Scam or not?

MrsWi

Hi All,

Got a situation - we would like to buy a motorhome, but haven't got much to spend on it - 5 grand tops. Been looking around and found an unbelievable deal - Fiat Ducato Top Driver for 5.3 K. Now they are normally berween 10 and 15 K. Guy say that he lives in Holland, been working in the UK for a year, now cannot afford the tax to use it in Holland, plus it's RHD. But the van is in Holland at the moment.
Here is what he offers
The reg number is X186ADF, you can check it and we can assure you that the van is HPI clear.As i said for us will be a long way , for this time we want to be sure that everything will be ok,that is the reason that we choose pppay, it is an uk company and you can check them.We lost time and money last time when we had a meeting with the buyer from dover and we will not come again just for a word,hope that you understand .
We will pay the pppay taxes who will be about 100 pounds .
After i read about them i understand how they work and i will explain you again :
-i will start the transaction through their system, i will pay the escrow fee
-they will confirm you the transaction and will require a deposit of 50% sent to their bank account
-once they have the confirmation from you that you done the transfer , will inform us to proceed with the meeting
-you will meet us and you will have a couple of days to check the van and the documents
-if you would like the van and you want to keep it , they will require the rest of the money sent to their bank account and will release the funds to me
-if the van is not like we described , you will ask for a refund and the money will be in your bank account in the same day.
Please tell us if you want to go ahead as soon as possible as we have other buyers who are interested and we dont want to waste their time.

So he seems very clever about the transaction and kind of ready to come over with the van at a drop of a hat. I am thinking - he comes over after getting my deposit, there would be something that we don't like about the van (e.g. he 'accidentally' bumps it on the ferry), we tell him we don't like it and he drives away... £2650 richer.

Am I being paranoid?

skylight

Its a scam.

They want 50% up front and you haven't seen the car as its not in this country? The 50% will be lost - the account/emails/confirmations will be false and the money will be in their accounts and gone quite quickly.

The car is being sold for less than half the going rate, not in this country and they propose 50% is placed somewhere other than your pocket before they arrange a meeting with you? Would you think this was OK if a parent or your child asked you what you thought? You would tell them to run a mile.

MrsWi

Thanks, that was my thinking as well... As they say, if it's too goood to be true it probably is. But it's so hard not to give in! Our dream motorhome !

skylight

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/CaravanClubApps/Applications/caravan-classifieds/details.aspx?id=483323&page=1

In Tyne and Wear. At least its not Holland!
Nice van. Can see why you want one.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Definitely a scam. Steer well clear.

If you can, inform the source of the advertisement.

MrsWi

that's the one, but the seller confirmed that it is in Holland. If he is genuine, why didn't he leave it in storage here?

Lum

Well known scam.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2338591 has examples very very similar to yours.

patman99

But why insist on PPPay?. They have a reclaim procedure just like Paypal.

forgotmyname

It will probably be outside their protection.

Is a deposit for an item protected?