WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — WPTV reporter Kendall Hyde reported on Monday an exclusive story about a hacker who gained access to a West Palm Beach car transportation database, stealing a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz GLS600 Maybach.
In a chilling revelation, Miami police believe the hacker's nefarious activities may not have been confined to West Palm Beach but could have spread across South Florida.
Investigators believe that a hacker stole about $600,000 worth of foreign vehicles over the weekend, starting with a Rolls-Royce Cullinan worth nearly $400,000 from Limited Spec Automotive, a Miami-based car dealership that buys and sells limited-edition foreign vehicles.
Automotive
A company's system was hacked. Car valued at $200K now missing
For weeks, the dealership had been working to receive a 2022, 2023 Rolls-Royce Cullinan, valued at $400,000, to their dealership on Saturday.
"It was a car we were really looking forward to getting," Stephen Waisman, the general manager of Limited Spec Automotive, said. "We were going to do a body kit and add some nice wheels. We had everything already paid for, and the car was supposed to get here, but it obviously never got here."
The luxury vehicle never arrived because the company responsible for delivering the Rolls-Royce received a text message from what they believed was Limited Spec.
The person who posed as a Limited Spec worker texted the driver, saying, "Hello, are you the 2022 Rolls-Royce Cullinan driver?" and sent a new address in Miami.
The driver said OK, and they confirmed a meet-up time.
"What's assumed by police and everyone and the dispatch center is that they got hacked, and someone reached the driver's information because not many people can get that information," Waisman said.
This high-priced vehicle theft sounds similar to this past weekend's heist of the Mercedes-Benz Maybach in Miami. Police believe the man who stole the Maybach was the same person who swiped the Cullinan.
The stolen Rolls-Royce also had several trackers inside, but the crook found them.
"(The suspect) sent pictures of the trackers and said, 'Good luck finding your trackers,'" Waisman said.
Now, the team at Limited Spec Automotive is offering a $20,000 reward if someone can find the vehicle.
"We've heard about it happening to other people but never thought it would happen to us," Waisman said. "I guess it can happen to anybody."