Customers thought they were driving off with new cars. Police say employees took their money instead

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The Lawrenceville Police Department is looking for two car salesmen who they say stole thousands of dollars from customers while working for a real car dealership.

Channel 2′s Tom Regan reported live on WSB Tonight at 11 p.m. at the dealership on Scenic Highway in Lawrenceville Monday night.

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It was February when Lawrenceville police said they began receiving several complaints from customers who believed they had been defrauded by employees at the Auto Star car dealership. Police immediately began investigating potential victims.

After multiple interviews, police say the investigation revealed that two employees, later identified as Alexander Weigard, 27, of Dunwoody, and Ibrahim Ali,30, of Buford, were defrauding customers out of thousands of dollars.

Both Weigard and Ali presented themselves as managers of the dealership, according to Lawrenceville officials.

The pair would then reportedly ask the victims for a down payment on a vehicle and after receiving the cash, the victims were told to return the following day to finalize the loan process.

“The following day, when the victims came back, they found out that suspects told them they did not qualify for the loan and company had a no refund policy therefore the money they just put down is lost,” Captain Salvador Ortega told Regan.

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Ortega said that Weigard and Ali refused to give back the down payments to the victims, stating a no-refund policy by the car dealership.

The suspects reportedly also used social media pages, Atlanta Highline Motors and Atlanta Motor Source, to lure their victims into the dealership by advertising vehicles for sale owned by Auto Star.

“Those two we found, they were fictitious and not in any way related to the suspects. It was just a ruse, their technique to attack customers,” said Ortega.

But the alleged scam eventually unraveled after some of the victims went to the police, demanding action to get their money back.

“$1,000 to a victim who lost $15,000. So we are looking at over fifty thousand dollars,” Ortega said.

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After the owners of Auto Star were made aware of the complaints from victims, both Weigard and Ali were terminated.

Police say Auto Star management is “working diligently with detectives and are proactively assisting with the investigation.”

Lawrenceville police have issued warrants for the arrests of Weigard and Ali. The duo remains at large and their whereabouts are unknown.

Anyone who believes they have been victimized by the pair is urged to contact Det. Woods via email or call 770-670-5172.

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