MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A woman “admitted to being involved in a systematic fraud organization operating out of California and China” after being caught trying to buy a Tesla in Miami Gardens using someone else’s identity on Monday, police say.
Chuting Chen, 24, of Rosemead, California, is now facing multiple felony charges in South Florida.
According to the Miami Gardens Police Department, Chen went to the Tesla dealership at 20850 NW Second Ave. and tried to buy a Tesla Model X valued at more than $101,000 “using a fraudulent Florida driver’s license that returned to another individual with a significantly higher credit score.”
Authorities said Chen also gave employees a cashier’s check from a Montana-based business she claimed she owned. An arrest report states that Tesla loss prevention told workers at the dealer to notify law enforcement, believing she was “involved in a larger fraud ring.”
Police said Chen admitted to knowingly using the fraudulent identification and admitted to buying it online for $100.
Authorities said she admitted to opening a bank account in Las Vegas and that the Montana corporation was a “fraudulent shell company,” to which she wired more than $38,000 to be used as a down payment.
After admitting to being part of the “systematic fraud organization,” Chen said her partner was currently in China, police said.
According to the MGPD report, Chen had 32 California vehicle titles and 46 vehicle certificates of origin, “which she knowingly (possessed) with the intent to fraudulently register vehicles and potentially ship them out of the country.”
Chen, a Chinese national, faces charges of scheme to defraud a financial institution, second-degree grand theft, fraudulent use of personal identification, organized scheme to defraud and transferring a vehicle title with no purchaser name.
As of Tuesday morning, she was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a bond listed in online records as “to be set.”
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