North Carolina man loses $19K UTV in DeKalb County scam

UTV theft after Facebook sale turns scam

A North Carolina man says he lost $19,000 after driving five hours to DeKalb County to sell his UTV to a buyer he met on Facebook Marketplace. Corey Brooks said the buyer asked to test drive the vehicle but never returned, leaving him still paying off the loan. Brooks has filed a police report and is offering a $5,000 reward for the UTV’s return.

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A North Carolina man is out $19,000 after someone stole his UTV in DeKalb County that he was trying to sell online.

The man connected with the buyer on Facebook and drove down to DeKalb County. The buyer took off in the vehicle after asking to go for a test drive.

DeKalb County Police are investigating but have not yet named any suspects.

What they're saying:

"He was very respectful, used manners. It just, I didn't no red flags. I mean you always think you'll be able to catch those times and didn't happen," Corey Brooks said.

Brooks said he connected with someone on Facebook last week while he was selling his UTV.

"We talked for about a week. I sent him numerous photos, videos, description, just didn't want to waste my time driving five hours and him not buy it," he said.

Brooks met the buyer at what he thought was his residence on Abram Way. That's when he says he wanted to test out the vehicle.

"We could see the stop sign, he was like, if I could drive it to the stop sign and back, you know, everything checks out, we're good," Brooks explained.

"Kind of took off slow, got to the stop sign, and hit the road," he added.

Brooks went straight to Facebook to get in touch with the buyer and realized he'd been blocked.

"I'm a concealed handgun carrier. I had a gun on me, felt like he could see it. I thought we had an understanding, that everything was safe. He actually had a bank envelope with cash in it," he said.

Brooks filed a report with DeKalb County Police. He said he's still paying off a loan used to originally buy the vehicle.

"Now I'm paying on something that I don't have anymore," he explained.

"Meet at a police station, meet at a bank, meet somewhere public, let somebody else hold the money or a driver's license," he added.

What we don't know:

Brooks says he's heard of several other people in similar situations. DeKalb County Police have not yet confirmed if the buyer in Brooks' case is connected to other incidents.