Stolen M4 Found...

[papolito20]

I'm gonna try to make this long story short. Back in DEC2022 I bought a 23MY G82 so I had no need for the old F82. I put the car on FB Marketplace and got the car sold. Without getting into too much detail, I screwed up and took a check and let the car go. Turns out the check was fake and after getting the authorities involved the car was categorized as stolen.

I didn't hold my breath that I'd ever see this car again BUT my son was very attached to that F82 and kept searching for it. To my surprise he found it a few days ago being parted out on FB. I got the authorities involved but here's where I'm a bit confused.

The local agency in my town does not have a cyber-division and are relying on me to find someone to contact the FB post author and get a location for them? My big ask is: Can someone on here contact the seller and get me an address? I'll post up pictures of my car when I owned it and I'll post up the FB post of the thief. My son tried to contact them but they’ve blocked him, These guys know very little about BMWs and are not very bright, but I think they might be on to me which is why I’m reaching out to the forum.

If anyone is interested in the full story (It’s long) I’ll posted it up. It’s pretty entertaining. But for now I decided to just post up this condensed version.

Here are my F82s details:
2015 BMW M4
*68k miles
*H&R Super Sport Springs
*SSR Performance Charge pipes
*SSR Performance Down pipes
*Alpine motorsports Stage 2 tune (Tunes for the life of the car with Alex)
*Full PPF - old PPF, possibly original PPF
*Full tint - (legal)
VIN: wbs3r9c5xfk333892




https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...ibextid=dXMIcH

[DeTh]

On the marketplace posting there is a rough area where it shows the listing was made. If its close to you - might be worth driving around and seeing if you can find it there.

[papolito20]

It looks like its in a field of some sort. Like, the day they took it they drove it 3 hrs south and left it in a field before they started stripping it. So yeah, I thought about driving down south and just looking at random fields in GA but the detective said to hold off on driving. So I'm sitting tight and seeing if they'll give up their location to a potential buyer. It just sucks seeing it in that shape. stripped to the bone

[DeTh]

Sent him a message for you

[paulo_f80m3]

Google earth is no help. Street views are not available in that circled area. Some properties with a couple of abandoned vehicles but you cannot tell by the sat view.

[papolito20]

Much appreciated brother!

If we're being honest, if I do get that car back I am not going to want anything to do with it.
I own it outright, so it’s not going to an insurance company or a lien holder or a tow yard… it’s coming back home to NC. And knowing that some low life criminal sat in my old seat and drove my car around makes me sick for some reason.
If that car does find its way back home y’all will see me immediately post it back up here for local folks to pick it apart for free. I guess I’m just very upset that I let myself get taken advantage of

[papolito20]

Originally Posted by paulo_f80m3

Google earth is no help. Street views are not available in that circled area. Some properties with a couple of abandoned vehicles but you cannot tell by the sat view.

I turned into a mad man 2 days ago when my son found it and I was on google earth combing over every inch in that Jesup area. I'm just very fortunate that this crime didn't affect me in a way that left me in bad shape. It gave me a greater appreciating for what a do have, and made me a lot more empathetic toward those people that are ACTUALLY going through it. This is nothing compared to someone going through a homicide or a missing persons case. So I'm very grateful because it could've been worse

[TractionControlDelete]

So what’s the full story (long version)? Might be helpful to forum members to know how to avoid similar situations

[papolito20]

Full story:

I got a great deal on a new MY23 G82 back in DEC22, but the dealer only offered $29k for my F82 as a trade. So I decided to take my chances and sell it privately. I knew it would sell quickly if I put it up for $39k so we posted it on the forum and on CL. I’m very old school and tend to want to stay away from anything “new” like social media, because I dislike how some people used new platforms to take advantage of others… BUT my wife suggested I put it up on marketplace to get more eyes on it. I used her profile, since I don’t have one, and as expected I started getting overwhelmed with lowball offers and spammers. After sifting through the messages I came across a guy with an odd FB moniker (no actual name) who was offering to pay full ask but he was getting a loan for the full amount. I explained to him that I was really looking for cash but if he was paying with a bank check then we’d have to do all the transactions at the back here in NC. He agreed and we planned on meeting up at the bank a day later (Friday afternoon).

