HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Police Department’s Auto Theft Division’s Vehicle Fraud Unit recently made its 100th fraud-in-progress arrest and has already surpassed that number.
A “fraud-in-progress” arrest means HPD officers caught someone in the act of trying to buy a vehicle from an area dealership using a fake or stolen identification card.
Arresting and charging more than 100 suspects means HPD and their partners have been able to prevent nearly $5,000,000 in fraudulent vehicle purchases over the past three years.
As they continue to dig deeper into a lot of cases, investigators have said they’ve discovered something they haven’t seen quite as much of, until now.
KPRC 2 has reported extensively on how these organized crime rings are recruiting people to carry out their dirty work, promising them a cut of the take.
“In recent cases that we’ve investigated, we are starting to see more links back to previous investigations. Showing that they are the same network of people,” said Sgt. D. Schlosser.
That means a lot of the usual suspects are out making multiple attempts at area dealerships and in many cases, several different suspects may be using the same fake or stolen I.D.
“What we’re finding is, we’re only catching the tip of the iceberg,” Schlosser said. “So, we know there’s a lot more fraud happening that we’re not being made aware of.”
That’s why HPD works so closely with the Houston Automotive Dealers Association.
In addition to issuing dealer alerts, police train the sales and finance staff at area dealerships on how to spot red flags when someone comes in to buy a vehicle.
“It does have a trickle-down effect,” said Vice President of Houston Automotive Dealers Association Roshelle Salinas. “Thankfully, there are systems in place and stuff to not impact the consumer as much. But, when any theft happens, it’s definitely impacting more than one person.”
