Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

This whole thing started yesterday when a guy called me looking for a supercharger for his '93 Firebird. I find a distributor that carries it and tell him I can have it for him next day. I also asked him at this point for some money down, and he replied that his wallet was just stolen and he had lost his credit card. Anyways, I want to make the sale so I place the order hoping he would come in today and pick it up. Oh, he came in alright...

I get a call this morning from some guy claiming to be from Bank of America. He says he's calling for this guy, in order to verify funds and place them on hold for this purchase from me. Sounded shady the whole time, not like a bank rep at all. So I ask for an 800 number, which he gives me. Obviously I called back and its some recording for a military base or something. At this point the flags are going up everywhere, he has no credit card and some sketchy guy calls me to verify funds (isn't that normally the other way around). So I do some checking and find out that the cell phone number he is using doesn't match his name. I also couldn't find any info on his name or address online. Then he calls me and tells me he is trying to get off of work at the Hennepin County Police Department! He had some sirens on in the background, and said he was reporting to a domestic violence call! Apparently his sargent let him off early shortly after that and he informed me he was on his way. It was at this point I got the police involved...

The first thing the cops tell me is not to tip him off, they want to catch him red handed. I agree to call them when he arrives to pick up the parts. When he shows up I ask him how he wants to pay. He tells me check, and asked if I had spoke to anyone. At this point I'm still playing around with him until I get the actual check to give to the police. So I show him the parts, talk some more and he finally gives me the check. It wet, torn, and has my name written on masking tape in the "to" field! I put it in the cash box and ask him to call Bank of America so I can verify over the phone again as I "lost" the authorization code. He makes some call and pretends to be on the phone with the bank, in the meantime I call the police and tell them "their product has arrived and they can pick it up anytime." Within a few minutes the guy is hancuffed and in the back of a squad car...

Turns out it was his check, but he had no money in his account! I decide to press charged for non-sufficient funds as it seems he has done this in the past. I feel bad for the guy, but he tried to steal over $3000 from me! This world is just ridiculous sometimes...

So the moral of the story is, we are no longer accepting personal checks!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Smart choice. Anyone who has a check has a check card :) Good thing he didn't get away with it!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

OWNAGE!

Gotta do cash straight up like me or either verifiable funds.
Good catch!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

I just don't accept checks with masking tape on them ;).


Good catch!!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Good choice. Be careful with credit cards as well as you can get fucked over by them quite easily.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Wow! At least you had the satisfaction of catching him in the act and not getting screwed.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

when i get back outta the slammer im coming back fur ma damn s/c!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

I know at LSE I usually pay with a personal check, because I don't carry cash, and I think they have to pay a fee for using cards. So I usually give them a check. But they know that my shit's not going to bounce!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

i wouldnt take checks either way to easy to get scammed on them good decision

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Wow you made one sentence out of three without even using any capitalization or punctuation! CHAMP STATUS FOR YOU!

I think taking checks from people you've known well for years should be alright. Brandon is pretty well known by everyone from my understanding so that's pretty reasonable. Randoms? No thanks. It's nice that most of the shops have some sort of relationship with their customers around here. It's a pretty well knit community in my opinion.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

There is only two ways to roll plastic or cash.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

...Or grills.

-A. Swift

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

So you want this $3k S/C, but u don't have $$$ for it right now?
-well i can get it next day, so why don't u just call me when u get ur shit sorted. cool cool. later.
Look this check has tape on it, it'll be fine.

I think that maybe you are working too hard.

Also if a brown guy comes in the shop ordering new turbo, NOS, etc.
and he uses a credit card, if his ID has a white guy on it, i say let him slide. :D

Also what time are you open till tomorrow? j/k :rolleyes:

Way to stick it to that fuck.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Great story man, I'm glad that it worked out for ya. Will you have to pay a restocking fee on the s/c?

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Hahah owned. Good job.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Did he have a mullet? Haha

Wow that is a messed up story, Im cant beleive that he thought masking tape on a check would work? wtf

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

I've had a few winners try to buy a car with a starter check where they wrote in their name at the top. I don't think so, come back with cash, which of course never happened. I take checks in some rare instances and it's usually from someone older with a check number well above 5000. I usually also have them show me their account balance online, since every bank does that now. Cashier's check or credit card is usually the way to go on purchases over $500, but cc fees are spendy and you still have to watch out for bad cashier's checks.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

If you are selling how hard is it to go to the bank together. He writes the check out to himself. He gets you cash from the teller you give title. You deposit money in the Atm.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Damn, good call on getting the police involved.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

But in some rare cases, you have real ballers stop in and buy a car with a money roll worth a few g's!! That's how I roll!!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Not all of us are making the big bucks like a true PIMP.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Yeah you looked a little stunned when my mom wrote that check for 22k. I didnt even think to tell her to get cash or a bank note.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Whatever!!! Coming from the guy who has more cars, then I have underwear.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Haha. He does have a lot of cars doesnt he.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

No, Brandon just goes commando all the time. That is why they call him a baller!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

I see.


Does your subtitle "I hate the city of fridley" stem from your collection of cars? When I stopped up for Nash's exhaust there were quite a few and most had the orange stickers on the windows.;)

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

CheckFax anyone? They will back any check they approve, you as a business are covered.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Wow that guy seems like a genius! That's sweet that he got what he deserved

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Yeah, I thought it was weird that you paid for a car with a roll of wrinkled $5's and $10's. Makes me wonder how exactly you earned that money? :D

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Yeah, that was a rare case. But being you're on here, and your mom explained the situation, I made a judgement call and took a personal check. Funny enough, you can't write a check for a Big Mac at McDucks.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

:eek: Oh no you dih'int

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Hey Chris good job!!! Way to catch that fucker! See you soon i need some stuff fixed

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Did you just say Tehe? NO FUCKIN WAY? HOLY SHIT!!!!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Even cash can fuck you over. I got fucked out of 750 because i was so excited that it wasnt a check that i didnt look closely at the bills, but when i got in my car after giving the guy the stereo equipment i looked closely at the bills to find out that they were all the same serial number, cops were no help just took my fake money and said, "i guess you learned a valuable lesson here, bye" fucking a holes.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

I remember that night. What did you learn?

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Good job guys.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Wow!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

She had just sold her 2 other vehicles and is very smart with managing her money. Not rich by any means, just smart.

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

I used to think you were crazy, but now I can see your nuts!

Re: Idiot arrested at the shop today...
 

Well lets think about this for a second. If you have $3000 in your bank account to write out the check, just go in and with draw the damn money!

That guy was retarded but thats awesome that you caught on and he got busted. He deserved it, you shouldn't feel sorry for him. He probbably would have just turned around and sold the super charger anyways to make the $3k he stole plus more!