The internet of full of scammers looking to make a quick buck and a number of their schemes involve automobiles. The latest incident occurred in Turkey where a teacher reportedly scammed at least 80 people into buying the same car.
According to the Hurriyet Daily News, the teacher – who has only been identified as Emre K – told his victims he was a car dealer who could sell them vehicles seized by the government. The teacher reportedly said he bought the cars at auction for $4,932 (£3,786 / €4,251) below their market value.
That’s a sizable discount and the low prices attracted a lot of attention. The report suggests the teacher actually delivered a handful of cars, but things eventually took a turn for the worse.
The exact circumstances remain unclear, but one victim alleges he was shown photos of a car and then paid the teacher $197,280 (£151,503 / €170,193) to buy 23 of them. Unfortunately for the buyer, the scammer reportedly stalled for ten month. It then emerged the teacher was showing the same car to countless other people who were asked to pay for the model in advance.
The scam appears to have been going for quite awhile and the report says the teacher eventually fled with $9.8 (£7.5 / €8.5) million that was stolen from his victims.
The teacher was eventually caught by police and now he’s facing some serious jail time and restitution. Unfortunately, there could be even more victims as a local attorney said a number of people haven’t filed a criminal complaint yet.
