Woman Says Beware Car Broker Scam

WARREN, Mich. - A warning about a scam artist posing as a car broker. The phony broker took a woman for over a thousand dollars in cash.

Teka Ganaway was in the market for a new car. She heard from a man who called himself "James". "He called and he introduced himself as a car broker, saying that... he had the ability to get... everything from customer rebates to pre-paid leases," she said.

James asked Ganaway to meet him at Rinke Cadillac in Warren last week. "He was incredibly smooth. ... Just not what you think a crook would look like," said Ganaway.

James needed a down payment and Ganaway gave him $1,500 in cash. The Rinke salesman later asked her about some credit information. Ganaway said she had already provided it to James, who had already left.

"He goes, 'James?' I'm like, 'Yeah, the car broker that you work with.' And at that time he said, 'Ma'am, I just met him a half hour ago,'" said Ganaway. "He said he was my brother."

A Rinke officer said off-camera that the salesman believed James was Ganaway's brother and had no idea he was posing as a car broker. Warren police are investigating the scam.

The suspect is described a black male in his mid-thirties, 5'6" tall and weighing 140 pounds. He is bald, well-dressed and has a gap between his front teeth.