The following is a report from Panama City’s WJHG/WECP News Channel 7.
A local RV company has become the victim of a scam operation. BBA RV’s and Auto Sale is located in Panama City, Florida, and has been in operation for the last two years.
Dayreli Rodriguez, the owner of BBA RV’s and Auto Sale, said last November she began to receive calls from customers inquiring about listings of motorhomes that they had seen on the company’s website. Rodriguez said her company does not sell motorhomes.
According to Florida Highway Patrol officials, scammers have stolen the company’s identity. They created a fake website with the company’s logo, posted motorhomes for sale and posed as BBA RV, conning customers out of thousands of dollars.
“These people have everything of ours,” Rodriguez said. “They have our license; they have our IRS number. They have everything. Everything they have it. Everything that you need for a business they have. The license, the company’s social. They use my name; they use my direction to do accounts with the banks and do bad things.”
Rodriguez said she has had several clients who have been scammed and call the business looking for the homes they thought they had purchased. She said just last week one man flew from California hoping to pick up his motorhome.
“He told me ‘Hey, I want to see a motorhome that I saw on the internet. I have an appointment’,” Rodriguez said. “It’s like they told him to come here so that he could see it and I say oh no I hope you didn’t pay anything because it’s a scam. And he said too late. He had already paid $16,000 and he lost a flight from California to here for something that didn’t exist.”
Rodriguez said it makes her emotional to see that good people are losing money because of a scam. She said that although most people have been understanding of the situation, she is sometimes worried for her safety.
Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Lieutenant Jason King said some steps can be taken to prevent people from falling victim to these kinds of scams.
“First and foremost, call the place you’re looking to buy something from especially of this size, of this magnitude and validate it is what it asks if you can come visit.”
Officials said businesses can also protect themselves.
“There’s a lot of safety features through Google business,” the lieutenant said. “There’s a lot of safety features through other firewalls and other internet services as well as the banks that they work with.”
Officials said scammers stole at least $80,000.
The fraudulent website link is www.bbarvauto.com. BBA RV’s and Auto Sales’ official website is www.bbarvs.co.
Read the full report from WJHG here.
