In Savannah, a scammer posed as a basketball player to steal a BMW X5.

In the city of Savannah, Georgia State Police are looking for a man who showed amazing resourcefulness in stealing an expensive car. Instead of technical devices for hacking, he used acting skills and convincing lies, writes Carscoops.

The suspect managed to convince parking staff near the Hyatt Regency Savannah hotel that he was a professional basketball player. Thanks to the fictitious story, he not only parked several cars on the hotel premises, but also received the keys to a gray 2026 BMW X5, which costs about 90 thousand dollars (about 8 million rubles).

CCTV footage shows the man first entering the lobby and then returning to a white Audi to retrieve personal items. After that, he went to the valet counter and presented a ticket that matched the BMW SUV. The man’s words and the presence of the ticket seemed convincing enough to the staff, so they gave him the keys to an expensive car without any questions.

It later turned out that the stolen SUV did not belong to the guests. It was owned by a car dealership and was issued to a hotel guest as a temporary replacement. Thanks to a satellite tracking system, the car was found in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, approximately 322 kilometers from the crime scene. There is no information about returning the car to the dealer yet.

Further investigation revealed new circumstances that made the case even more confusing. It turned out that the white Audi A5 2025, which the suspect was driving, was also listed as stolen. A missing person report had been filed the previous day by another police department. The car was later found in the Hyatt hotel parking lot, unlocked and with no apparent damage.

Police believe the same man may be involved in another similar crime earlier in August. Then a Toyota C-HR disappeared from the parking lot of another hotel in Savannah. According to preliminary data, someone used the access code that the owner of the car requested from the staff several hours before the actual delivery of the car.

Law enforcement officers published video from surveillance cameras in the hope that citizens will help identify the criminal. It is still unknown how the thief managed to get a parking ticket for the BMW, and what became the main element of the whole scheme.