- A 23-year-old sent fake bank transfer screenshots to a dealer and drove off with the car.
- The man was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison, with 21 months suspended.
- His defense team claimed he had ADHD and autism, but he was sentenced anyway.
For many people, having the means to buy an expensive BMW requires years of hard work, financial discipline, and maybe a little bit of wishful thinking. But for some, the road to luxury is less about saving and more about, well, fraud. We’ve seen it time and time again, as scammers frequently forge documents in an attempt to appear legitimate, only to be caught out by the authorities.
That’s exactly what happened in Ireland recently when a 23-year-old man attempted (but ultimately failed) to illegally acquire not one, but three BMWs.
Read: Man Tried To Buy A Land Rover With $12M Check, Then A Porsche With A $78M Check
Callum Kearney first inquired about buying two BMWs from Ashford Motors, one priced at €89,950 (about $97,000 at current exchange rates) and the other at €54,950 (around $59,300). His master plan? He photoshopped a series of screenshots to make it look like he had transferred the money to the dealership, hoping to walk away with the cars.
Unfortunately for Kearney, the dealership wasn’t fooled by his plot, and since they never received any money, he never got the cars.
Undeterred by his initial failure, the 23-year-old tried again six days later at another dealership, CMC Car Sales. This time, he targeted a €28,950 (~$31,200) BMW, sending over photoshopped screenshots of a pending payment before taking the car for a test drive. He never came back. Instead, he swapped out the plates for fake ones and kept the car for himself.
Before long, authorities tracked down the stolen BMW and arrived at the house where it was parked. There, they found Kearney, who gave them a fake name and claimed he had owned the car for “three or four years.” Unsurprisingly, the officers weren’t convinced. They swiftly arrested him, and according to RTE, he owned up to the crime. He also revealed that he had planned to sell part of the car’s engine for €15,000 (~$16,200) and had even lined up a buyer for one of the BMWs he previously failed to steal.
Earlier this month, Kearney was sentenced to three years in prison, with 21 months suspended. His defense team argued that he has an “avid interest in cars” and has been diagnosed with ADHD and autism, while also highlighting his challenging upbringing, which included exposure to domestic abuse.
