One year after Russian scam artists pulled off a well-crafted key switch to steal high-end Mercedes-Benz SUVs from dealerships in two states, officials say they’ve seen no trace of the well-dressed culprits or the missing vehicles, and they haven’t heard of any similar schemes.

“Nothing ever turned up,” said Mike Baillargeon, service director at Holloway Mercedes-Benz in Greenland and a 38-year Holloway employee. “It’s essentially a dead end.

“We talked to the task forces with New Hampshire and Massachusetts state police, and both said it was a very pro hit because they moved in and out so fast,” Baillargeon recounted.

The thieves, two men and a woman, presented themselves at Holloway as Russians who ran a high-end dog grooming business. The salesman who helped the trio described the woman as young and strikingly beautiful.

Showing interest in an $88,000 GL 550 sport-utility vehicle, the crooks used sleight of hand to swap the real key for a valet key, then returned later with the real key to drive it off the dealership lot. Mercedes dealers in Haverhill and Westwood, Mass., also sustained losses in similar fashion.

“They swapped the key on us and locked the door,” recalled Baillargeon. “They gave us the blade key, we hung it up and thought it was OK. Of course, it wasn’t.”

As a result, Holloway Mercedes-Benz has changed its procedures for handing keys to customers.

“Now, if a salesperson goes with a customer, we take the key back and we lock the door,” Baillargeon said. “If we suspect the same thing as before, we don’t confront anyone, we just call the police.”

Baillargeon spent $20,000 to upgrade the surveillance system at Holloway’s Greenland location, which sits back off Route 33.

“With tough times like we have now, you just never know what can happen, as this proved,” Baillargeon said. “You never know what’s down the road and something else could perk up. We did learn a lesson.

“The new cameras we installed can pull up license plate numbers in the dark with infrared technology,” said Baillargeon.

“We figure we’d be ready to hand something readable to the police, than to say, ‘It’s too blurry.’”

Greenland police Detective David Kurkul, who worked the original investigation, echoed Baillargeon’s comments of a trail gone cold.

“We had some conversation with Mass. State Police, working the information they had, but nothing has come out of it.”

Mercedes-Benz of Westwood lost a $123,000 G55 boxy SUV without the distraction of the well-dressed blonde. Reports said the two men had distinct European accents, clearly tying the group to the interstate thefts.

“I can definitively state that we’ve not had a repeat incident in high-end dealerships here,” said Detective Paul Toland of the Westwood Police Department.

In a telephone interview, Toland said the Massachusetts Auto Theft Strike Force took an interest because the thefts were widespread and similar, but nothing new has turned up.

The sleight of hand switcheroo is not a folklore tale, despite its Hollywood-like slick operation that reminded some of tricks from “Ocean’s Eleven.”

“The only time the subject is brought up is at the monthly sales meeting,” said Baillargeon, “just to make sure everyone’s onboard.”

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Gerry Miles may be reached at gmiles@unionleader.com.