Scam alert on AutoTrader....

[Georgio]

Saw a very tempting offer on Auto Trader for a used Z4.
Contacted the seller who was 'conveniently' in Spain and went through the motions of conducting a deal with 'included shipping'.

Anyways, The long and the short of it is that the idea is you pay Yahoo Finance the money, they hold the funds while the car is 'shipped' to you and then release the funds to the seller when you give the thumbs up.
Of course what infact happens is that you transfer the money to who you 'think' is Yahoo Finance (but it isn't) they withdraw the funds immediately and surprise, surprise no car turns up...
Btw the seller sounds very convincing and genuine, but I did some checks and apparently the same car has already been sold twice this month with both parties losing their dosh.

So just a heads up to anyone tempted by a black Z4 being sold by Gerald from Spain, don't do it unless you like being scammed.

[dan425]

Good spot, is there a way of reporting this to AutoTrader?

[Georgio]

I will have a look but considering the advert was only up for a day it may well be that they sussed it and pulled it this morning.
I've reported this to local police but they're not really interested as a crime 'wasn't actually committed'.

The funny thing was that I told the guy I was flying down to see the car personally before buying and that was when the alarm bells started ringing when he was giving all the excuses under the sun why I shouldn't.

The bottom line is that anyone who is 'offering' to ship a car to your door for free is a scam merchant; by all means have a play with them and wind them up, but never, ever, EVER part with any cash, despite how tempting the deal sounds and you'll be safe.

[LeeME3]

I've found a few of these in the past and AutoTrader weren't exactly helpful...they pulled the ads eventually but it took an inordinate amount of time. Although they did send me the very helpful advice of "if you don't believe a seller is genuine we would recommend you do not proceed with the transaction". Handy that!

[SuZ4]

I personally know someone who lost nearly 15k through one of these adverts in Autotrader. He was a computer programmer and had no idea that the web links given for payment etc were fraudulent, ie large genuine company web sites for shipping/payment but diverted to personal comps.When the police got involved they found at least 5 others who had lost the same amount on that one car. He said Autotrader werent that bothered ie sorry we cant help. Looks like the scam is still going strong though

Corrie Phil

[allpine99]

Im not being funny but why would anyone buy a car without seeing it and paying for it over the internet i really dont believe this story i just cant see anyone being stupid enough to do it it dont make sense that anyone would actually do that pay for a car they have not seen and pay for it over the internet .

[Pauly]

Im not being funny but why would anyone buy a car without seeing it and paying for it over the internet i really dont believe this story i just cant see anyone being stupid enough to do it it dont make sense that anyone would actually do that pay for a car they have not seen and pay for it over the internet .

X2 Im totally with you here on this one its not like your buying some cheap rubbish from the web and your not too arsed if it turns out to be of a poor quality. A car for most people is the second largest purchase after a house, so handing over a vast amount of money on-line is just crazy to me people have enough s**t with their cars that are purchsed from Main Stealers never mind some on-line pirate

[allpine99]

i dont think even the most optimistic scammer would even think of doing this they would think they would have no chance of anyone falling for it . . totally ridiculous

[Georgio]

This is not a 'story' this is fact.
E-commerce scamming is being more and more prevalent especially as the recession starts to bite. These guys are very,very convincing and you really need to be on your guard.
It's not a question of stupidity or guillability but of opportunity; they try and convince you that the car you are looking at is the bargain of the century, but you'd better be quick as three other people are also after it etc.
Classic pressure sales and they're masters at it.
The websites they setup are somehow linked to the 'real' company websites but they piggy back the site to make it more convincing.

Im not being funny but why would anyone buy a car without seeing it and paying for it over the internet i really dont believe this story i just cant see anyone being stupid enough to do it it dont make sense that anyone would actually do that pay for a car they have not seen and pay for it over the internet .

[gookah]

I have just bought a new house this way, and I only paid them £325,000, they are delivering it next week, from Spain.
I hope it is not a scam....

He was a computer programmer and had no idea

Therein lies the answer .... probably more degrees than a protractor, and obviously no common sense, I wonder if he tried restarting his laptop to see if the money came back....

[Gerry]

It would be interesting to how common theses scams are, http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/life/consu ... -23509424/

[SuZ4]

Hang on a sec fellas, I am certainly not bullshitting, I am talking fact. And as for taking the pi55 about the bloke being a comp programmer, he wasca mechanic who went back to study at 30, so no geek, the point I was making was even he didn't recognise that the websites had been hijacked.

[gookah]

they try and convince you that the car you are looking at is the bargain of the century, but you'd better be quick as three other people are also after it etc.

Well I would question if 3 people all wanted it, why would a car salesman still be offering it to me at a bargain price...
If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.
I get regular emails from 'Banks' telling me my account is about to be closed, asking me to provide every bit of detail they need to get into it. Why do people still fall for this?

I once had Barclaycard phone me up to offer me some unbeatable deals, and they then went on to ask me my security details to make sure I was actually the cardholder, I refused to give them this over the phone and they were dumbfounded that I wouldn't. When questioned why, I said they could be anyone calling me asking me to give them all they need to access my account. They then concurred with what I said, and told me no one had ever questioned it before......

[bmwangler]

Im not being funny but why would anyone buy a car without seeing it and paying for it over the internet i really dont believe this story i just cant see anyone being stupid enough to do it it dont make sense that anyone would actually do that pay for a car they have not seen and pay for it over the internet .

Hundreds of people every year part with sometimes large lumps of cash for "business opportunities" or land in Timbuktu - sight unseen.

They aren't all remedial - just guilty of wanting to believe someone is telling the truth when they say they are.

As so rightly stated above - if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is

[Georgio]

Yea he also did say something about being a Nigerian prince with a need to deposit a few billion dollars somewhere for a while...

Im not being funny but why would anyone buy a car without seeing it and paying for it over the internet i really dont believe this story i just cant see anyone being stupid enough to do it it dont make sense that anyone would actually do that pay for a car they have not seen and pay for it over the internet .

Hundreds of people every year part with sometimes large lumps of cash for "business opportunities" or land in Timbuktu - sight unseen.

They aren't all remedial - just guilty of wanting to believe someone is telling the truth when they say they are.

As so rightly stated above - if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is