‘My own employee SCAMMED me’: Dealership manager catches his own Mitsubishi salesman in shocking $80,000 move. Don’t let it happen to you

A dealership manager documented his long-form discovery that one of his new employees was allegedly a scammer. George J. Saliba (@ceklidgt01q) posted a series of five TikToks that racked up millions of views.

It all starts with a phone call from another dealership concerned that a car delivery from Saliba's was nowhere to be found.

‘It hasn't arrived’

Saliba begins his video standing outside of his business amidst a light snowfall, sighing in frustration. A text overlay at the top of the video describes his issue: "My own employee SCAMMED me out of $80,000?! Day in the life of a luxury car dealer."

At the top of the video, one of Saliba's co-workers approaches him holding a phone. Next, he states there's a business in Texas reaching out to him regarding an F-150 Lariat sale. The manager's reaction to this news doesn't indicate he's familiar with the sale. Following this, he hops on the phone with the customer from Texas to look into the matter.

While on the phone, she explains to him that the truck hasn't arrived to them yet. At his laptop, Saliba checks out his inventory and he finds the truck in question: a Ford Lariat Shelby pickup.

Soon, he's informed that the woman was working with one of his employees, a man named Brett, to facilitate the sale. Immediately, Saliba asks if she paid him. However, she indicates no payment was tendered and the dealership manager instructs her not to do so.

@ceklidgt01q Part 1 #carsam #scammed #cardealer ♬ original sound - George J Saliba

‘Bad’

After hanging up the phone with the woman, Saliba's co-worker asks, “Am I thinking what you're thinking?" He was. And it's that his employee, Brett, was up to no good.

Saliba rings up Brett and asks him about the sale, which Brett acknowledges he's working on. However, the worker says he hasn't "reached a deal yet" on the vehicle. The manager retorts that the customer claims Brett sold it to her for $59,000. Furthermore, she's got an email to prove it. "Interesting," the worker says to his boss.

Following this, it sounds like Brett is in a hurry to get off of the phone, stating he's with the customer. Saliba asks him several times to get on a 3-way call or FaceTime, but Brett says he's going to work the sale. Thereafter, Saliba instantly phones the Lariat buyer, who answers with virtually no hesitation.

‘Robbery’

Saliba and the woman at the other dealership begin talking about Brett, who is still at her place of work. He tells her flat out that the truck won't be arriving there. Then, he affirms with the woman she knows the $59,000 price point is too good to be true. She acknowledges that it is, and Saliba asks her if she wants to put Brett on FaceTime. She politely declines to do so, stating that she's not interested in speaking with the shady salesman.

What's more is that Saliba learns Brett offered the car to the other dealership for $59,000 without any negotiation or haggling. After confirming that the VIN listed on the truck is indeed his, Saliba recommends the dealership call the police.

@ceklidgt01q #astonmartin #cardealer #carsam ♬ original sound - George J Saliba

However, she seems hesitant to do so, and asks if they can somehow send Brett back to him. As their conversation progresses, the dealership manager learns the size of the scam is much larger than one truck. The woman on the call tells him they planned to buy four cars total.

‘Knew that guy was a mole’

Saliba expresses that he had a bad feeling about Brett when he hired him — the employee wasn't at his dealership for long. In a third video documenting the drama, the woman on the phone notifies Saliba Brett has exited the premises.

On the other line, a male employee on the phone says that Brett was there for "a week" buying and selling cars. The deals being offered were "too good to be true," as Saliba said. And while they indeed were, the other auto dealership said Brett walked the walk and talked the talk.

He was constantly making phone calls — audibly putting deals together buying, selling, and trading vehicles. This helped to lend him an air of credence. Which maybe folks wanted to believe after they were presented with such steep markdowns.

Problems only started to arise when they noticed that the promised delivery dates were delayed. Additionally, the man says Brett tried buying a $200,000 car from him. However, the wire transfer for the whip kept failing to go through.

@ceklidgt01q #astonmartin #cardealer #carsam ♬ original sound - George J Saliba

‘Your call could not be completed...’

After getting off the phone with the potential scam marks, Saliba tries calling Brett several times. None of his attempts go through. In what seems to be a kismet moment, the dealership manager recounts a conversation he was having with other car sellers.

That's when the subject of a "mole" aka scammers, came up. Shortly after this prognostic talk with his friends, Saliba learns Brett attempted to use his business as a front for his hustle.

In a fourth video, numerous employees gather together in Saliba's office and begin trading Brett stories. One worker says someone messaged him about the "mole" in question asking if he was legitimate.

Also, Saliba said due to Brett's scheme, "leads" were burned that other salespeople could've capitalized on. Next, he gets a call from the dealership he was initially on the phone with. This follow-up conversation contained the most alarming part of this story: that Brett seemed entirely legit. His background information checked out, and by all accounts, he's a real person.

@ceklidgt01q Part 4 | My Own Employee SCAMMED Me Out of $80,000| Day in the Life of a Luxury Car Dealer #astonmartin #cardealer #carsam ♬ original sound - George J Saliba

‘Make a report’

Ultimately, the two dealership managers stated they don't know if they really could've pressed charges against Brett. However, Saliba did recommend the other car sales person to at least file a police report. At the very least, there'd be a record of the man's attempted skulduggery.

In a fifth video, Saliba urges folks purchasing cars at "wholesale" prices to be wary of these vehicles. He recommends that folks check the popular car inventory application, AccuTrade, to verify whether or not the car is a legitimate sale.

What occurs next is an example of the type of panic incidents like these cause. Saliba soon gets a call from a co-worker about an unrelated car sale. It seems that the vehicle cannot be located via transport. He rings up the sales person who brokered the sale, who assures Saliba he's used the same transport trucker numerous times.

After airing his trucking grievances with another co-worker, Saliba is urged not to worry necessarily. Not hearing back from a trucker for an hour isn't cause to panic the dealership worker said. Saliba also added that the customer was pre-given access to the car's location via a mobile app. And urged him to track the trucker down if they didn't hear anything else within the next hour.

@ceklidgt01q #astonmartin #cardealer #carsam ♬ original sound - George J Saliba

The very end of the clip shows the manager conversing with even more employees about the Brett situation. The Daily Dot has reached out to Saliba via TikTok comment for further information.

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The post ‘My own employee SCAMMED me’: Dealership manager catches his own Mitsubishi salesman in shocking $80,000 move. Don’t let it happen to you appeared first on The Daily Dot.