The Lawrenceville Police Department is seeking the public’s help in locating two men accused of swindling more than a dozen victims out of thousands of dollars.
It was February when Lawrenceville police said they began receiving several complaints from customers who believed they had been defrauded by the Auto Star car dealership on Scenic Highway.
Police immediately began investigating potential victims.
After multiple interviews, the investigation revealed that two employees, later identified as Alexander Weigard, 27, of Dunwoody, and Ibrahim Ali,30, of Buford, were defrauding customers out of thousands of dollars.
According to Lawrenceville officials, both Weigard and Ali presented themselves as managers of the dealership.
The pair would then reportedly ask the victims for a downpayment on a vehicle and after receiving the cash, the victims were told to return the following day to finalize the loan process.
Police said when the victims came back the following day, they were told by the suspects that the loan application was denied. Weigard and Ali would allegedly refuse to give back the down payments to the victims, stating a no-refund policy by the car dealership.
According to Lawrenceville detectives, the suspects’ only intention was to rip off the victims and steal their money. Police said the duo had no intention of processing the loans for the victims as none of the loan paperwork was ever completed by the suspects or submitted to a financial company.
The suspects reportedly also used social media pages, Atlanta Highline Motors and Atlanta Motor Source to lure their victims into the dealership by advertising vehicles for sale owned by Auto Star. In which both of those companies were fake.
After the owners of Auto Star were made aware of the complaints from victims, both Weigard and Ali were terminated.
Lawrenceville police have issued warrants for their arrest. The duo remains at large and their whereabouts are unknown.
Anyone who believes they have been victimized by the pair is urged to contact Det. Woods via email or call 770-670-5172.