Fake Ferrari and Lamborghini Builders Busted by Brazilian Police
Amazingly realistic Ferrari and Lamborghini supercar replicas were selling for roughly 10% of what the real things cost.
Few objects on earth are more lusted after than supercars. And when you combine pricey, hard to get objects with demand and greed, you get fraud. Thus, knockoff luxury items are nothing new, plaguing the back alleys and shady internet selling sites of the world. But rarely do you see folks go to the extremes that a father and son in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina went to to make a buck on fake Ferrari and Lamborghini supercars.
According to the Civil Police of Santa Catarina, a father and son were actually building entire supercars using an assortment of molds, tools, and various parts. Now, we’ve seen people do stuff like this before, but only as a hobby. And the most amazing thing about these Ferrari and Lamborghini knock-offs is that they’re incredibly realistic. So much so that the crooks were selling these cars via social media for between $47,000 and $66,000. Quite the discount off the $400-$600k the real things retail for.
According to police, these counterfeits were caught thanks to a tip from a law firm that represents both Ferrari and Lamborghini. They contacted local authorities, who quickly moved in to put a stop to things. We’re betting they were a little shocked to find a fully functioning factory with eight semi-assembled vehicles sitting there, plain as day.
As realistic as these cars look, they obviously weren’t built to quite the same standards as the real things. “The mechanical part came from old cars,” delegate Angelo Fragelli told local news source Folha de São Paulo. “In one of the cars, they were installing the engine of an Omega.”
For those who don’t live in Brazil, the Omega was a Chevy economy sedan that used either a wimpy inline-four or inline-six cylinder engine for power. Yikes.
Aside from their poor parts choices, it’s sad to see this father and son use their talents for evil. They could just have easily opened a restoration shop or even their own car company. Now, they’ll be sitting in jail instead, likely for some time.
Photos: Civil Police of Santa Catarina
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