Autotrader vehicle purchase screwed

BigBopper

rockall81 wrote: »

its a metro bank in UK

Never heard of them and looking on their website they refer to their locations as stores not banks. Too late now but hardly somewhere someone locating overseas would want their money paid into. Or maybe they're big in Norway.

rockall81

ok alright, its useful know. at least learnt something.

All i can do is earn that money as quickly as i can at least that will comfort me little.

rockall81

also is the bank should do more to recover my money?

straighttalker

No. Not at all.

force_ten

this has been going on for years and is known as the Phantom car scam

here is an article from what car going back about five years warning people of this scam

www.whatcar.com/car-news/cheque-fraud

they take genuine adverts and genuine pictures from sold cars and then re hash the advert to add all there details and contact details add a very attractive price and wait for the calls to roll in

sorry i cant offer you any advice on where to go but lets hope this thread will prevent others falling into the same trap

angrycrow

Metrobank are well know in london and home counties. They are a new bank who are focused on providing verg good customer service. They open 7 days a week. They are planning on expandinv into the midlands next but if you never go to london or homd counties you ard unlikely to have come across them.

To the op as has already been stated this is a very old scam which is well publicised. If a deal feels too good to be true it most likely is. Why would someond sell a car for 50% of market value when We Buy Any Car or their like will give you 70% hassle free. Also never ever buy a car you have not seen and test driven.

force_ten

rockall81 wrote: »

also is the bank should do more to recover my money?

the problem is that you authorised the payment and they made that payment on your behalf

the bank will have limited liabilities here because no fraud was committed on your account and you told them to make that payment

what will happen is the scammer opens an account passes all the security checks by using fake details or a stolen identity and then uses that account to take multiple payments for virtual vehicles they will then stall the buyers as long as they can withdraw all the money and disappear

the bank will not do anything unless the police ask them to investigate the fraud and you say the police aren't interested

www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-buyers-guide

that is an AA article on the shipping scam that you have fallen for

david29dpo

Concentrate on learning some common sense before you buy another car.

marty2be2000

Might be wise for the OP to read the advise on the Autotrader website.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/safety_and_security_centre

The scam still exists after all these years because people are still falling for it.

angrycrow

loskie wrote: »

this must be a wind up. surely folk are not as stupid as this!

If it did not occasionally work the scammers would not bother.

The other variation of the overseas car scam is on Ebay. Advert goes up for rare / desirable car located in Europe for a reasonable price normally around £20000 to £25000. Adverts states they will deliver car but auction is conditional on 10% deposit within 24 hours of auction end. Buyer pays deposit and spends 1 to 2 weeks exchanging emails with seller then the emails stop. The seller uses the two weeks to clean out the £2500 from the fake bank account.

The adverts use photos harvested from other sites to create fake listings. Once you know what to look for they are easg to spot and if you tip Ebay off they will pull the listing in a matter of minutes.