From the outside, Bristol County Auto Exchange looked like your average used car lot tucked along Route 6 in Swansea, Massachusetts. But prosecutors say car dealer Edward Cicciu ran a very different kind of business behind that sign.

On April 10, Cicciu, who’s 46, stood before a judge in Fall River Superior Court, facing a mountain of charges: 125 in total, including multiple counts of larceny, forgery, and misuse of RMV documents. This all stems from what prosecutors allege was a sweeping fraud scheme that unfolded between October 2023 and September 2024.

Cicciu allegedly sold vehicles he didn’t legally own. He acquired the cars on loan from auctions, never paid them off, and sold them without proper documentation. Customers handed over their money in good faith, expecting plates, paperwork, and clean titles. Instead, they got phony New Jersey temp tags and empty promises. When buyers followed up, the calls stopped getting answered.

Back in October 2024, authorities arraigned the car dealer in district court for similar allegations and hit him with a $100,000 cash bail. A judge also yanked his bail in a separate Taunton, Massachusetts, case involving $15,000 in bad checks. Since then, the number of reported victims has nearly doubled – from 25 to 47 – with total losses now topping $325,000.

The operation went beyond just dodgy sales. Prosecutors say Cicciu wrote refund checks that bounced like superballs and took consignment vehicles from sellers, only for those cars – and the cash – to vanish.

Bristol County Auto Exchange, which opened in 2020, has since shuttered, The Herald News shared. But the fallout keeps growing. Victims range in age from 18 to 80, and the car dealer fraud case shows no signs of slowing down. DA Tom Quinn didn’t mince words, calling Cicciu’s repeat offenses “extremely disturbing.”