Apr 4, 2026
Tampa Bay, Florida car dealer and wholesaler Mohamad Jihad Fakih, 27, is facing prison time after being found guilty in a scheme involving fraudulent loans, straw purchasers, bogus insurance claims and a stolen Rolls-Royce SUV.
Fakih was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and attempting to export a stolen vehicle, the Middle District of Florida U.S. Attorney’s Office (1) (USAO) reports.
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He was also ordered to forfeit $378,886.96, “the proceeds of the conspiracy to commit wire fraud,” the USAO said in a release.
According to court documents, Fakih and a co-conspirator targeted auto financing companies, submitting fraudulent loan applications through his dealership website. He and his co-conspirators collaborated with pretend buyers (straw purchasers) who had no intention of purchasing a car.
Fakih would then collect the loan money and give a cut of the money to his co-conspirator and straw purchasers. He also used the fraudulently obtained loan money to purchase cars and try to export them.
In what the USAO describes as a “more straightforward theft,” Fakih used a straw purchaser to procure a stolen Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV worth $460,000, and then tried to export it overseas — but the shipping container was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The USAO reports that Fakih also filed false insurance claims for vehicles, reporting them as stolen.
Impacts of fraud
When it comes to auto loans and purchasing, fraud impacts both consumers and lenders.
Between March and September 2023, fraud-related losses for auto loans were 21 times greater than for losses due to credit card fraud, and six times as great as losses due to unsecured personal loan fraud, according to a TransUnion report (2).
The risk-management platform Point Predictive estimated (3) that auto lenders faced a $9.2 billion risk of fraud in 2025 and that 69% of that would be down to borrowers and dealers misrepresenting information on loan applications — using false identities, or falsifying employment or financial information to qualify for a loan.
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Dealer fraud can also include schemes where dealers collaborate with fraudsters; they could falsify loan documents, or inflate vehicle prices, leaving lenders with a loss when loans default.
This could force lenders and financial institutions to pass on the costs (4) to consumers in the form of higher interest rates or less favorable loan terms.
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Protect yourself
If you want to purchase a vehicle, do some research on the dealers you plan to visit. Check (5) to see if they are accredited by the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NAIDA), the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) and the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Read online customer reviews as well.
If you are getting an auto loan, the dealer or lender is required to tell you (6) the APR and repayment details in a clear way.
If you are worried about financing a vehicle through a dealer, approach a financial institution you trust directly to see if they can approve you for an auto loan.
If you are buying a used car, check the vehicle identification number (VIN) and title using the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s VINCheck and the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS).
This will tell you if a vehicle has been the subject of an insurance claim for theft, or if an insurance company reported it is a salvage vehicle. Consider asking (7) for a CarFax or AutoCheck report, or getting one yourself.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
U.S. Department of Justice (1); TransUnion (2); Point Predictive (3); Provenir (4); Patelco Credit Union (5); Cornell Law Institute (6); Consumer Reports (7)
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Rebecca Payne has more than a decade of experience editing and producing both local and national daily newspapers. She's worked on the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Metro, Canada's National Observer, the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
