Chicago Police Search for Missing Cars Fraudulently Rented Via Mobile App
April 18 2019 - 10:33AM
Dow Jones News
By Erin Ailworth
Chicago police on Thursday were searching for dozens of missing
luxury cars that were fraudulently rented via the mobile app used
by Share Now, a car-sharing service formerly known as Car2Go.
The company temporarily suspended its service in Chicago
Wednesday as police began tracking down the missing cars.
"Out of an abundance of caution and safety for our members we
are temporarily pausing our service in Chicago," Share Now
spokeswoman Kendell Kelton said via email Wednesday. "This is an
instance of fraud (theft), isolated to Chicago."
She said no personal or confidential information had been
compromised.
Chicago police said over a dozen people of interest were being
questioned about the incident, which they were alerted to by the
car rental company. While they had recovered numerous vehicles as
of Wednesday afternoon, 100 remained unaccounted for, including
about 50 Mercedes-Benz that were believed to still be in the
Chicagoland area.
Share Now was unveiled in February, about a year after German
automakers BMW Group and Daimler AG announced they would form a
joint venture with their respective car sharing services, DriveNow
and Car2Go. Share Now is one of five mobility services under that
joint venture. It operates a fleet of more than 20,000 BMW,
Mercedes-Benz, Smart, and Mini vehicles in 30 cities across Europe
and North America.
Write to Erin Ailworth at Erin.Ailworth@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 18, 2019 10:18 ET (14:18 GMT)
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