Selling van on autotrader - buyer from abroad?? Does this sound dodgy??

mrsbez_2

Hi,

Me and OH are selling his van on autotrader and we have been emailed from a guy who says he wants to buy the van. He says he is from lithuania, spain.

in his email he says he will pay by uk bankers draft and then arrange for it to be shipped to him.

Does this sound plausible to you. I'm quite happy as long as the cheque clears but would welcome any advice.

We haven't confirmed anything with him yet.

Van is only £2000 so noy big money, but don't want to take any risks.

maclean2

Steer well clear if I were you.

This sounds similar to the Nigerian Section 419 scam where mysterious gentlemen from Africa ask for your bank details so that they can make a bank transfer.It opens the door to all manner of fraud and dodgy dealings.

Sell it in the UK preferably for cash and save yourself the grief!

cledor

If I were you I'd take cash only and ask for proof of the buyer's UK address to make sure the DVLA are adequately informed.

snails's_pace

absolutly do not even reply to these conmen. i had loads of these when i sold my car. just press delete

Exemplar

For a start Lithuania is not in Spain.....

livinginhope

Don't do it,this is a very well known scam,been highlighted on Watchdog and many other consumer programmes.
LIH

Matt_Nixon

Had loads of these when I sold my Honda through Autotrader, all were variants on the 419 Scam.

Just delete them and don't put your email addy in the advert.

geo555

This is one of the most common scams around.
You will recieve a bankers draft for say £5000 and because of UK banking rules, it will clear in 5 days, then they ask you to send the balance via Western Union to a "shipping agent". Your bank will then discover that it is a forgery and will remove the funds from your account, leaving you out of pocket

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/CARS/buying/vehicle_export_scam.jsp

saintjanet

I have to agree with the other posters,although ,as a matter of interest, there are people who buy cars and take them abroad to resell as values are higher in some countries.

These scams are becoming more and more common,oh for the old days when i advertised in autotrader and a good old fashioned thief simply stole my car on a test drive!!

Hermione54

And anyone who thinks Lithuania is anywhere near Spain has to be pretty thick.

saintjanet

Hermione54 wrote: »

And anyone who thinks Lithuania is anywhere near Spain has to be pretty thick.

Your'e right everyone knows its near Australia:D