Used dealership owner in Tempe indicted for fraud, theft
TEMPE, Ariz. - If you’ve ever turned in an old car to buy a new one - you may have had the dealership agree to pay off the old one so you can start paying them for the new vehicle.
But what if you found out you were still being charged with two car payments? That’s part of the scheme Farhad Kankash was allegedly running.
He was the owner of Onyx Motorsports in Tempe.
"They found some more victims. I think it was about 13 in all total," said Ryan Harding, the Public Information Officer for Arizona Department of Transportation.
ADOT detectives arrested Kankash yesterday. He was indicted by a grand jury for multiple fraud counts and theft totaling over $350,000.
Farhad Kankash, a used car dealership owner in Tempe, has been indicted for fraud and theft.
“He would make it part of the contract. I’ll pay off the rest of the lien on the vehicle and you’re good to go. He would not, and in some cases he would turn around and sell that car to someone else.”
Kankash is also alleged to have ripped off banks by obtaining multiple loans for vehicles and then turning around selling the car again, and also failing to provide car titles to buyers, even after charging customers the associated fees
“A lot of the cases where he didn’t provide title like a dealership is supposed to. As they investigated it and were able to prove these people were the rightful owners of these vehicles. We were able to provide them with a letter of title directly right away. So where we can help them, we could."
ADOT has a few tips if you're planning on buying a used car in the future:
- Ask plenty of questions.
- If there are red flags, walk away from the sale.
- If you do buy a car and you don't get a title within 45 days of the sale, call ADOT immediately.
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