Used Car Scam

[Bushmiller]

If you are selling a used car you might be interested in knowing about a scam designed to take down the seller. Yes, the seller, not the buyer.

My son recently was selling a Mazda 323 for his friend who has suffered a severe stroke and can no longer drive.

The car was advertisied for sale through the internet for $5400. He was contacted and offered $6000. Wow! No haggling here. Terrific.

Sounded unusual, but if they want to pay more it's ok.

So how does it work? Firstly the scammer selects a car in good condition, but with a little bit of age on it and then the seller is flattered by the offer of a higher than advertised price. The buyer will have some excuse as to why he or she can't view the car. In this instance the person was a marine oceanographer stuck out at sea.

He said that he had organised an agent to collect any car for him wherever it might be and this agent was getting a fee of $1400. Bear in mind, you are a seller anxious to off-load your vehicle so what do you care if he wants to pay over the top and organise somebody to collect?

Oh, and to give some credence to the transaction he would like to pay via paypal. Now this sounds even better. My son organised a paypal account and the transaction progressed.

A few days later he received an email from paypal to say that $7400 had been deposited in his account and could he forward the $1400 to the agent for his share. He was given an account.

Of course, you have guessed it, the notification from paypal is bogus. The scam is for the $1400 if you are unaware the paypal communication is fraudulent.

My son was not caught out by this, but the unwary could be.

The old adage of "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true" still holds.

Regards
Paul

[Ozkaban]

Yeah, I had this a couple of times when I sold a car a few months back. It drives you nuts that there are scum sucking pigs out there just making the world a worse place...

Cheers,
Dave

[Bushmiller]

Yeah, I had this a couple of times when I sold a car a few months back. It drives you nuts that there are scum sucking pigs out there just making the world a worse place...

Cheers,
Dave

Dave

Yes. My son had to endure a number of similar contacts subsequent to the first scam. In the end, he was so vitriolic that I had to cover my ears.

Regards
Paul

[q9]

This has been going on for at least a couple of years now...

[FenceFurniture]

Well done on the heads up Paul. But I've gotta say anyone who falls for that probably deserves to lose their dough. When was the last time anyone offered more for a car (or anything) than the advertised price? Different story if the car has been "nearly" sold, you may get a higher offer. I think the Oceanographer must be an ex Real Estate sales"person".

Cheers, FF

[Sir Stinkalot]

I recently put my car up for sale on the regular online car sales sites.

Within 1 hour I got a text message which was basically along the lines of:
What is the best price. Send me an email.

The English in the text wasn't all that great but I didn't think much of it.

I sent off a text (not email) letting them that they are welcome to come and inspect and they should call me. Nothing came of it.

After that I received I would say about 20 messages similar to the first and about 3 genuine messages. All of the spam messages had similar email addresses and the same poor English. Whilst I like to think I am fairly savvy in such matters I can see how people may get caught up in it.

All the spam was reported to the websites where the car was advertised but they already had their money so they were not too concerned.

As for somebody wanting to pay more than the asking price ....... where is that alarm bells smilie?

[Bushmiller]

Well done on the heads up Paul. But I've gotta say anyone who falls for that probably deserves to lose their dough. When was the last time anyone offered more for a car (or anything) than the advertised price? Different story if the car has been "nearly" sold, you may get a higher offer. I think the Oceanographer must be an ex Real Estate sales"person".

Cheers, FF

FF

I'm with you here, but scams do occur and occasionally succeed. As I said, "If it's too good to be true.............."

Remember if demand is there, gazumping is real (perhaps the oceanographer was an ex RE person), although probably not for a Mazda 323 even if it is a good one.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

As for somebody wanting to pay more than the asking price ....... where is that alarm bells smilie?

Sir Stinky

Absolutely!

Regards
Paul

[munruben]

There is always someone out there waiting to pounce on the unwary