Man Scams Woman Out Of Vehicle, Pretends To Represent Dealership

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Gwinnett County Police are looking for a man they say swindled a woman out of her vehicle by pretending to represent a legitimate car dealership.

Brian Keith Dace met the victim in a parking lot near The Mall of Georgia on March 6, where he told her she’d receive a check for her vehicle after he took possession of it. He showed her fake paperwork to convince her he was legitimate, according to a statement from the Gwinnett County Police Department.

After the victim didn’t receive the check, she called police. When an officer initially called Dace, he identified himself as Keith Taylor and gave a fake date of birth.

The case was eventually handed over to detectives, who quickly learned Dace’s real name. They also found out that he had pending charges in at least one other county for similar thefts. There is currently an active warrant for Dace for theft by deception.

Lamar County police near Hattiesburg, Mississippi, previously arrested Dace in October 2018 for running the same scam, according to The Pine Belt News. The Lamar County police report said that Dace also went by the alias Brian Davis.

"Basically, what he would do was contact victims by phone who had vehicles — rather expensive vehicles — for sale on Craigslist or Facebook," Lamar County Sheriff Danny Rigel said to the News. "He would approach them and meet with the people, saying that he belonged to this company, and he had a fake contract document of a real company.

"He'd say that he would pay off the lien on the vehicle in exchange for the vehicle, and the asking price would be wired to their bank account within a week,” Rigel continued. “Well, they would go to the bank, and the bank would tell them it was a legitimate company. (The victims) wouldn't ask for any ID from this Dace guy, and they would hand him the keys to the vehicle, and he'd drive off."

Detectives are asking anyone else who may have been the victim of Dace to contact the Gwinnett police. They are also asking for help from the public in locating him.

Anyone with information is asked to call Gwinnett County Police detectives at 770-513-5300. To remain anonymous, tipsters can contact Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477 TIPS (404-577-TIPS) or visit www.stopcrimeATL.com. Crime Stoppers tipsters can receive a cash reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment in this case.