In the beginning he would only interact with me via the FB messenger and told me his name was Anthony Brown, but after my insisting for a phone number we finally got to talking on the phone to hash out the plan. The plan was he’d drive up from SC to NC (roughly 3hrs), test drive the car, and then we’d drive to the local branch in my city and verify/deposit the check. I took the day off from work Friday morning, prepped the car, and then I prepped myself (jeans with a belt, polo shirt NOT tucked so I can conceal my weapon, and as a contingency I had my ankle biter on as a secondary). Needless to say, I’m not in the business of trusting anyone which makes all this hurt even more.

Friday afternoon came and went. I’m on the phone with this guy and he’s telling me he drives an 18wheeler for a living and he got hung up at work but promised that he’d make it before the bank closed. I let him know we could do it another day but he insisted. Kept saying his wife and kids were looking forward to “dads new car”. So I told him I’d wait for them.

I know now he was just purposely trying to push back the time so the bank would close and was using a wife and kids to try to relate to a family man. It was close to the holidays so I wasn’t thinking straight, I was more concerned with getting this sale over with so I can travel to NYC to see family for the holidays. Losing focus/splitting your focus can sometime bite you in the ass like it did me.

After the bank closed I called him to call it off but he stated he was 15 min out and had already traveled 3+ hrs and was begging me to let him pick up the car. He assured me the check was real and that the bank had a number on the check that I could call and verify the funds. By this time I was tired, in my PJs, unarmed, and ready for bed… but the old lady has a soft spot for situations like this and always gets on my ass for not trusting people.

So, in my PJs, I re-routed this guy to my neighborhood (playground around the corner) and he showed up around 7pm. There was no wife, no kids, just a clapped out audi A/S4, slammed and with the 4 audi rings lite up. Dark AF tints and I could only make out 1 other person in the car. I immediately regretted showing up unarmed and with my wife and when Mr. Brown hopped out of his Audi I almost jumped in the F82 and drove off.
I don’t like thugs, I never have. I had a really bad childhood growing up with altercations with thugs and it first lead me down the Jiujitsu/ muay thai rabbit hole and then to Christ. Those two things saved my life. Personally, I don’t see a reason to wear cloths 4 times your actual size, or sagging your pants to the point where you can’t even run?? But to each his own.

My wife felt me tense up and she nudged me in order to get me to put my bias aside and sell this man my car and I obliged. I drove him around the block and was making small talk. I asked him about his 18wheeler routes, local or cross country routes, how long has he had his CDL. You’d be surprised how little this guy prepped for this car jacking. If you have a 10 year old, ask him those same questions… they’ll probably give you the same answers this guy gave me. Kept redirecting the conversation to his wife and kids. So many red flags I decided to ignore because I wanted to believe this guy wasn’t going to screw me over.

Anyway, we get back to the park and one of my neighbors had showed up to keep my wife company. He was peeking out of his window and recognized my F82 before I took Mr. Brown for the test drive. He had an uneasy feeling about the Audi so he decided to sling his AR over his sholder and strap up with his sig and walked over to the park to small talk with my wife. The Audi driver never got out of his car, and when I pulled up in the bimmer Mr. Brown got nervous (he was driving on the way back to the park).

We parked and Brown whispered/mumbled “I’m going to take this off your hands”, to which I replied “What?? I’m in the Army man, I’m deaf. Speak up”. As I’m saying that and pretending I didn’t just hear what I heard, I’m turning the car off for him, snagging both keys and getting out of the car. He follows me out of the car and this time he says “let me get you the check”. He walks over to the audi and I walk over to my wife and neighbor. When he returns with the check I immediately call this phone number on the check and I get this automated like that has me enter the check number, amount and zip code and after a few seconds it comes back with “funds verified”. I proceeded to take a photo of Mr. Brown’s SC license and deposit the check in front of him. More than half the check cleared ($29K) but it placed a 10 day hold on the rest.

At this point I felt comfortable releasing the car to “Antonio Brown”/”Anthony Brown”, whatever he wants to call himself, but I let him know he can’t get the title until the entire check clears. He agrees and takes off in his newly acquired BMW.

Surprise surprise, less than a week later the bank calls me and tells me the check is fake. I don’t panic and call the police to get them involved. Here’s the sucky part. There was a transaction made between Mr. Brown and myself (I gave him a car and he gave me a piece of paper) so they can’t charge him with theft. The detective instead tries to go after him for check fraud. The license was fake, the address was fake, the name was fake, and the phone number we were communicating through was a VOIP number so they couldn’t trace it. Just so everyone knows, SC are some of the easiest licenses to forge. Found that out the hard was. Tried to get BMW involved but the F82 used 3G technology and they no longer have hardware that supports 3G to track the F82. No big deal, I have insurance, right? Wrong. It took the detective over 2 weeks to get the DA to categorize the F82 as a stolen vehicle. Geico denied the claim stating that the car war misrepresented by me. Meaning, I called Geico and told them the car was stolen on 22December but the car wasn’t classified as stolen at that time, it was classified stolen 10 days later. So they were saying that I should’ve called them AFTER the police classify the F82 as a stolen vehicle. Took some time to get over that one.

