Did you buy a car at this dealership? Your name may have been used in fraud scheme

The owners of Heath’s Exotic Cars located at 9919 U.S. Hwy. 41 in Gibsonton are facing multiple counts of fraud, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Haytham and Peggy Daas, husband and wife and owners of the auto dealership, face 35 counts of fraud in all.

Troopers say the couple created fraudulent contracts using legitimate consumer names to sell vehicle loans to Mid Atlantic Financial, who purchases the loans after the dealership can prove that customers have made three consecutive on-time payments.

The couple, along with “designated employees,” would pretend they were the consumer when dealing with a Mid Atlantic sales representative and used a phone app that creates fake numbers to make it match the number on the forged contracts, according to FHP.

One of the forged contracts was from a former customer who died in 2013, troopers say.

The couple used real contracts from prior customers to forge them into appearing like new loans to sell to Mid Atlantic, troopers say.

At least two of the loans were fraudulently sold to Mid Atlantic in the amount of $139,000.

“The majority of the fraudulent contracts provided to the financial institution by Heath Exotic Cars consisted of credit applications, Florida certificate of title applications, retail installment contracts, buyer orders and payment histories,” FHP states. “All documents contained within the contracts were fraudulent in nature.”

According to the dealership’s Facebook page, they’ve had mixed reviews.

Some customers leaving reviews write that the dealership provided a false report on the vehicle’s accident history and discovered later that their vehicle was worth much less than they paid based on the real information.

Another wrote in August, “Complete scam artists, buyer beware.”

Yet another wrote in January of 2017 that her purchase of a Rolls Royce had the wrong make on the bill of sale and suffered from several more mechanical needs than what the dealership told her.

“The last time I had contact with him, his wife was very threatening to me,” she wrote. “Frighteningly so ... What should have been my hubby’s dream car has been an (eight) month nightmare.”

The dealership’s website does send one red flag.

In their “About Us” section, it offers the customer to “Meet the Team,” and they are listed without photos as, “John Doe, sales manager; Mark Doe, manager; Sam Doe, owner, and Jake Doe, general manager.”

The business is listed as “not accredited” on the Better Business Bureau website, but has three complaints filed in the past three years similar to those posted on the company’s Facebook page.

Troopers have not indicated that any consumer used in the fraudulent scheme has been directly impacted by the crimes and if so, have likely been notified by law enforcement.