Man buys car using stolen identity, agrees to be in dealership’s photo op

Kansas City, Missouri police had an easy time identifying one identity thief because, after purchasing a nearly $60,000 car under someone else’s name, he willingly posed for a picture by his new vehicle.

Newsweek reports that the suspect bought a $58,000 Ford Explorer over the summer and, unfortunately for his victim, they didn’t realize that their identity had been stolen until much later.

After the discovery was made, police got to work Tuesday to identify the perp who went on a shopping spree and hit a big break when approaching the Ford dealership. 

They told police it’s “customary” for staff to take photos of new car buyers, so they turned over the photo of the identity thief.

Police shared the image online and, an hour later, they had their man.

But, here’s the twist, as the police explained, “Turns out he is in custody already on the Kansas side on different charges. We’ll submit this case for prosecution over here.”

Their suspect was busted for a different crime.  Kansas City police intend to charge the suspect, whom they declined to identify, with fraud.