to force your family to send ransom money.
Scammers have been contacting students, speaking in Mandarin and purporting to be from some kind of Chinese authority, before convincing them they have been implicated in a crime in their home country.
They are then coerced into renting hotel rooms and sending photographs and videos of themselves tied up and blindfolded, which are sent on to families along with demands for ransom money.
According to reports, this year alone, eight virtual kidnappings have been reported to New South Wales Police (NSW Police), with fraudsters obtaining AUD $3.2 million (£1.8m) in ransom money.
