Four men living in Gwinnett County are accused of bilking potential car buyers out of thousands of dollars, but never delivering the vehicles.
Three men suspected in the online scam are in the Gwinnett County jail and a fourth man is also being sought. The men allegedly posted vehicles for sale online and got payments wired to them at Publix grocery stores, according to arrest warrants obtained by Channel 2 Action News. The suspects allegedly presented foreign passports and used aliases to obtain the wired funds.
But the vehicles were never delivered, the warrant states.
Those arrested were Silviu Leoveanu, Silviu Malea and Ionut Budulan, and investigators are looking for Daniel Chelu. All four lived in a Norcross apartment, where neighbor Diamond Robinson told Channel 2 a police raid took place a few days ago.
"I just seen a whole bunch of cops packing up all their stuff and going through all their stuff," Robinson said.
Leoveanu and Malea have each been charged with two counts of felony theft by deception, according to jail records. Budulan faces two counts of forgery, also felony charges.
The Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Protection is investigating the crime ring, which may be operating across the country and oversees. The office declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
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