An Oklahoma Teenager Scammed A Car Dealership Out Of 100K And Is Being Compared To Leonardo DiCaprio's Character From Catch Me If You Can
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NY Post- Apache, Oklahoma, police arrested a teenager during the early morning hours Sunday, months after he allegedly defrauded a car dealership out of nearly $100,000, according to reports.
The Apache Police Department arrested 19-year-old Zachry Brent Bailey at about 3 a.m. on an outstanding felony warrant.
KFOR in Oklahoma City reported that Bailey visited a dealership on April 19 and reportedly wanted to sell an Acura MDX.
The news station reported that court records showed dealership employees were suspicious of Bailey because he was young, and after looking into how much was owed on the Acura, they found only $1,713.23 was owed. The dealership agreed to purchase the vehicle from Bailey for $48,000, and on April 19, he received a check for $46,272.97.
On May 1, he returned to the dealership to sell a 2023 Toyota Tundra, the news station reported, and both parties agreed on a price of $66,500. Employees learned that the loan was through First Help Financial and the payoff amount was $2,244, so Bailey received a check for $64,256 that day.
The charging docs said it was discovered later that Bailey made fraudulent transfers on the outstanding balances of the Acura and Toyota loans the day before selling the vehicles.
What a story. Anytime you can hook me with the line "he's been compared to Frank Abagnale Jr. I'm in hook line and sinker. That movie is a great tail of cat and mouse but also cops and robbers. Terrific film. And now we have some 19 year old playing out his own version of the movie in real life. Bonkers.
The crazy parts to me here is having leased and bought a car in the last couple of years, is just how much paperwork you need to go through, background checks, signing, deposits, clearances etc. I'm baffled as to how this kid was able to pull off the scam. I'm no detective but nobody there was able to ask enough questions or be worried that fixated on getting the sale that they just handed over 100k in a matter of three weeks? You can't even blame the kid at that point (I mean of course you can he's a thieving scumbag) but if he knows this particular dealership is an easy mark he's going to go back. Back to the dealership. Again, I'm no detective, but just off the top of my head … a 19 year old walks in with a car that is essentially paid off. Here's some things that may have run through my head …
1- You're only 19, loans usually take a few years to pay off yet you paid off the entire thing in 2-3 years? Oh by thr way he just started driving 2-3 years ago. Which leads me to my next question …
2- What do you do for work? Can you provide pay stubs?
But the most important to me in all of this … when he showed up with the 2nd car in 3 weeks …
3- HOW THE HELL DO YOU HAVE A 2ND CAR AND WHY DO YOU NEED A 2ND CAR AT 19 AND HOW DID YOU PAY OFF TWO CARS AT 19 ?!!!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?
Nobody at this place pulls the name up in the computer and thinks …. hmmmm this seems a little fishy? Nobody thinks maybe escalate this to a manager? Nobody thinks to grill the kid of where he works and how he paid this off? Or even throw a little curveball at him and see if he sweats, "Hey pal … are your parents aware of your finances? Did you run any decisions like these by them?" Anything to slow down your dealership HANDED OVER 100K TO A 19 YEAR OLD IN A MATTER OF 3 WEEKS! ANYTHING.
Listen, car thieves and scammers like this are what has hurt the market in the last couple of years in terms of pricing and rates etc, but we have to put a little bit of accountability on this dealership in this situation, what were they thinking?