Car scams

[Jimmyvonviggle]

As some of you might do, I peruse online car ads. Lately I have come across some obviously fake ads. This peaked my curiosity so I played along and responded. Much to my surprise they email me back. Usually it is the same response but with different twists. Here is one such email I got;


"Hello,
I got ur reply to my Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray 1964 ad listed on the kijiji and i confirm that is still for sale for $9000.
1964 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray with only 120000 km,Gasoline fuel type,Manual transmission.
Metalic paint,A/C,Radio & CD.
Runs very well and nothing wrong with it at all,very well maintained.

I'm getting rid of my car cuz i no longer use it since i went abroad for a job contract where i'll be living for three long years and i left the car to my cousin who was keeping it since a few months but he called me a few days ago saying that he's moving to Altanta and he can't any longer keep my car.
I don't have anyone else around who will be keeping it for me for all those long years so i decided to sell it quickly at a low price to get rid of it.
So i intrusted the car to a private truck driver in Ontario who's taking care of the sale and of its delivery as well.
Im very happy that u find interest in my classic car and i can only tell u that u fell on a good deal and the car is in very great shape,nothing wrong with it at all,u'll have great fun with it.
So i've talked to the truck driver that i found someone who's buying it and he's requesting ur details and house address so that he will transport the car and all its paperworks to ur door with no charges and once the car is at ur home you will test it,check the papers with the ministry of transportation and if u find everything ok then u will take the car and settle the payment of the $9000 cash to become the new owner of my wonderful car.
So get back to me with ur following details and address and i'll forward them to the delivery guy and he will get in touch with u to set up a time for the delivery and the car will be brought to u asap:
Full name:............../City:................./Post code:................./House address:................./Phone #:..................

I'll be waiting to hear from u asap."


So what I am wondering is what do they expect to gain here? How are they able to con someone in this situation?

[DMCMW Dave]

As some of you might do, I peruse online car ads. Lately I have come across some obviously fake ads. This peaked my curiosity so I played along and responded. Much to my surprise they email me back. Usually it is the same response but with different twists. Here is one such email I got;


"Hello,
I got ur reply to my Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray 1964 ad listed on the kijiji and i confirm that is still for sale for $9000.
-----
u asap."


So what I am wondering is what do they expect to gain here? How are they able to con someone in this situation?

Some guy shows up at your house at an appointed time, knowing you have $9000 cash in your pocket. That seems a bit worrisome to me.

[DeLorean03]

Wow, what a setup. Hope you have a CCW....

I'd be making that a public address like a shopping mall parking lot or somewhere nice and open. That junk is scary.

[Doogie]

You'll never get that far.

All the up front info is BS. They want to get you excited about the possibility that you could maybe own this car. Cheap, desperate seller, etc.

The very last line says "Give me all your personal info and I will send my truck driver to you"

That's the one.

"Give me all your info"

Later, he will send you an email asking for other things, promising that "John Smith" (name of trucker) will be there at 9:15am on Friday at your address with car. Please provide cashiers check. "John's phone number is "555-122-1234" if you need to call him (me)"

"Hey Buddy, can you tell me the name of the bank you are going to write the check on? I want to be sure this is a safe transaction"

(Now he is transfering the ownership of authenticity onto you, making you want to make him feel good about the transfer)

You are all hyped up about geting the car at a steal, and want to make sure he is comfortable with YOU buying it, so you drop him you banks' name.

Now he has you name, address, City, St, Zip, Bank Name.

It just keeps going from here.

Doogie

[Jimmyvonviggle]

Just to be clear, I would never give my info out to these people. I also never, not for a second thought these ads were real. I was just curious to how these scams work, since other sellers on kijiji (I think that is ebay classifieds in Canada), say there's a lot of BS going on.

But thanks for the replies, never occurred to me all the bad scenarios.

[Dangermouse]

I followed a similar scam a few years ago for an X5, that was co-incidentally listed at $9k (and has other similarities – “money back guarantee etc) . As this was a $30k car at the time, I knew that it was a scam, but was intrigued as to what info they would be after:

My initial request:

Hi, I saw your ad in the paper at the weekend. Can you send me some pictures or more details of the car?

thanks, Dermot

His reply:

Hello,

I am sorry for answering you with a little delay but I was pretty busy with work over here and couldn't get back to you sooner. I am very pleased to see you are interested in my vehicle.
I must tell you that I have moved for some time to Madrid/Spain with my work and the 2004 BMW X5 is here with me. Some while ago I had it auctioned on eBay and had a buyer for it. So, I came from Madrid to US and arranged to send the car to him(the winner of my eBay auction). It turned out after all that his bank loan was not approved and he didn't have the money to pay for it. I was very disappointed with this because I've spent a lot of time and money, so I decided not to sell it anymore and I've brought it with me to Madrid.
Now I realize that I have at least 5-6 good reasons not to drive the car here in Madrid, and I have decided to sell it to someone from USA, since the car is under current registration there. This car isn't made to be driven here. I have an Mini Cooper which is my daily driver here. Madrid it's the type of town where you need the smallest and cheapest car possible. I've tried selling the car here but after visiting a few dealers they all recommended me also to sell it elsewhere than Spain (the first option to be USA). So, after thinking through I decided to sell the car back in US (I could use the money for it right now as I am kind of short and the price I want to obtain for the car is $9,000). I knew this task will be difficult to me after the past experience on eBay so I decided to ask a few people what should I do this. Many of the dealers I went to sell them the car recommended me the services of a very good protection service to work this deal out. I took the car yesterday to this company and I am thrilled of their services and of the professional way they understand doing their job.

