Am I being scammed?

[sasker]

it works like this;
if he has the full docs and service history etc, he can put an advert into our auto trader/ebay etc and pretend that he owns the car.
he can post pictures of your car pretending that he is the current owner.

when someone responds to the advert, he tells them that he is abroad with the car but it is available to be transported direct to the buyer once the funds are released to an escrow account with a reputable company such as Amazon.

the unsuspecting buyer feels that his money is safe in an escrow account because its with a known organisation and deposits the money. after all, he has seen the docs and service history etc so it must be true.

the seller/scammer tells the buyer that he will transport the car direct to the buyer at the sellers cost and that the buyer will have 3 days to inspect the Z4 and if he likes it, he can then tell amazon to release the funds to the seller/scammer

The scammer sets up a fake amazon / escrow account site and receives the money from the buyer and then disappears with the cash.

heres and actual example of the scam, http://balancejunkie.com/amazon-payments-car-scam/

I nearly fell for this sort of thing earlier this year and once you recognise it, you can start to spot them as they nearly always advertise the car just a little cheaper than anyone else.

Thank you! That's all I wanted to know chaps!

Apologies if I came across a little sharp on my comment to your post. Glad you got the answer you wanted and lets hope that scammer get's what he deserves as one day he will pick the wrong person to try and scam

 

[Stratts]

You get similar issues with people offering to buy a car and pay by Paypal. I had some guy emailing me last month when I was selling my old car on Gumtree, he offered the full asking price and offered to send 'a mate' to come and collect it.

Clearly they pay with a stolen card on Paypal, then I, as a seller, get the money taken off me by Paypal when it's uncovered as I have no proof of delivery.

I was thinking, I know it's a con job, but is there a way I can get the upper hand? I was going to let the 'mate' get all the way to my house and then tell him I wanted cash, but In the end I decided not to bother. Unless you meet the buyer and they pay with cash, there is no deal to be done. The longer you drag things out, the more they will get your trust.

 

[pvr]

Aren't the PayPal fees huge for the receiver as well though?