“I shook his hand like congratulations on your new car.”
A car salesman claims he caught a customer attempting to use a sneaky scam to buy a car from him. Here’s how he did it—and how he got caught.
TikTok creator @bigbodybenz_91 sells cars in Houston, Texas. He recently posted a series about “how a customer got caught with a CPN trying to buy a car from us.”
For those unfamiliar with the term, a Credit Privacy Number (CPN) is a nine-digit number that scammers portray as a “replacement” Social Security Number (SSN). In some cases, these CPNs are real SSNs that scammers stole from another person. Either way, it is illegal to use a CPN in lieu of your SSN on financial paperwork.
According to @bigbodybenz_91, the dealership team knew about the issue with the customer’s paperwork before he left the finance department. As they waited for police, they set the man up with the car as if he was going to be taking it home. “He’s geeked up because he’s thinking … I done got away with this,” @bigbodybenz_91 says.
He led the man to the vehicle and told him they needed to do a “pre-delivery inspection” and install the connected services app onto the customer’s phone. The customer wasn’t interested in going through the process, but @bigbodybenz_91 convinced him to do it.
“I shook his hand like congratulations on your new car,” @bigbodybenz_91 says. “The moment the gates lifted up, it was like seven Houston police officers just swarmed our dealership. At this point, he knew he was caught.”
Knowing he was caught apparently didn’t stop the man from attempting to flee. He was caught soon after and a bag he left behind contained multiple ID cards and fraud paraphernalia, @bigbodybenz_91 says.
“So I just want to let y’all know,” the creator says. “If y’all are trying to come to these dealerships and buy a car off a CPN, they will make you think you got the deal done the whole way.”
He continues, “You need to be careful, because they are definitely getting smarter. Just to let y’all know again. Stop getting those CPNs made. Just take that money, go get your actual credit fixed, and then come holler at us.”
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis notes that “those who purchase a CPN and use it … are committing several crimes, including identity theft and making false statements on a loan or credit application.”
To avoid these legal issues, car shoppers with credit issues should beware of any credit repair that require upfront payments, promise quick fixes to major financial problems, or lack government affiliation.
The advice from financial experts is essentially the same as @bigbodybenz_91’s: Rebuild your credit the old-fashioned way by paying bills on time and reducing credit card balances. Unfortunately, it usually takes multiple years of discipline and patience to bring a credit score back up after a severe dip.
In the comments section of the video, viewers debated whether the customer or the car dealership was wrong here.
“Are you a car salesman or are you a car police?” asked one viewer.
“So instead of denying him y’all do him like that,” a second person said.
However, a third person said those people are blaming the wrong person. “Not y’all getting an attitude about it in the comments,” wrote one person. “Until it’s your identity being stolen and now you can’t even get a bike in your name.”
Motor1 contacted @bigbodybenz_91 via TikTok comment and direct message for comment.
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