Shaq O’Neal was waiting for his custom Range Rover to arrive in Louisiana. But unfortunately the $180,000 luxury car vanished somewhere between Atlanta and Baton Rouge and no one appears to know where it is.
Experts now suspect that his Range Rover was caught up in a new transport fraud scheme that they’re calling a “loss epidemic”.
The SUV was sold to the former Lakers star at Effortless Motors in Riverside California who then contacted First Line Trucking LLC to take the car out to Baton Rouge.
The auto transportation company says it was hit by a “sophisticated cyber-attack” and the car went missing after it arrived in Atlanta
Shaq’s Car Was Part Of A Sophisticated CyberAttack Says The Car Dealership
Shaq’s stolen car case used a twist on the transport diversion tactic.
Effortless Motors in Riverside had sold the Range Rover Shaq and then arranged to ship it to Louisiana for customization work which would have pushed the value of the car to $300,000. The car was picked up on Monday but never reached its destination.
When Effortless Motors called to check on the missing vehicle, they found out that it had disappeared along the route.
The transport company believes thieves may have hacked the transport firm to access pickup or delivery information, then used that data to redirect Shaq’s wheels into the wrong hands.
FirstLine Trucking LLC, the company hired to deliver the vehicle, said the driver listed for the job was never actually dispatched – suggesting someone may have posed as the transporter to steal the SUV. Effortless Motors is now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to its recovery.
Shaq’s Range Rover had reportedly passed through several hands before disappearing somewhere in the Atlanta area. Abdelrahman said multiple shops were involved in its transport, and police are investigating how the car was handed off between each of them.
Part Of A Growing Scam Targeting Car Dealerships And Auction Houses
Car Dealerships and auction houses across the country are losing high-end cars to an organized fraud schemes that use fake transport companies and forged credentials to steal vehicles in broad daylight.
The scam works like this. Criminals create fake transport companies or steal the credentials of legitimate carriers – this is what probably happened with FirstLine Transport.
Then they monitor shipments of expensive cars, often through online load boards like Central Dispatch from Cox that connect dealers with trucking companies. After they find a target they show up to pick up the vehicle before the real transporter arrives.
The criminals arrive with convincing paperwork. Forged bills of lading, fake gate passes and phony company IDs fool dealership staff and auction security guards. Steve Yariv, an auto transport executive, warns that the fake documents are now so well-made that even experienced employees can be tricked.
Dealerships Need To Monitor Transportation Companies They Use
According to Matt Cermak with DealerGuard, this new scam is an epidemic with over a dozen claims in the last year alone.
“We hear it from other insurance programs and carriers, and we see it on other loss runs regularly, too,” Cermak said. “It is what we would consider a loss epidemic.”
The problem originated during the pandemic when more dealers were forced to transport cars to get inventory to and from customers and sellers while inventory was tight.
This attracted scammers since the volume of car transports spiked. According to John Taggart, SVP of DealerGuard dealerships increasingly rely on third parties to transport cars, that they really don’t know much about.
“Dealers are increasingly relying on logistics providers they don’t know and haven’t vetted. They go onto a platform, hire whoever’s available, and that’s where many thefts originate,” Taggart said.
Shaq’s Case Is Not An Isolated Case, Luxury Cars Are Going Missing Everywhere
A $347,000 Mercedes-AMG G63 disappeared in similar fashion earlier this year. A Texas dealership employee handed over the keys to someone who arrived three days early claiming to be the shipper. The real trucker showed up later to find the SUV gone. The dealership’s general manager admitted afterward, “We screwed up.”
In Florida, a $300,000 Rolls-Royce Cullinan vanished during shipment from Miami Beach to Michigan after scammers altered the delivery instructions. Miami police eventually arrested three men in connection with an organized ring that had stolen multiple luxury vehicles, including the Cullinan, a Lamborghini Urus and an Audi R8.
As for Shaq, his car is still at large but Effortless Motors isn’t just standing by. They are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Shaq’s Range Rover.
