Car sale scam?

lil'H

Hi all, I contacted someone relating to a car for sale on auto trader. The car was around 800 under valued, I thoguht either a) had damage or b) was someone in desperate need for quick sale. Anyway what follows is the email below. Obviously a scam, but how does the scam work? Does he simply take fake id in my name to retrieve the money, or does he have a contact at the western union? Is there anywhere I can report this to?

Hello there and sorry for my late reply ,

Please take a time and read this email with attention, because i want you to understand how the transaction works.

I am writing you regarding the 2005 Volkswagen New Beetle 1.9 TDi listed on auto trader. The car it's still for sale.It's in perfect condition inside and outside as well, never been implicated in accidents .
The car is located in Plymouth , UK . I have the full service history and the MOT will expire in Nov 2009.

The price that I'm asking for the car is GBP 2200.

I just open a store in my home city Augsburg / Germany and i need a car here . I already found one but i need to sell the one from Plymouth . UK .

Few days ago a person told me that he is very interested to buy the car and i need to fly to UK to make the transaction as soon as I can .I came to Plymouth next day because I trusted his word, but when I arrived I called him and he never answered me again. It's not about the money for the plane tickets but i lost 2 working days for nothing.
The time it's very precious for me.I am a genuine person and he disappointed me.

I just want to know if you really intend to buy the car because for this time I will fly to UK only if i have an insurance. I just want to see that you are a serious person and will be no problem if you don't want to buy the car.I need to be sure that you will be there.

I need a reason for you to come to Plymouth and the best way it's to transfer GBP 2200 ON YOUR NAME to Plymouth via Western Union .You have to find a Western Union office near you and ask a relative or a friend to send the money to your name to Plymouth . Your friend will go with your cash at w.u. and send the money (he will be the sender name) to your name , but on the receiver city he must write Plymouth, so you will be receiver name and can pick up your money from my town.

When the transfer it's made you have to send me a scanned copy of the W.U. receipt. In this way I will be sure that I have a serious buyer with cash money available.
After I will receive and check the western union transfer I will come in 2 days in Uk.When I will arrive at my home in Plymouth I will contact you so you can give me your address and after that I will take the car and all the documents, and I will come to you so we can close the deal.
If you decide to buy the car after you will test it, we will go to Western Union with the person that made the transfer (sender name) to change the receiver name(your name) with my name so I can pick up the money from western union in Plymouth .

So as you can see I am not asking you to send money in advance to me , my name it's not implicated.

If you are still interested to make the deal with me please reply asap

Thank you for your understanding .

Cheers

BillTrac

Pretty sure its a scam, seem to have read recently about them having the copy of the receipt and getting the money out before you can get to it.

I am sure more informed people than me will be on soon with a clearer warning, but I would not touch this with the proverbial bargepole

knowsleyroader

it is a scam. I had loads like that when my car was on AutoTrader. I emailed them back with a 'foxtrot oscar' then forwarded the original email to AutoTrader who dealt with it.

flutterbyuk25

There was something on Watchdog a few weeks ago about people scamming by using copies of western union receipts but can't remember how they actually did it.

x

CocoLoco_3

The very mention of Western Union should have you running for the hills!
There's some info about the scam here...

http://netcred.co.uk/security/western-union-fraud.html

medders2604

Yes also saw it on watchdog they were using this on people looking for flats.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2008/10/flathunters_transfer_trap.html

hollydays

Screams " Nigeria" to me.

BFG_2

In essence people think they are safe sending money via western union to themselves [the scammers say it's to show that the scamee is serious about renting the flat/selling the car, etc].

However the scammer asks you to email a copy of the transaction paperwork [as proof].

The scammers then have all the info they need [on the paperwork] to go into any WUnion and withdraw the money themselves [using fake ID and paperwork]

Clever b457ards.

mrtg0525

Western Union, "seller" supposedly not in the UK, car too cheap, yep, ticks most of the boxes.

It's a scam, like everybody else said.

skint-student-nurse

i just dont understand that the government/police/authorities are trying to combat fraud and scams like these...why dont they just ban money transfers using western union,etc? they are clearly not safe or traceable. i transfer money abroad all the time to my mum who is abroad and we have never used services like western money.

maninthestreet

skint-student-nurse wrote: »

i just dont understand that the government/police/authorities are trying to combat fraud and scams like these...why dont they just ban money transfers using western union,etc? they are clearly not safe or traceable. i transfer money abroad all the time to my mum who is abroad and we have never used services like western money.

WU is perfectly safe for transferring money to someone you know and trust, like your granny on holiday in deepest, darkest South America who has just lost all her money and traveller's cheques. Remember, if a person has the WU money transfer control number (MTCN), they can pick up the money from a WU agent anywhere in the world - you cannot rely on the WU agent checking the identity of the person picking up the money matches that named in the money transfer as the intended recipient. The golden rule for using WU is never use it in any way in relation to a business transaction or purchase, nor send money to someone you have never met.