Vehicle for sale scam

[TorontoBrit]

Well it seems there is a new scam going around, the previous method was the offer to purchase your vehicle sight unseen using Paypal. Still not sure how they get away with that one...
The new version is offering vehicles for sale in the $2000-$3000 price range about half the market value, with the seller not in the same place as the vehicle and willing to take Google Checkout, and ship the vehicle at their cost. The follow up email when asking about a vehicle on Auto Trader, Craigslist, or Kijiji looks like this:

Hi,

My 2004 Nissan Maxima SL with 127 000 kms is in excellent condition, never raced or abused, no accidents and no smoke inside, no liens or loans, it was very well maintained. The car is certified & e-tested, runs like new and all services are up to date. The final price is $2,700.00. The only reason for selling the car so cheap is because I recently divorced and I remained the owner of the car. I don't need it because I don't have a driver's license . Right now I am running through a financial crisis and I really need the money. I don`t have time to stay and meet with all my potential buyers i gave the car to Google Checkout who will ship it to the next owner. I want to tell you that the delivery process is paid by me and all of my transactions until now were made under Google Checkout's protection, and for that I wish that we make this deal also with Google Checkout's protection.

If you're interested to purchase just email me with your full name ,shipping address(street, city, postal code) and your phone number , so I can notify Google Checkout that you are selected as my buyer and they will contact you to explain the entire procedure.

So pass this around, one of the guys at work almost had his daughter hooked by one of these.

[Qwik]

If its too good to be true...........
BTW the red is REALLY hard to read

[Tosh Togo]

[QUOTE=Qwik;18791240]If its too good to be true...........
BTW the red is REALLY hard to read[/QUOTE]

[TorontoBrit]

lol... ok ok I fixed the red......

[Tepi]

Basic nigerian scam... Other one is where they want to buy your car, they send the money over escrow or claim the money is with the shipping company or western union and when you ship your car, you will get the money, result is the check bounces and you have no car.

[RxZ]

Also, they all won a free shipping coupon for shipping a car through UShip.

I had 3 different people from 3 different cars I e-mailed about give me this line in the past 2 months. I never e-mailed them back. Although one of those guys started sending me random spam e-mail. I reported his e-mail as a phishing email to Google (since he used GMail). I don't think I have received an e-mail from that address since.

[GP640]

Saw this scam posted on a local jeep forum.
The vehicle was a Cherokee located in Whitehorse. Poster on that forum e-mailed the ad and said
he'd have his friend, an RCMP constable, drop by and check it out

[Blur]

Nothing new.... been around for years. I used to run a used motorcycle classifieds site 6-7 years ago.... we had to shut it down because of the flood of scam listings just like this one. The 'Paypal Scam' is more recent, IMO.

Doesn't matter - they're all lowlifes. Just like previous poster said "If it's too good to be true, it probably is."

[Stonefly]

i will never understand how or why people fall for this shit.

[opaque_machete]

Desperation. Or stupidity. Or just not thinking things through. Or....

[alvincullumyork]

Originally Posted by TorontoBrit

{snip}, the previous method was the offer to purchase your vehicle sight unseen using Paypal. Still not sure how they get away with that one... {snip}

I got several of these. Pretty much the same canned response that almost sounded legit asking if my item was still for sale. I would respond back that it was and they would ask for my pay pal account. Does anyone know how this works? Or better yet is there some really cool way that I can track these people down Taken style?

[Too_Tall]

A coworker had a woman working in his office. She told the following story one day (to a very audience)

She and her bf needed a new car. So onto the internet they went. They found a new VW Passat, full option, in England (we're in Belgium btw) Total price? About 10.000€'s. This was a brand new 0km/mi vehicle, new listprice is about 25.000€'s for a base model.

And so it went;

"The seller then asked us for 2.000€ advance so they could ship the car to Ostend in Belgium, where they could collect the car at customs and pay the rest of the amount. We wired the money."

Bad enough? It gets worse...

"After about 3 weeks and still no word, we called the seller. "Uh yeah the car is blocked at customs, I need another 3.000€ to get it released" We hesitated for a moment but then decided to send the additional 3.000€'s"



After another 2 weeks they called the seller, number disconnected. They called the customs office, no trace of the car ofcource.

It's incredible people still fall for something like this. But, think about it, if you as a scammer can place ads and reply to emails all day, if only 1 victim responds, it's a good way to make alot of cash very quickly.

[Blur]

Originally Posted by Too_Tall

It's incredible people still fall for something like this. But, think about it, if you as a scammer can place ads and reply to emails all day, if only 1 victim responds, it's a good way to make alot of cash very quickly.

They probably answer emails at night as I'm sure their job as an offshore petroleum engineer takes up a lot of their time.

[alvincullumyork]

Originally Posted by Blur

They probably answer emails at night as I'm sure their job as an offshore petroleum engineer takes up a lot of their time.

No no you have it all wrong. They are currently serving in the military and in between training operations and its for their brother. There has got to be a special place in hell for these people.

Originally Posted by Too_Tall

" We hesitated for a moment but then decided to send the additional 3.000€'s"

If you're going to be dumb you'd better be tough...err I mean have a lot of money.

[Blur]

Originally Posted by alvincullumyork

No no you have it all wrong. They are currently serving in the military and in between training operations and its for their brother. .