- A Ford dealer in New Hampshire enlisted the help of Facebook users to locate an F-250 truck bought with a fake $25,000 check.
- Best Ford of Nashua offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who knew the whereabouts of Ryan Duval.
- Nashua PD has since recovered the truck and arrested Duval on felony theft and forgery charges.
Meta gets a lot of flak for the amount of misinformation on Facebook, but it can also be a force for good, as a Ford dealer discovered when it asked Facebook users to help it track down a truck bought with a fake check.
Best Ford of Nashua, NH, turned to Facebook when it realized that a local man had used a phony check to pay for a 2020 Ford F-250. The dealer had pictures of the thief, knew his name, and even tagged him on the Facebook post asking other local residents for help in locating the truck.
Related: Man Tried To Buy A Land Rover With $12 Million Check, Then A Porsche With A $78 Million Check
“We’re reaching out to our local community in Nashua and surrounding areas for assistance in locating one of our vehicles,” read the post.
“A gentleman named Ryan Duval recently made a fake check and left Best Ford in a 2020 White Ford F-250 Lariat Crew Cab valued at about $50,000. We have connected with him via Facebook and he wont return it.”
The dealer then offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who knew the location of the F-250 so it could send a repo truck to get it. But Best Ford warned Facebook’s amateur sleuths not to approach 36-year-old Duval, telling them he had a history of arrests for fake checks and other crimes, and leaving a Google link to stories of his previous bad deeds.
In short order information supplied by budding PIs had helped police locate the truck and Duval, but not before Duval had reportedly left comments of his own (now deleted) on the thread. The F-250 was recovered and Duval was arrested on felony theft and forgery charges. But they’re not the only charges he faces. Nashua PD learned that the Lariat-swiper also had outstanding warrants for thefts from a Lowe’s store in the area, Union Leader reports.
Best Ford was so pleased to get its truck back that it doubled the reward, donating $1,000 to the Nashua Police Athletic League and an equal amount to Robert Edward, one of the Facebook users who assisted in the pickup’s recovery.
