Identity Thief Poses with Stolen Truck at Sandy Sansing Chevrolet

How the Fraudster Operated
In a brazen identity theft case out of Escambia County, a woman used another person’s name, Social Security number, and date of birth to fraudulently purchase a truck from Sandy Sansing Chevrolet in Pensacola, Florida.

After the paperwork was complete, she even posed for a picture with the truck—a common dealership practice for celebrating new buyers—which ultimately became part of the investigation evidence.

What Red Flags Were Missed
The fraudster reportedly used what appeared to be valid identification and credit information, which was enough to fool the dealership and its systems. What was likely missing was any sort of pre-qualification step that included verified identity, especially one that tied the applicant’s identity to a real phone number or device.

The dealership appears to have relied on the traditional process: see ID, pull credit, complete paperwork. But when synthetic or stolen identity data is used, that process breaks down—and criminals walk away with high-value inventory.

Who Paid the Price
The victim of the identity theft will face the long road of recovering their credit and disputing the fraudulent purchase. Sandy Sansing Chevrolet may face a financial loss on the vehicle and reputational risk within the community. Law enforcement ultimately tracked the woman down at an unrelated traffic stop, where she confessed to using someone else’s identity to get the truck.

What Could Have Stopped It
This type of fraud could have been stopped cold at the very beginning if the dealership had used a VeriQual™ identity + credit prequalification process. With VeriQual, a customer’s identity is verified using their phone number before a soft-pull credit check is ever run. If the phone number doesn’t tie back to the identity being used, the process is halted—protecting the dealer, the lender, and the real person being impersonated.

Insight:
When someone confidently poses for a photo with a vehicle they just stole using a fake identity, it highlights just how easy it still is to exploit weaknesses in dealership workflows. This case is a warning—and a call to modernize the prequalification process.

Look for the VeriQual™ badge when getting prequalified for financing. It’s your first line of defense against fraud.