Last summer, Travis Payne, like many luxury, hypercar, or supercar owners in Georgia, fell victim to a sophisticated hacking scam orchestrated by two individuals. These hackers exploited the communications portal of a transportation company to alter the delivery address of cars being transported, resulting in Payne’s 2020 Rolls Royce Cullinan being delivered to the hackers themselves.
On a Thursday, Payne made a purchase of a $500,000 SUV in Arizona. He then coordinated for the delivery of the vehicle to his residence in Atlanta, Georgia by the following Monday.
His suspicions arose immediately when Tuesday arrived, and there was no sign of the car.
“I called the transport company and asked, ‘Dude, where’s the car?’ And they told me that the driver’s in the hospital,” he told VinWiki. “And then they told me the driver never picked up the car, and my heart just sank. I thought, ‘Oh, no, this can’t be happening to me.’”
The dealership he bought it from said it was picked up by the ‘transport company’
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After discovering the truth from the transport company, he made a decision to contact the dealership in Arizona to inquire about the situation. Upon questioning if the transport company had indeed collected the Rolls Royce, the dealership verified the occurrence.
Payne requested the confirmation slip, which displayed the driver’s name and the delivery location. This marked the beginning of a downward spiral.
“I looked at the documents they sent me, and I’ve never heard of the transporting company in my entire life,” he said. “What’s worse is for the delivery address, instead of my name, my company, and my address in Georgia, there was no name, no company, and a Los Angeles, California address.”
After finding the phone number on the slip, Payne made a call, but unfortunately, there was no response. Determined to get some answers, he decided to reach out to the neighboring business and inquire whether they had ever received a delivery of a Rolls Royce. However, his hopes were dashed once again when he received a disappointing response from the company.
The neighboring business said he wasn’t the first person to call about a missing car
“I called the business close to the address and asked about the Rolls and if they had it delivered to them, and then they said, ‘No, but you’re not the first person to call us, a person was asking about a Ferrari, a Mercedes, a couple of Bentleys,’ and I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’, And they said, ‘Well, they say their cars were dropped off here but we don’t know anything about it, we don’t have the cars.’”
Payne made the decision to send a text to the California number listed on the documents. In his message, he informed the thief, who went by the name Mike, that he didn’t want to involve the police and simply wanted his car returned. To Payne’s surprise, Mike responded with an expletive-laden message, saying, “Nice car, motherf***er.”
The police issued a subpoena to AT&T in order to trace the car’s cell connection, however, both the cell connection and the manufacturer’s tracker had been removed. As a result, Payne found himself in contact with other car owners who had fallen victim to the same scam. This encounter served as inspiration for Payne to pursue his investigation further.
“I started to try and track down other vehicles that were stolen by the same people because I’m picturing if I can find one, I’ll find mine in some giant warehouse or something. Sadly, that wasn’t the case,” he said.
Then the Rolls Royce popped up in a Mexican dealership
In September, Payne took a break from his search, believing he would never lay eyes on his car again. However, his hopes were unexpectedly reignited when a stranger on Instagram reached out to him, claiming to have found his car.
Travis’ Rolls-Royce had a distinctive interior design that was exclusive to his vehicle. The white seats, complemented by red trimmings and black accents, were a unique combination. Travis intentionally chose this interior color scheme, knowing that it would make his car easily recognizable. This choice proved to be helpful when a kind-hearted person spotted Travis’ car based on its distinct interior.
“Someone sends me a TikTok of someone in Mexico walking around a Cullinan, and at first I didn’t think it was mine because it was white, but then I noticed the mirrors were still black, parking sensors were still black, and the wheels were different, but the interior was the exact same,” he said.
“And I see that it was posted by an Alvarez Exotics logo on it, and Canelo’s logo, and he’s a famous boxer. The dealership is owned by his family, and then a while later the same page posts that the Cullinan was sold.”
It was bought by a famous singer, who called him a liar
Upon reaching out to the dealership in Mexico with the assistance of a translator, they displayed a willingness to cooperate. They had acquired the car from an undisclosed individual, which raised some concerns. However, they assured him that if they could verify the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on his title with the one stored in the car’s computer, they would provide him with video evidence and return the car to him.
Instead, they chose to block his number and remove the post from their channels. They simply moved on from the incident. However, it was Luis Conriquez, a well-known singer in the country, who took a different approach. He started sharing videos of himself enjoying Travis’s car.
“It’s on his Instagram story right now, he was drinking champagne from the back of it last night after his concert,” he said. “And he’s got pictures of Canelo and his brother at the dealership, so obviously they all know each other, I tried to contact his lawyer and I got no cooperation. All I got was, ‘How do we know it’s your car?’”
On January 29, his car is still in Mexico, being driven around by a well-known singer who adamantly denies that it is stolen. Sadly, due to its location, the authorities are unable to intervene and retrieve the vehicle, despite the irrefutable evidence.