So if we decide on all the aspects of the transaction this company will take care of everything (paperwork, title, contract, delivery to your address ).
If you are interested to buy the car and you want more details about the procedure please reply and I will explain to you the entire procedure.
Regards,
Stephen B.
P.S. I have attached some pictures of the car too, and here is a list with the car's features:

He attaches a bunch of pictures of the car in a sub-division that looks very like a typical Atlanta one. I liked that he had conveniently bold-faced the car and price, so that he could cut and paste other vehicles for his next scam. As he suspected, I was “interested” and asked for clarification of the location of the car, and the “procedures”


Hello again,

The car is in Spain, as I have told you earlier. It is very clean, no accidents or damages. Please alow me to explain how the deal will work: The total price for this car is $9,000 shipping taxes will be splitet between us (it will be $500 each).
Here are the transaction steps:
1- You will send me your full name and shipping address because I need them to open a case for our deal with the protection service (we will use eBay Motors Purchase Protection);
2- You will be contacted by eBay Motors Purchase Protection with all the details about our transaction,
3-You will make a small deposit to eBay Motors Purchase Protection(Which will be secured by the legalized Sales Contract from eBay Motors Purchase Protection),
4-I will send you the car for inspection along with all the documents( title, a bill of sale).
5-Ifyou want to keep the car, you will pay me the remaining balance to eBay Motors Purchase Protection. If you don't want to keep it, you will send it back tome and I will support the shipping back fees; and eBay Motors Purchase Protection will refund your deposit.

I think that the fact of using eBay Motors Purchase Protection Service is a good and effective thing, and the fact that our transaction is protected by a contract which is according to the international trading laws gives us an advantage. I will wait your full name and shipping address so i can open a case with eBay Motors Purchase Protection regarding our deal.

Thanks,
Stephen


Sure, I’ll send you all my details. And if I don’t like it, you’ll happily pay the $1000 to ship it back to Spain. Great plan. But wait, it’s my lucky day

Stephen, Sorry for the delay, I was getting some insurance quotes for an X5. It'll be a little more than the Mercedes that I have at the moment.

My boss has just told me that I have to go to Lyon in France for meetings on Oct 31/Nov 1. I was thinking of renting a car (it doesn't look too far) and driving down to Madrid and test driving the car. I know gas would be more expensive, but it would save shipping it all the way to the states and back if it didn't work out. Would that be possible, probably the weekend of Nov 3rd?

thanks, Dermot

Aren’t I helpful, saving him all that trouble. Apparently not –
Hi,

It is a good thing that you are comming near Spain, but trust me, you have a lot driving to do to Madrid (it's like 1000 miles).
If I will not sell the car untill then, I will be more than happy to meet you, but you cannot see the car, and I will explain you why: the car is in a sealed container in the Sevilla harbour, and if I cannot open the container untill it reaches it's destination. If I will open it before, I will need to pay a lot of taxes again, and I do not afford to lose more money then I had with this car. What I am trying to say to you is that whatever you are comming here or not, I cannot show you the car untill it's destination, and we will not save the shipping costs since they are already paid off. I am telling you, once you will receive the car you will not want to send it back, because it is in the same condition I have described to you and as it can be seen from the pictures (eBay will guarantee the car's condition to you by contract, and if the car is not as I've described it to you, I will need to pay you a fine of $9.000 for making you lose your time). What I need from you at this point is a ferm answer, I need to know if you wish to proceed, and if you do, send me your full name and address to start the process. If you are not interested, please let's not waste our time.

Thanks for understanding,
Stephen

Ignoring for a moment that Seville is 50 miles from the coast and is therefore unlikely to have a harbor, and that an American ex-pat would not spell it “harbour”, it seems like I am stymied. I’ll just have to send him all my details. I conclude that it is too far to go and ask for the VIN, which he gives me, and indeed it is a valid VIN, maybe even for the car that he sent me pictures off.

But when I ask him a few more questions, he stops answering me. I must have been wasting his time, time that could be spent selling his non-existent car to someone else. :bawling:

[DMCVegas]

Between the bad English and the inaccuracies in dialect, I can't help be read all of the messages in this guy's voice:


http://postfiles3.naver.net/20120421_274/fevergo_13350083772329ygD4_PNG/Eurotrip.2004.Unrated.DivX5.AC3.CD2-WAF.avi20.png?type=w1

[Mike C.]

It's an old scam.

Dermot, that's just great! lol! Make em squirm! :D