Urgent help required - My sister just got stung on e-bay - Big time...

reformedEffortMaker_2

I would also try posting your question here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=40 to see if you get more answers, good luck!

soolin

How awful to lose so much money, i can't really offer any more advice than that already given. Regardless of whether or not I was likely to get any money back I would still be insisting on making a statement via the police. this scam might be one of the most common out there but it is still a scam and it shouldn't disappear off the crime figures.

The car is probably legitimately owned elsewhere which is why checks came back showing all was OK. This scam is actually more common in the small ads as it tends to be picked up quicker on ebay and is harder to get people to part with money. Usually the scammer just uses a picture and an ad taken from another publication (hence it checking out properly) and puts up false details and asks for a payment method that can't be cancelled.

If you Google key words like car/advance/payment scam you'll find several pages of results. Maybe it is worth looking through them to see if anyone has had any success in getting police involvement or getting any money back?