Steve John Meade, of Walton Road, East Molesey, contacted people advertising their vehicles for sale on car dealership websites and convinced them to sell their vehicles with him through his company Surrey Prestige Cars Ltd. Each victim signed a contact which Meade broke by selling the vehicles and not reimbursing the owners with the money. Some owners of high end cars such as Maserati, Mercedes and BMW did get some money but were still left out of pocket.