The detective said they think they found the guy (he’s from Virginia) and issued a warrant out for his arrest but not to hold my breath because he’s got warrants out on people from years ago that are still out there. Basically, they’ll put a warrant out for this guy and if he gets pulled over then they can bring him in.

Out of sight out of mind. Months come and go and I forget I went through this hell… until a few days ago when my wife calls me and says “He found it”. Meaning my son was on FB and instead of putting his location as the “north east” he changed it to “south east” and BAM! The dude was actually from SC all along. The detectives got that wrong but I’m not mad at them. This whole experience has shown me that our police department need MORE money, not less. No cyber division in some counties/cities, very little man power. It’s rough out there. My hat goes off to them. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things and the spelling errors are probably all over the place but this is my attempt at finally vocalizing this nightmare.

You’d be surprised how a situation like this would affect you. I’ve gone through some stuff in my line of work and thought nothing of it, but when you violate someone’s core believes and that someone can’t get a version of justice… it eats ate you and turns you into a poor human being. I won’t let this situation perpetuate my old bias/prejudice/discrimination. I’m good no matter the outcome.

Thanks for reading!

[HPD15M3]

Originally Posted by papolito20

Full story:

I got a great deal on a new MY23 G82 back in DEC22, but the dealer only offered $29k for my F82 as a trade. So I decided to take my chances and sell it privately. I knew it would sell quickly if I put it up for $39k so we posted it on the forum and on CL. I’m very old school and tend to want to stay away from anything “new” like social media, because I dislike how some people used new platforms to take advantage of others… BUT my wife suggested I put it up on marketplace to get more eyes on it. I used her profile, since I don’t have one, and as expected I started getting overwhelmed with lowball offers and spammers. After sifting through the messages I came across a guy with an odd FB moniker (no actual name) who was offering to pay full ask but he was getting a loan for the full amount. I explained to him that I was really looking for cash but if he was paying with a bank check then we’d have to do all the transactions at the back here in NC. He agreed and we planned on meeting up at the bank a day later (Friday afternoon).

In the beginning he would only interact with me via the FB messenger and told me his name was Anthony Brown, but after my insisting for a phone number we finally got to talking on the phone to hash out the plan. The plan was he’d drive up from SC to NC (roughly 3hrs), test drive the car, and then we’d drive to the local branch in my city and verify/deposit the check. I took the day off from work Friday morning, prepped the car, and then I prepped myself (jeans with a belt, polo shirt NOT tucked so I can conceal my weapon, and as a contingency I had my ankle biter on as a secondary). Needless to say, I’m not in the business of trusting anyone which makes all this hurt even more.

Friday afternoon came and went. I’m on the phone with this guy and he’s telling me he drives an 18wheeler for a living and he got hung up at work but promised that he’d make it before the bank closed. I let him know we could do it another day but he insisted. Kept saying his wife and kids were looking forward to “dads new car”. So I told him I’d wait for them.

I know now he was just purposely trying to push back the time so the bank would close and was using a wife and kids to try to relate to a family man. It was close to the holidays so I wasn’t thinking straight, I was more concerned with getting this sale over with so I can travel to NYC to see family for the holidays. Losing focus/splitting your focus can sometime bite you in the ass like it did me.

After the bank closed I called him to call it off but he stated he was 15 min out and had already traveled 3+ hrs and was begging me to let him pick up the car. He assured me the check was real and that the bank had a number on the check that I could call and verify the funds. By this time I was tired, in my PJs, unarmed, and ready for bed… but the old lady has a soft spot for situations like this and always gets on my ass for not trusting people.

So, in my PJs, I re-routed this guy to my neighborhood (playground around the corner) and he showed up around 7pm. There was no wife, no kids, just a clapped out audi A/S4, slammed and with the 4 audi rings lite up. Dark AF tints and I could only make out 1 other person in the car. I immediately regretted showing up unarmed and with my wife and when Mr. Brown hopped out of his Audi I almost jumped in the F82 and drove off.
I don’t like thugs, I never have. I had a really bad childhood growing up with altercations with thugs and it first lead me down the Jiujitsu/ muay thai rabbit hole and then to Christ. Those two things saved my life. Personally, I don’t see a reason to wear cloths 4 times your actual size, or sagging your pants to the point where you can’t even run?? But to each his own.

