Is this likely to be a car scam?

powerful_Rogue

Posted this thread last week about a car fro sale on ebay which turned out to be a scam. (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php)

Found another car and alarm bells are starting to ring, just wondered what others thought.

This is the ad - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320977988659?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

1) Quite a good price for a Fiat 500, especially that model with the low mileage.

2) New user with zero feedback. Registered on ebay 5th Sepetember 2012.

3) Pictures taken on a garage forecourt.

4) Messaged seller a few questions and 24 hours later get a text message. Instead of displaying a number it shows "Sarah68682" Text says "If you are still interested to buy the fiat 500 manual 1.3 multijet lounge for £4400, please email me at fiatf@btconfs.com Cheers".

Why not keep all communication in ebay?

Sent an email to the email address asking a few questions and just waiting to hear back.

powerful_Rogue

Haha, Just received a reply back from my email as I was typing out the message above!

Still for sale. Immaculate condition, no damages, never involved in any type of accidents. All necessary documents available. V5 present in my name.My current location is Scotland due to my work commitments. If this is going to be a quick sale, I will let it go for £4,400 delivered at my costs. The deal will go strictly according to eBay Buyer Protection rules and policy.
Thank you

Seems like its exactly the same scam as I posted before! Another report to ebay

powerful_Rogue

Offered £4000 and said I was in Scotland on business in two days time so could meet up and pay cash, collect the car. Got this back

£4,000 is accepted as long we do it with eBay. Due to my location and since view is not an option I have requested personal support and I was approved to use Buyer Protection Program. Here is how the process works:

- you give me your full name and shipping address
- I start the transaction with the eBay,
- they send further payment instructions,
- you have to pay for the item to eBay to secure the funds,
- they confirm me that they received the funds,
- I deliver the car,
- you receive the car,
- they send me the money.


Everything is covered by eBay. I will get paid only after you confirm that you received the car in good order.
Let me know if this is acceptable. Thank you

System

Ask him why it spent 3 months without an MOT?

TKPeters

Scam
- you have to pay for the item to eBay to secure the funds,
- they confirm me that they received the funds,

eBay do not take payments & even Paypal do not deal with classifieds
You'll get a fake payment request & scammed via your card details.

TKPeters

Ask them for the 11 digit reference number from the V5 or the MOT Certificate Number, although they will not be able to provide them as its a scam

powerful_Rogue

TKPeters wrote: »

Scam
- you have to pay for the item to eBay to secure the funds,
- they confirm me that they received the funds,

eBay do not take payments & even Paypal do not deal with classifieds
You'll get a fake payment request & scammed via your card details.

I must admit ive played along with this one as wanted to see how they would try and collect payment.

The emails they sent pretending to be from ebay are very believeable if you wasnt clued up on this kind of thing.

Mindless_Clone

TKPeters wrote: »

Ask them for the 11 digit reference number from the V5 or the MOT Certificate Number, although they will not be able to provide them as its a scam

:rotfl:

Good idea. String 'em along a little bit longer, sound really keen and then ask, as you can't view it before buying, if they'd mind if your friend in Scotland could come look it over... or failing that if you could have the VIN so you can do a car check with it (which is a pretty reasonable thing to do when buying a new car).


... then tell them you can only pay by Western Union...

markwilkinson

I think this is a pretty old scam.

A friend of mine wanted to buy an Audi TT a few years ago and emailed me a link to one on EBay that looked cheap, for me to look at.

It was (?) a UK car and the photos showed it as having UK plates, but the car was in Portugal. I told said friend to leave well alone! I also decided to have a bit of fun.... The listing said the car would be put in a shipping container to the UK at the sellers expense. Like the OP, the buyer was to pay EBay and when the buyer received the car and was happy eBay would then release the money. I decided to contact the seller and offer to save them money by flying out (at my expense), pay cash and drive the car back to the UK. I did get a response to the effect that they prided themselves in giving a food service so wouldn't want to give me an inconvenience by having to come and collect and by having the car shipped would avoid this. I responded by saying, thanks for your thoughtfulness but it's a good excuse for a little holiday/road trip, and pointed out how much money I was saving them. Never heard from the seller again :rotfl:.

I had a little hobby for the next couple of weeks, seeking out these listings and then offering to jet around Europe, saving sellers money by paying cash and driving the cars home. I got bored though, none of them wanted to take me up on my MSE offer!

Roger_Pullin

You are dead right this is a massage scam, I replied to a Smart Car 09 Plate for £3300 to Sarah Neale from Dundee Scotland advertised on Ebay with the PayPal buyers protection, Said she was working in Scotlaand but the car was in Bassaleg Newport, and requested that I pay by Bank Transfer at Barclays after some 70 odd emails the car did not arrive, The money was paid into an account in the name of L.Balham London, I contacted Barclays who first of all said under the Data Protection act they could not help, but fortunutley I banked with Barclays through my business, so I went to see him and off the cuff he told me what to do, and that there were 5 othe payments paid into this account and he said he would speak to his fraud department he came back and said they had frozen the account. I then new my money was in the account so I took out a small claims court order this cost me about £300.00 got a date to go to court on 25.01.13 then on the 23.01.13. I had a telephone call from Barclays asking if I would settle for £3300, this I did but I had still lost to the courts £300.00 but then that was better than £3300.00 so if any other person has been caught please persue it through the courts, For your information her address is
Sarah Neale 33 Atherstone Terrace Dundee Scotland DD 46 QT, Her emails she goes under are Sarah68682 and Sarah@btconfs.com
Should you require any further help you may contact me via this site. Yours Roger

Jen_Jen1985

Roger_Pullin wrote: »

You are dead right this is a massage scam, I replied to a Smart Car 09 Plate for £3300 to Sarah Neale from Dundee Scotland advertised on Ebay with the PayPal buyers protection, Said she was working in Scotlaand but the car was in Bassaleg Newport, and requested that I pay by Bank Transfer at Barclays after some 70 odd emails the car did not arrive, The money was paid into an account in the name of L.Balham London, I contacted Barclays who first of all said under the Data Protection act they could not help, but fortunutley I banked with Barclays through my business, so I went to see him and off the cuff he told me what to do, and that there were 5 othe payments paid into this account and he said he would speak to his fraud department he came back and said they had frozen the account. I then new my money was in the account so I took out a small claims court order this cost me about £300.00 got a date to go to court on 25.01.13 then on the 23.01.13. I had a telephone call from Barclays asking if I would settle for £3300, this I did but I had still lost to the courts £300.00 but then that was better than £3300.00 so if any other person has been caught please persue it through the courts, For your information her address is
Sarah Neale 33 Atherstone Terrace Dundee Scotland DD 46 QT, Her emails she goes under are Sarah68682 and Sarah@btconfs.com
Should you require any further help you may contact me via this site. Yours Roger

Why would Barclays phone you to offer a settlement? surely your claim would be against the person who "sold" you the car not their bank.