Scammers are believed to be behind a car theft from an Auckland hotel that has seen a company chief executive robbed of his Audi Q5 - and now he's offering an award for any information.
Best Telecom boss Timothy Bolot, who's currently in Australia, says the car was parked at Auckland's Pullman hotel before being stolen on January 10.
He says the alleged thieves called IAG/State Insurance and lied, saying they were the owners of the vehicle and needed to arrange the car to be towed because the keys were lost. The vehicle was then towed to an address in Māngere and the alleged thieves were able to change the registered owner to a different name, Bolot wrote in a Facebook post.
He believes it's "a new scam that no-one has seen before".
Bolot has alerted police and officers are currently investigating, he said.
"We have lots of important records in it [the car], as well as personal effects, so need to retrieve it ASAP," said Bolot.
"The car has also been red-flagged with Audi, New Zealand, and their dealer network."
Bolot urged anyone with information on the vehicle, with the number plate FMM834, to contact him or police on 105.
"If you provide information that leads to the recovery of the car I will pay you NZ$1000," he said.