My wife felt me tense up and she nudged me in order to get me to put my bias aside and sell this man my car and I obliged. I drove him around the block and was making small talk. I asked him about his 18wheeler routes, local or cross country routes, how long has he had his CDL. You’d be surprised how little this guy prepped for this car jacking. If you have a 10 year old, ask him those same questions… they’ll probably give you the same answers this guy gave me. Kept redirecting the conversation to his wife and kids. So many red flags I decided to ignore because I wanted to believe this guy wasn’t going to screw me over.

Anyway, we get back to the park and one of my neighbors had showed up to keep my wife company. He was peeking out of his window and recognized my F82 before I took Mr. Brown for the test drive. He had an uneasy feeling about the Audi so he decided to sling his AR over his sholder and strap up with his sig and walked over to the park to small talk with my wife. The Audi driver never got out of his car, and when I pulled up in the bimmer Mr. Brown got nervous (he was driving on the way back to the park).

We parked and Brown whispered/mumbled “I’m going to take this off your hands”, to which I replied “What?? I’m in the Army man, I’m deaf. Speak up”. As I’m saying that and pretending I didn’t just hear what I heard, I’m turning the car off for him, snagging both keys and getting out of the car. He follows me out of the car and this time he says “let me get you the check”. He walks over to the audi and I walk over to my wife and neighbor. When he returns with the check I immediately call this phone number on the check and I get this automated like that has me enter the check number, amount and zip code and after a few seconds it comes back with “funds verified”. I proceeded to take a photo of Mr. Brown’s SC license and deposit the check in front of him. More than half the check cleared ($29K) but it placed a 10 day hold on the rest.

At this point I felt comfortable releasing the car to “Antonio Brown”/”Anthony Brown”, whatever he wants to call himself, but I let him know he can’t get the title until the entire check clears. He agrees and takes off in his newly acquired BMW.

Surprise surprise, less than a week later the bank calls me and tells me the check is fake. I don’t panic and call the police to get them involved. Here’s the sucky part. There was a transaction made between Mr. Brown and myself (I gave him a car and he gave me a piece of paper) so they can’t charge him with theft. The detective instead tries to go after him for check fraud. The license was fake, the address was fake, the name was fake, and the phone number we were communicating through was a VOIP number so they couldn’t trace it. Just so everyone knows, SC are some of the easiest licenses to forge. Found that out the hard was. Tried to get BMW involved but the F82 used 3G technology and they no longer have hardware that supports 3G to track the F82. No big deal, I have insurance, right? Wrong. It took the detective over 2 weeks to get the DA to categorize the F82 as a stolen vehicle. Geico denied the claim stating that the car war misrepresented by me. Meaning, I called Geico and told them the car was stolen on 22December but the car wasn’t classified as stolen at that time, it was classified stolen 10 days later. So they were saying that I should’ve called them AFTER the police classify the F82 as a stolen vehicle. Took some time to get over that one.

The detective said they think they found the guy (he’s from Virginia) and issued a warrant out for his arrest but not to hold my breath because he’s got warrants out on people from years ago that are still out there. Basically, they’ll put a warrant out for this guy and if he gets pulled over then they can bring him in.

Out of sight out of mind. Months come and go and I forget I went through this hell… until a few days ago when my wife calls me and says “He found it”. Meaning my son was on FB and instead of putting his location as the “north east” he changed it to “south east” and BAM! The dude was actually from SC all along. The detectives got that wrong but I’m not mad at them. This whole experience has shown me that our police department need MORE money, not less. No cyber division in some counties/cities, very little man power. It’s rough out there. My hat goes off to them. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things and the spelling errors are probably all over the place but this is my attempt at finally vocalizing this nightmare.

You’d be surprised how a situation like this would affect you. I’ve gone through some stuff in my line of work and thought nothing of it, but when you violate someone’s core believes and that someone can’t get a version of justice… it eats ate you and turns you into a poor human being. I won’t let this situation perpetuate my old bias/prejudice/discrimination. I’m good no matter the outcome.

Thanks for reading!

Interesting story to say the least. What makes you think that the actual suspect is in SC? PM me any information that you have on him and I can possibly help you find him.

