AutoTrader scam

Mr_Mink

Jox wrote: »

Sorry to jump on this thread, just wondering if this is a scam? I saw a car on autotrader, it had 2 photos, I emailed to ask for more photos.

The person who replied said:

"Hi,
My name is xxxx, happy to see you are interested in my Bmw 320 series . Let me give you a few details about it. 104,000 miles, no damage, no accidents, no scratches, garage kept, non-smoker, 1 previous owners. Full clear HPI report, 2 keys, V5, logbook, service book and all handbooks. The price was reduced at £3,500. Because of my divorce settlement, i own this car i don`t need it so i`m trying to get rid of it as soon as possible (that`s why i`m selling it so cheap).
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.
Please send me an email at xxx for more pictures and details
Best Regards"

Again, I emailed him to ask for more photos and here is the second reply:

"Hi ,
As I told you in my first email, I recently got divorced. I got a new job and moved to Spain for a new start. The car is already at the shipping company in Manchester sealed and ready for the shipping. My presence won't be necessary because I prearranged the deal with eBay.

I will post the car on eBay and I will give you the URL link to press ''buy it now'' option .

I will explain you explain step by step how does eBay Buyer Protection Program works:

eBay will hold and insure your money until you receive and test the vehicle. This is how their service works. As far as the seller concerns, I will be glad to know that eBay is in possession of the funds during the delivery process. You will pay eBay the required amount ( £3,500.00 ), and they will secure it until you get the vehicle. You will be given a 5 days inspection period during which you can decide whether you keep it or not. If you are satisfied with it, you will confirm that to eBay so they can unblock the funds and send it to me. If you are determined in buying the vehicle, please send me an email with your full name and full shipping address. I will post the transaction mentioning the vehicle details, the price etc on eBay and confirm you as the buyer.

After the transaction is processed they will send you the invoice explaining the exact procedure...it's quite simple."

It's a scam right??

It's either a scam or the seller is a bit of a !!!!!!. I'd look for another car if I were you.

Also, check this from the mouth of the horse in question:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/eBay-Motors-Vehicle-Purchase-Protection-Program-SCAM-/10000000175168403/g.html

gb12345

Definite scam - eBay's Buyer Protection doesn't apply to vehicles - they will send you some fake emails claimin to be from eBay confirming the protection nd then ask you to send the money (probably via Western Union or Moneygram) and then you'll hear no more from them.

Jox

Thanks, the car is selling for £1,300 less than webuyanycar would buy it for so it must be dodgy!

Jox

Yes, it's a scam, thanks everyone!

Autotrader replied to me as well:

"I can confirm that the email you have received is a scam e-mail, I would strongly recommend you stop any further correspondence with this scam.
Please may I reassure you that Auto Trader takes this matter very seriously and we constantly review the content of our safety and security centre and advice pages, to help our customers avoid contact from canvassers or scammers when selling or buying a vehicle.
Unfortunately there are a small number of unscrupulous people who will go to great lengths to attempt to abuse the good nature of people buying or selling cars using our website. For this reason Autotrader regularly updates the advice that we on our website to advise buyers how to avoid these scams.
This information and the link are easily accessible from our home page and are highlighted under the buying a car section at: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/safety_and_security/
We do work closely with the police, trading standards and other authorised bodies by providing them with all the assistance and information they require to catch these criminals.
We do report every fraudulent email account that is sent to us to the Service Provider, ie, Yahoo, Gmail, Sky etc, we would also encourage our customers to also do this as sometimes the Provider will ask for a copy of the email received along with the footers and headers before any action will be taken.
Although we can provide a facility to hide e-mail addresses we are unable to control the people who e-mail customers through the link on your advert. We do advise our customers of this when they are placing their advert online.
You will always find with scam emails that they will just send you a one line question, like the below, as soon as you reply, they have your email address and they will then send a second email direct to you, this email will go into great length that they want to purchase the car/bike, they can’t come to see it, and they will ask to use Pay Pal/bankers draft/Western Union as a method of payment.
It is likely that the car is real, but the seller’s account has been compromised and a scammer is pretending to be the seller."

thenudeone

Clear scam.

So many pointers, but the most obvious straight away is that ebay buyer protection doesn't apply to cars or other vehicles http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/buyer-protection.html#whats

I expect that if you agreed, you would be sent a link to a convincing ebay lookalike website and then a paypal lookalike. With you paypal password, they could then empty your bank accounts and cards.

londonTiger

fake escrow scam. Very common. There were quite a few on gumtree. Unbeleivably large and furnished flats in London for £500pcm.

get you to pay the deposit before even seeing the flat. Next thing you know. Boom phone cut off. No way to trace payments.

Jamie_Carter

Some of these scams are even more sophisticated, and are usually operated by organised criminals. They will actually clone a legitimate dealer's website.