We’ve reported on a number of tales about model new vehicles being stolen from holding tons in Michigan, generally being recovered a brief distance away. However one other case involving $1 million price of stolen Ford automobiles has come to gentle that left a path of distress and monetary destruction as distant as Phoenix, Arizona.

The convoluted story facilities on 14 Ford F-150 vehicles that have been swiped from from Detroit tons on the tail finish of 2022, then pushed to Phoenix the place they entered the automobile market utilizing clean car titles stolen in Georgia in 2007. The vehicles then handed via a number of arms, and have been unwittingly traded by harmless sellers who have been disregarded of pocket when the swindle got here to gentle.

These sellers say they’re annoyed as a result of they did their due diligence, and all the vehicles confirmed as having clear titles. Even two Ford dealerships in New Mexico and Texas purchased vehicles they believed to be straight, however which turned out to be stolen, in accordance with an investigation by the Detroit Free Press.

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An organization legally licensed to situation titles in Phoenix was additionally caught up within the mess, and is being sued by a supplier who purchased a truck primarily based on the clear Arizona title. However the titling firm was solely processing state-validated paperwork that included the clear Georgia title.

What’s annoying all of those affected events is that the scenario might have been prevented if the vehicles had been reported stolen. However neither Ford or its accomplice companies realized the automobiles have been gone for weeks and even months, and to make life simpler for the thieves, the vehicles had been left parked with their keys contained in the cabs.

“If Ford would have finished a listing test as soon as every week, let’s say, and seen vehicles have been lacking, they might’ve needed to report them stolen, and people studies pop up in all places — on a title search, on CARFAX,” Addison Brown, co-owner of Cascio Motors in Scottsdale, informed Detroit Free Press.

“There’s so many notifications that forestall you from shopping for a stolen automobile. Nobody would have gotten scammed. What a couple of surveillance? What a couple of wall and gate? What about taking the keys out of the vehicles? Any of those minor changes. I’m out $300,000 and my vehicles have been impounded,” Brown added.

A Ford spokesman informed the Detroit publication that automobile theft was an issue going through all automakers:

“Product theft is a tragic actuality for all producers, together with each carmaker, and retailers. Once we grow to be conscious of robberies, we promptly report the losses to legislation enforcement companies. … In reality, together with unsuspecting individuals who buy these automobiles, Ford and different corporations are victims right here.”