[papolito20]

PM'd

[Car-Addicted]

papolito20 Thank you for sharing this story. It is a cautionary tale for anyone selling a car on line. Hope this works out for you.

[Anarchy919]

The BMW community is a tight group, should post up FB post and a picture of the guy if it was a regular BMW it would probably be a lost cause but it’s an M car so it stands out I know for one I spot every M car I come buy in traffic.

[papolito20]

Originally Posted by Anarchy919

The BMW community is a tight group, should post up FB post and a picture of the guy if it was a regular BMW it would probably be a lost cause but it’s an M car so it stands out I know for one I spot every M car I come buy in traffic.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...ibextid=dXMIcH

I posted it up in the OP but I know eventually the entire car will get parted out and the FB post will go dead.

Cautionary tale of what not to do when selling your car.

[Jbrown7403]

Yes, thanks for sharing your story in detail. Very well written, by the way. I’m so sorry you’ve gone through this and I must say, you seem to have handled it much better than I ever would. It’s a scary / shitty world out there

[imperfectluck]

Having been born and raised in NYC, the guy you described papolito20 are the same people I left behind in life in terms of ever interacting with as I learned nothing good came from that assocaition. It does really blow to be taken advantage of. The world will say not to judge but I’ve seen the fuckery enough to know when red flags appear that I should heed caution and follow my gut feeling.

Glad you’re okay and your neighbor is a real one also for asserting their presence as well. Hope you continue to have happy miles with your car and don’t ever forget, people can be very disappointing when we least suspect.

[papolito20]

Where do I even begin? First of all, I want to thank everyone that reached out to show their support. The M car community is a small but tight community and really came through for me. Big shout out to: Houston PD homicide detective, Charlotte SWAT crew, Samson County Sherif, Walterboro PD and last but not lease the Florida airplane technician moonlighting as an undercover PI (you all know who you are).

Long story SHORT: Car was found, suspects have been arrested and I got to pick the car apart for what was left. (The entire drivetrain was still untouched and intact)

Long story: After posting on here about the car, I started getting PM'd with people
wanting to reach out to the Facebook marketplace seller to try to get me an address. Along with messaging the suspect, trained law enforcement officials from outside agencies started to implement programs and strategies that I honestly didn't even know existed. I won't mention what they were in order to safe guard those practices for future use in other cases. Needless to say, with todays technology, it's hard for amateurs to get away with grand theft auto.

But this stories unsung hero is a different kind of "Florida Man", more like a Florida Hit-man. This silent professional put his personal info out there in order to make contact with these dangerous criminals just to get me an address to give the local PD. If you're going to catch criminals responsible for car crimes you're going to need to get CAR GUYS involved. He knew just what to say and kept the criminal on the hook waiting on him instead of the other way around. These thieves thought they were going to make a quick and easy pay day but instead find themselves in a jail cell.

After getting me an address, the local PD flooded the area and towed what was left of the car out of there and in the process caught the seller, who in turn gave up his brother. They both already had active warrants but now have added to their plate with this theft.

Honestly, the only thing salvageable is the engine and trans. The plan right now is to do nothing and enjoy this small victory. I am PCS'ing for 12 months, so I'll take that time abroad to make a parts list and when I return my son and I will rebuild this S55 engine and beef up this trans and swap it into something else.

I'll post up some pics and if you see anything in that picture that you want feel free to hit me up. I have a cultivated a good relationship with the owner of the junk yard and told him I might have people coming to him to pick this cars cadaver apart free of charge, and he is complete ok with that.

For now, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I am a proud U.S. Army Infantry Ranger, not Airborne Ranger qualified, but a full blown scrolled up and tabbed up Ranger. I show No emotion and thought myself to be a battle ready, barrel chested, Steele-eyed killer with tons of door kicking and real life CQB's under my belt. BUT this experienced crippled me emotionally. Showed me how vulnerable I was and taught me humility along with forgiveness.

Thanks for listening! Enjoy the pictures and feel free to ask me anything, I'll be as candid as I can be while protecting the identity of those who want to remain nameless.

[Anarchy919]

Glad to hear it brother seems that some justice came of all this just glad you got something back of the car and most of all closure on this chapter.

[NickyC]

“Cheating bitch”?

That poor car.

[paulo_f80m3]

This is awesome!!! Scumbags.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

more pics of the stripped body?

[9M71]

Good read. Sorry you had to go through this, but glad that there was some sort of closure.

Hats off to your son on being persistent, as well.