no1beyondfan
Member
if its too good to be true... its too good ha 
Anyone fancy a Z4M...for £4000...?!
- Thread starter Woody
- Start date
Last year I saw one of these on Autotrader for £4k. I knew it was a scam but contacted 'Gerald' on the e-mail for a laugh.
He reckoned he was in Cadiz with his family and the car was his daughters.
He spun this wonderful tale of how the family business was about to go under unless he could get hold of £4k that day.
If I agreed to buy the car and transferred all the funds via wire tansfer that day, he'd stick the car in a container and ship to my address in the UK.....yea right
I asked him for recent photos, VIN/chassis numbers and he supplied the lot 'my friend' so they're well versed in how to string you along.
Anyways, the rub was that I told him the good news that yes, I was interested in buying his car and would pay him the 4k that day.
His joy was frankly joyous, I had saved his company, his family, his life apparently.
So he asked me when I could transfer the money as he needed it ASAP.
'No need to worry' I told him, more good news, I'd booked a flight that afternoon with RyanAir to Cadiz ( I hadn't obviously) so I'd be able to pay him in cash, pick up the car and go for that drink he'd promised me, 'if ever I was in Cadiz'.
Needless to say as soon as I started asking for an address so I could hook up with my newest, best mate, the e-mails suddenly dried up....
About the same time that AutoTrader pulled the ad as I'd already contacted them that morning.
He reckoned he was in Cadiz with his family and the car was his daughters.
He spun this wonderful tale of how the family business was about to go under unless he could get hold of £4k that day.
If I agreed to buy the car and transferred all the funds via wire tansfer that day, he'd stick the car in a container and ship to my address in the UK.....yea right
I asked him for recent photos, VIN/chassis numbers and he supplied the lot 'my friend' so they're well versed in how to string you along.
Anyways, the rub was that I told him the good news that yes, I was interested in buying his car and would pay him the 4k that day.
His joy was frankly joyous, I had saved his company, his family, his life apparently.
So he asked me when I could transfer the money as he needed it ASAP.
'No need to worry' I told him, more good news, I'd booked a flight that afternoon with RyanAir to Cadiz ( I hadn't obviously) so I'd be able to pay him in cash, pick up the car and go for that drink he'd promised me, 'if ever I was in Cadiz'.
Needless to say as soon as I started asking for an address so I could hook up with my newest, best mate, the e-mails suddenly dried up....
About the same time that AutoTrader pulled the ad as I'd already contacted them that morning.
Bradders75
Senior member
Excellent counter-scam Georgio. 
Basic common sense; if it looks too good to be true it is.
Common pointers for these types of scam:
- the adverts always have either a phone number or e-mail plastered over the image of the car, never in the body of the advert.
- the cars are always in a different country i.e. France or Spain.
- they always need the money wired that day or else the sale is off, typical pressure selling.
- they always have convincing stories about why they are selling so cheap.
- they will suggest 'lodging' the money with an 'independant' third party while they ship the car to you for your leisurely inspection; only when you're to totally happy with the car inspection, you give the nod to the third party company to release the funds, so that in theory you're both covered. Except you're not as there is no car.
- the independant third party company is actually 'piggy-backing' on a real website that they give you the website address for and they usually look totally legit. Phone numbers on the site are answered by the scammers who will 'help' you through the wire/ shipping process.
Basically, do not touch with the poverbial bog-brush ANY car deal where you can't see the car in the metal and you'll be ok.
Common pointers for these types of scam:
- the adverts always have either a phone number or e-mail plastered over the image of the car, never in the body of the advert.
- the cars are always in a different country i.e. France or Spain.
- they always need the money wired that day or else the sale is off, typical pressure selling.
- they always have convincing stories about why they are selling so cheap.
- they will suggest 'lodging' the money with an 'independant' third party while they ship the car to you for your leisurely inspection; only when you're to totally happy with the car inspection, you give the nod to the third party company to release the funds, so that in theory you're both covered. Except you're not as there is no car.
- the independant third party company is actually 'piggy-backing' on a real website that they give you the website address for and they usually look totally legit. Phone numbers on the site are answered by the scammers who will 'help' you through the wire/ shipping process.
Basically, do not touch with the poverbial bog-brush ANY car deal where you can't see the car in the metal and you'll be ok.
no1beyondfan
Member
Georgio said:
phumbs up!