Looks like a Ferrari but is a Toyota: sensational counterfeiting unmasked in Catanzaro

The Ferrari for sale, advertised online and displayed in a showroom was a fake. It was a counterfeit Toyota, complete with applied badges and a bonnet similar to that of the original model produced between 1994 and 1999.

For this reason, the financiers of the Catanzaro Provincial Command, assisted by specialised personnel sent by the Ferrari manufacturer, enforced an order issued by the Court of Catanzaro ordering the disassembly and destruction of some counterfeit components mounted on the car to make it look like the original.

This was discovered by the Guardia di Finanza military with a 'simple check obtained by consulting the number plate database'.

"The original car, a Toyota, seized earlier by the Fiamme Gialle of the Catanzaro Group,' reconstructs a note, 'had been transformed in the bodywork and in the exterior and interior accessories to make it look like a real Ferrari F355GTS. Specifically, reconstructed by the Fiamme Gialle, 'emblems, logos and original mechanical parts of the Japanese manufacturer, including rims, steering wheel, wheel arches, front and rear bonnet, had been replaced with products apparently entirely identical to those of the well-known sports model of the 'Prancing Horse', produced from 1994 to 1999 with 'Pininfarina' design'.

That's not all, because the car 'had been put on sale, also advertising it on the web, as Ferrari F355GTS without any indication of the price in a car showroom'. After the investigations, the car was seized by the financiers and 'the owner was m reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Catanzaro for forgery offences'.