FCA (now Stellantis) lost more than $8.7 million due to fraud with discounts on new cars made by one employee of the dealership department. The incident happened in the city of Clinton Township in the US state of Michigan.
The charge was brought against a 34-year-old resident of the United States. According to Automotive News, a seller of new cars Parkway Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership in Clinton Township near Detroit has been giving out generous discounts to customers for several years. The goal was his personal enrichment.
How Did The Employee Cheat On The FCA System?
He used the opportunity to provide so-called family discounts - special codes intended for close relatives of employees of official dealers of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram brands. This practice has made him one of the most successful car salesmen in the United States. Since 2014, he has received more than $700,000 salary bonuses for regularly exceeding sales targets.
For example, in January 2020, he sold over 250 cars. However, his success eventually raised suspicion among the FCA management. The investigation began after several FCA employees learned that someone was using their personal codes to provide a discount. And as they found out, over the years, he has used family discount codes several thousand times.
"FCA US is committed to preserving the integrity of our employee purchase programs and is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office," the automaker commented. "We note that dealers are independent businesses and are solely responsible for their conduct and operations. As the matter is ongoing, we cannot discuss it further at this time.”
Customers Were Trying To Prove That They Really Were His Family Members
Customers who bought cars from the generous seller were interviewed. What is interesting, they confirmed that they were indeed his family. However, the representatives of the dealership did not believe them and turned to the US Department of Homeland Security. The department, in turn, found out that the dealer's employee was selling discount codes in several groups on Facebook.
Now he has become a defendant in a criminal fraud case and was arrested pending trial. No details have yet been given about the possible punishment of the former employee, but he will most likely go to jail for fraud.
Source: Automotive News