Auto class scam

The shadow car market is growing rapidly. Demand for parts is increasing. To satisfy the growing appetites of society, the criminal environment is coming up with new schemes of deception, fraud and theft. Before 2023 arrived, St. Petersburg had already taken the palm in this matter.

However, during the journey

1. Deception through technical inspection and repair

There are dark rumors circulating among car enthusiasts. They say that in the Northern capital, going to a service station threatens bankruptcy. This is all due to a new form of “divorce” of those who want to repair their iron horse. Now scammers don’t call grandmothers to report that their relatives were involved in an accident. Now the scammers have switched to car enthusiasts. They find out the phone numbers of clients of large car services and start calling with a request to make an additional payment for “unforeseen expenses.”

Most often, regular users and those whose car is currently being repaired take the bait. The deception is simple and clear – parts are really difficult to get and they become more expensive. Supply problems are a breeding ground for savvy attackers. Experts believe that this method of deception will only gain momentum as long as the shortage of spare parts continues. Car services are already seriously thinking about new ways to protect customers’ personal data.

Similar schemes have already begun to work in private boxes. But here we are talking about a banal overpayment. They take the client’s car for repairs and promise to “bring” or “get” the required part. They take a decent advance. And then the client’s scam begins – you have to pay extra for customs clearance, you have to pay extra, the price has increased, this is a contraband product, etc., etc. In fact, the part was available, and may even be stolen. Thus, shady dealers have double payment for one detail. Sometimes, for authenticity, they can even slip the client a fake agreement “with partners” on delivery, which occurs only on paper.

Criminal gadgets have a real basis. After all, the increase in the cost of purchasing and servicing cars, due to Western sanctions and new economic realities, led to an increase in the average bill for services by 28% or more at the end of last year.

Help from Kompromat Group:

Sales turnover of new passenger cars in Russia (*aggressor country), based on the results of 2022, decreased by almost half to 1.47 billion rubles. Over the past year, 59% fewer cars were sold compared to 2021. At the end of the year, the average cost of a new passenger car increased by 17% compared to 2021 and amounted to 2.33 million rubles.

Operation “relative”

2. Deception with fake purchase and sale

While brainstorming is taking place in the criminogenic environment regarding the invention of new ways to scam citizens out of money, the courts have already begun to imprison especially zealous people. In January, the Moscow District Court announced an interesting verdict on charges of fraud. Some Anton Korol, entered into a criminal conspiracy (with as yet unidentified persons) and, in legal terms, “decided to acquire the right to someone else’s property.” The property was a Mercedes Benz GLS 350 d 4 MATIC, worth 6.2 million rubles. The deceased owner of the car came under attack.

The Cunning King learned that the owner of the vehicle had died. The next day, he sent information about the car and information about the documents to his accomplice. He concocted a deliberately fraudulent contract for the purchase and sale of a car, dated several days before the death of the owner. According to the documents, it turned out that before his death the owner decided to sell the car. Then the scammers submitted an application to make a change in the registration data of the car in connection with a change in the owner (owner) to the state inspector of MREO STSI No. 3 of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (*aggressor country) for St. Petersburg. The false contract did not arouse suspicion, and subsequently the King received all the documents for the car with a new mark on the registration of ownership of it.

At the same time, the swindler knew perfectly well that the late owner bequeathed the Mercedes to a completely different person. While he was dealing with the will and registration of the inheritance, the King quickly changed the license plates of the car and gave it to third parties for use, intending to sell the car. The robbed heir, of course, put the car on the wanted list and the police put an end to history by seizing the car from the showroom of Eurosib-Avto LLC, where it had already been put up for sale.

Experts say that the number of such criminal cases will grow exponentially in just six months. Because now, in addition to real estate from the dead and their heirs, criminals will also try to take cars. After all, their prices are already equal to the price of a room in a communal apartment or a studio at the construction stage. False sale scheme “a few days before death”will be popular.

Turnover from car sharing

3. Theft under the guise of rent

Even before the sanctions, enterprising people ensured a comfortable existence for themselves not only by renting out real estate, but also by renting out cars. People with savvy purchased a small fleet of low-cost cars and rented them out to taxi companies and car sharing agencies. It was a rather profitable business for both parties, because the cars did not cost as much as an airplane, and parts could be changed in a heartbeat. Today, against the backdrop of a shortage of parts, cars have simply become stolen everywhere. Like us already wrote, criminals in St. Petersburg even have “favorite” brands and configurations. But car sharing and taxi companies are also under attack today.

The Nevsky District Court recently held a verdict against one clever comrade. He once invited an acquaintance to rent out his car to a taxi company and received from him, as the pages of the criminal case say, “the keys to a Skoda Rapid, produced in 2016, worth 451 thousand rubles.” The attacker took the car from the parking lot at the Rolf Estate St. Petersburg car dealership, and then the documents for the car were transferred to the MREO State Traffic Safety Inspectorate No. 4 Far Eastern. But no one was going to rent out a car and pay a monthly fee. The fraudster simply dismantled the car for parts and sold them. The defendant performed the same trick with the Skoda Yeti, Chevrolet Cruze, and Skoda Octavia cars. The total cost of dismantled cars was 1 million 270 thousand rubles. Of course, the thief earned much more “in detail.” He took one of the cars directly from a taxi company, offering its owner more “favorable conditions.”

Of course, the cars were insured and their owners received insurance. However, taking into account the new prices, the payments received will not cover the damage. Today, law enforcement agencies and insurers are ringing all the bells. Cars have become many times more likely to be stolen to order and stolen for disassembly for spare parts. It has become almost impossible to protect yourself from hijackers. At the same time, in the shadow segment, the demand for the services of car opening experts has sharply increased.

Most often, like we wrote, vehicles in the mid-price segment are stolen. But in the Northern capital, as an exception to the rule, at the end of 2022 the number of thefts of cars in the high price segment skyrocketed. This is due to the fact that, as experts say, the demand for parts for luxury garages has increased. What result will the theft market show by the spring of 2023?

Help from Kompromat Group:

According to statistics from insurance companies, the monthly increase in the number of reported losses has been 25% since the fall of 2022.