Another incident in which someone claimed to be a professional athlete for financial gain has rocked the internet.
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According to a Monday (September 7) report from the New York Post, one man in Georgia pretended to be a professional basketball player and was able to escape with a luxury car in the process. The man told employees at the hotel who were working valet that he owned a $90,000 BMW. Unfortunately, the valet workers fell for it, and he drove off in the vehicle.
Man Poses As Professional Athlete to Steal Luxury Vehicle
According to a police report obtained by WSB-TV, the suspect, who has yet to be identified, had previously been walking around the hotel lobby and taking items. White Audi, before presenting his valet ticket to the employees at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah. It was at that point that he claimed to be the owner of a gray 2026 BMW X5. He claimed that he was a professional basketball player and that he had multiple vehicles at the property. The valet bought his story, allowing him to drive off with the vehicle and never return. The incident occurred at around 12:30 pm on August 14, according to the report.
The luxury car belongs to a BMW dealership. The vehicle had been provided as a loaner to a guest at the Hyatt. The dealership was able to track the vehicle to a location in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the car has since been reported as stolen in state and national databases.
But the story doesn't end there. Investigators also found that the 2025 Audi that the man drove was also reported stolen the day before he drove off in the 2026 X5. The car was recovered in the hotel's parking garage without any damage.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the man had gone on a spree of car thefts at Savannah-area hotels. A guest at a Fairfield Inn in Savannah left a 2019 Toyota C-HR and needed a retrieval code to recover her car. However, when she sent her retrieval code to get her car the next morning, the car was gone.
The man is still at large. Savannah Police Department describes him as a black man around 30 years old.
