“This is the most organized, widespread multi-state ring that I’ve ever seen,”
Cincinnati, OH – Renting cars to gangs and drug dealers is a niche fraud market and Austell Stokes allegedly stooped to using a 12-year old’s social security number to do it. Altogether, Stokes and his fraud ring are accused of using synthetic identities to purchase 15 high end cars.
Prosecutor Likens to a Spy Novel
Fox19 reported that Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Andy Berghausen likened the case to the plot of a spy novel.
“Just walk in the door, walk out the door. Financing. No money down,” Bergausen said. The prosecutor claims Stokes followed this routine with at least 15 cars including some worth more than $50,000.
“There’s some Mercedes. There’s some Audis. Some of them are high-end cars,” he said.
Austell Stokes, the alleged ringleader of the fraud ring, used the alias Robert Degraff with a 12-year old girl’s social security number to create a new synthetic identity.
He purchased 15 cars from out of state, brought the cars into Ohio, and then created falsified titles to hide the cars so that they could not be located. After purchasing the cars, he later rented the cars out to
Cars Rented To Drug Dealers
Austell Stokes had a game plan with the fraudulently financed cars – he would rent them out. But he specialized in renting to a risky demographic, drug dealers.
“The way he was making money on all these cars is, he was acting as a rental agency to drug dealers or other criminal organizations who needed a car,” Bergausen said
It’s not uncommon for cars financed with synthetic identities to end up being used in a multitude of crimes even drive-by shootings.
Synthetic identity in auto finance is hardly a victimless crime.
If Stokes is convicted, he faces up to 50 years in prison for his crimes.
Source: Fox19
Fraud ring used a 12 Year old’s SSN to buy cars
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