DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - Twenty-one people are in custody after officials with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Organized Crime Bureau’s Auto Crimes Taskforce said they were involved in a multi-million dollar credit fraud schemes affecting car dealerships across South Florida.
MDSO officials gathered at their Doral headquarters on Monday to expose, what they say, is the latest trend in credit fraud.
“Our Organized Crimes Bureau’s Auto Crimes Task Force has made a major breakthrough in exposing a local multi-million dollar fraud trend,” said Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz. “This sophisticated criminal activity is called Credit Bust Out, and here’s how it works. Straw buyers flood car dealerships with phony paperwork fake pay stubs, false W-2’s, fictitious addresses to misrepresent their true financial condition.”
Cordero-Stutz explained these straw buyers rack up as many purchases as possible before the inquiries hit their credit report. At times, over a dozen cars could be bought in a week.
But, she said, that’s not where the crime ends.
“A single straw buyer can purchase as many as 20 vehicles over the course of a week,” said Cordero-Stutz. “Once the vehicles reach criminal organizations, they are either lien washed, in which the lien is fraudulently removed, they’re exported overseas with counterfeit VINs, or they’re illegally subleased. And too often, those illegally subleased cars are used in shootings, robberies and other violent crimes.”
Operation: Lien to Clean launched earlier this year. As of Monday, officials say 100 cars were fraudulently purchased, with over $5 million in losses. Fifty three cars have since been recovered, valuing a total of $4.3 million.
“The way we became aware of this is a lot of dealerships working in our community became aware of this fraud and reported it to us,” said MDSO Sgt. Luis Pez.
Officials say it doesn’t just affect the dealerships.
“When financial institutions lose millions, that cost is passed down to families, to small businesses,” said Cordero-Stutz.
Detectives believe this is just the beginning of the web of crimes.
“Miami-Dade is a prime target for credit bust-out fraud,” said Cordero-Stutz. “But we will not let organized criminals or corrupt insiders treat our county like an open marketplace.”
Cordero-Stutz says this involves a complex network of people so there could be additional arrests made.
“They made a huge impact, but due to the magnitude of what they’ve uncovered, they are just scratching the surface,” she said. “That’s why I’ll be assigning additional deputies to this task force in the future.”
The task force is currently made up of only two deputies.
Some of those arrested have since bonded out of jail. All face multiple charges.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.