Gumtree scams!

bigwig7

i am not sure if this is the correct place to post but i am sure the moderators will re direct if not.

i saw an amazing vehicle for sale on Gumtree and contacted the seller.(2002 VW T4 2.5TDI LWB 102BHP MURVI MALLARD HI-TOP CONVERSION)this vehicle was a bargain price of £3,255.00 with only 30,000 miles on the clock. Almost too good to be true.

i assumed that the price was wrong but got an email back saying that he would take £3200.00 but was in spain so had left the van with a shipping company and that payment had to be made to them(bank transfer only) then the van would be delivered, if the van was not as it was discribed then i could send it back for a full refund.

my alarm bells were ringing but i asked if i would be possible to see the van.
it was then removed from Gumtree and i assumed it had been sold as it was such a good deal.

i was suprised to see that the seller had messaged me saying that it was still for sale and gave me a link to the website describing the shipping company but they did not have a phone number.

when i looked on google for info about them all i could find was there own website info and that the domain name was registered only 2 weeks before. I dont know if that is relevant or not but it made me even more suspicious.

the seller sent me a number apparently of the shipping company and i left a message. i was called back and i could barely understand the guy wo had called back from customer services and he was reluctant to have a conversation and only wanted to state that they were involved in delivery and payment and it would be impossible to see the van prior to purchase and i could only pay by bank transfer. when i asked to speak to someone else as i was struggling to understand whether or not i could have copies of the paperwork you get with the van (T&Cs and returns policies and complaints). the conversation ended suddenly with him hanging up on me.!

according to vwt4forum members this is not uncommon.

So buyers beware if it seems too good to be true it probably is!!

Bigwig

soolin

Extremely common scam, if you do a Google search you will find several pages of this being reported.

oscarward

I had something very similar 2 years ago with an Ebay item, the car was an aston martin for £8k. Ok extremely low price but you do hear of footballers wives taking revenge etc. so I thought I'd have a go. it was a sale with just a contact seller button which was a bit odd.

The listing was pulled and the seller asked for communication to go through a Gmail account, the story was that the the car was bought in UK to use in germany where he worked but he couldn't register it there unless it was LHD (that's wrong) so was selling it and was at a shippers in Hamburg to come back. As the paperwork was with shipper he couldn't provide a copy of the V5 etc. I asked to view the car at the shipper but i couldn't see the car as it was packed up etc.

The seller then said they would accept that the money would be paid in to Escrow with Ebay and produced an email address to confirm to. When the money was in escrow he would ship the car and I would email 'Ebay' when I was satisfied with car and they would release funds to seller.

All very plausible and safe though if you didn't know better.

When I checked Ebay told me they don't do escrow, I thought they didn't but wanted to make sure.

I knew it was a scam by now but was just curious to see where it went to. So we had a few more exchanges of emails with him saying it was perfectly safe to send the money to the 'Ebay' escrow account and did I want the car?

Anyway I checked the domain for the supposed Ebay Email address and it was provided by an ISP from Aberdeen and whois told me that it was owned by some guy who lived in Dundee and only set up 3 weeks previously.

I'd had enough by now so reported him to the ISP , Ebay basically didn't want to know as the listing was no longer there.

That was the last I heard

kevinyork

Surely anyone taken in by these scams deserve what they get? Vehicles at prices way below book price then being told the transaction has to be completed in a 'strange' way. Some must be gullable as people wouldnt still keep trying these scams out.

trigirl1979

I think it is unfair to say people deserve to get conned. Not everyone is as savy as people on this board. This stunk of scam from miles away, but sadly there are people who are easily taken in by these cowardly tricksters. Often those who are new to the net, elderly or have learning difficulties. I really think it is cruel to say people deserve to be ripped off.