Classifieds scam?

Monday 29th December 2014

I emailed a seller in the classifieds to ask them why their car was seemingly very cheap compared to other similar cars and they sent me the following reply:

email said:

Hi,

First of all I want to thank you for your interest for my car. I've almost reached an agreement with a potential buyer. Unfortunately, it looks like there are some problems and he doesn't have all the money to pay, for the moment. It is in extremely good condition,100% HPI Clear, full service history. Currently I am on a business trip to Italy and will have to stay here for about 6 months (this is why I am selling the car for a low price and I am looking for a fast sale to finance the Italian project ). I left the car in Stanton Transport custody ( www.stanton-transport.co.uk ) and they will handle the sale for me. The V5 log book is already signed on my behalf, the car will come with 2 keys, all service records and previous MOT's. Stanton Transport will deliver the car directly to your home address and I will pay all delivery expenses.
If you are interested in purchasing the car just contact Stanton Transport department that handles the sale directly at: info@stanton-transport.co.uk and they will assist you with any questions you might have regarding the transaction.
When contacting the Stanton Transport please specify my name ( Elizabeth Adkins ) and the car make and model.

Thank you,

Smells like a scam to me, but the website for the supposed transport company looks fairly legit, although that's not hard to do.

Just interested to see if anyone else has had the same reply? I would expect there are others!

Edited by TroubledSoul on Monday 29th December 19:24

28,359 posts

246 months

Monday 29th December 2014

Worries

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/buying-car...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=...

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=923...

http://www.reklamo.ph/ebay-motors-be-warned-this-i...

Then I got bored

Google the first few lines of the email is all it took

Edited by B'stard Child on Monday 29th December 19:23

Patrick Bateman

12,170 posts

174 months

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoZ7JXkv6_o

Monday 29th December 2014

anothernameitist

1,500 posts

135 months

Monday 29th December 2014

http://www.stanton-transport.co.uk/services.html

Vehicle Escrow. No Scam at all totally above board. ( I'm Sure??)

TroubledSoul

Original Poster

4,591 posts

194 months

Monday 29th December 2014

Silly me, I Googled the name of the "transport company" thinking that it would bring up more copies of the same email. It didn't and I couldn't be bothered reading pages and pages of Google.

Tickle

4,901 posts

204 months

Monday 29th December 2014

I reported about 3 or 4 of these now, all were for Elises. No doubt there are many in other categories.

Out of interest I emailed one and said I was local and had the cash waiting. I got the same automated crap as the OP.

28,359 posts

246 months

Monday 29th December 2014

TroubledSoul said:

Silly me, I Googled the name of the "transport company" thinking that it would bring up more copies of the same email. It didn't and I couldn't be bothered reading pages and pages of Google.

They keep changing the names of the transport company and the reference person

They don't change the text surrounding those key details

TroubledSoul

Original Poster

4,591 posts

194 months

Monday 29th December 2014

B'stard Child said:

They keep changing the names of the transport company and the reference person

They don't change the text surrounding those key details

I see that now. That's why it wasn't the first thing that Google returned etc.

I can't believe anyone would buy a car that way though, surely?

This was for an M3.

28,359 posts

246 months

Monday 29th December 2014

TroubledSoul said:

B'stard Child said:

They keep changing the names of the transport company and the reference person

They don't change the text surrounding those key details

I see that now. That's why it wasn't the first thing that Google returned etc.

I can't believe anyone would buy a car that way though, surely?

This was for an M3.

No sensible person would but these type of scams have been covered many times.

If a scam doesn't work - you try something different

If it works why change it

28,359 posts

246 months

Monday 29th December 2014

Oh I would have said "quacks like a duck, looks like a duck" etc but apparently that didn't go down well last time I did it.....

lysgra777

13 posts

112 months

Saturday 3rd January 2015

I searched on PH and Here is some scam cars
FORD FOCUS (C307) ST-3 2007 (2007) £4,100 - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...
JAGUAR/DAIMLER XK8 XKR COUPE 2004 (2004) £4,600 - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/j...
PORSCHE BOXSTER 24V 2004 (2004) £4,300 - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

FORD MUSTANG GT 2007 (2007) - £4,700 http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

Volkswagen TOUAREG TDI 2004 (2004) £4,300 http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/v...

MAZDA 6 MPS (2007) £4,400 http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

HONDA CIVIC (MK8) I-VTEC TYPE R GT 2009 (2009) £4,600 http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/h...

BMW 3 SERIES (E46) M3 SMG 2005 (2005) £4,600 http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

SKODA OCTAVIA (MK2) VRS TDI CR 2011 (2011) £4,200 http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/s...

HONDA S2000 16V GT 2006 (2006) £4,200 http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/h...

and there are many.....

28,359 posts

246 months

Saturday 3rd January 2015

lysgra777 said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=1428894&r=30244943&hm=431273&mid=431273#30244943

We've been here before wink

jundy

7 posts

147 months

Monday 5th January 2015

Heres what i got looking for an ST;

Hi,

First of all I want to thank you for your interest for my car. I've almost reached an agreement with a potential buyer. Unfortunately, it looks like there are some problems and he doesn't have all the money to pay, for the moment. It is in extremely good condition,100% HPI Clear, full service history. Currently I am on a business trip to Italy and will have to stay here for about 6 months (this is why I am selling the car for a low price and I am looking for a fast sale to finance the Italian project ). I left the car in Stanton Transport custody ( www.stanton-transport.co.uk ) and they will handle the sale for me. The V5 log book is already signed on my behalf, the car will come with 2 keys, all service records and previous MOT's. Stanton Transport will deliver the car directly to your home address and I will pay all delivery expenses.
If you are interested in purchasing the car just contact Stanton Transport department that handles the sale directly at: info@stanton-transport.co.uk and they will assist you with any questions you might have regarding the transaction.
When contacting the Stanton Transport please specify my name ( Emma Moore ) and the car make and model.

Thank you,

nicho944S2

1 posts

111 months

Monday 5th January 2015

It's definitely a scam. Here's the reply I got when I enquired about a vehicle that looked too good to be true!
When you ring Stanton Transport the call seems to divert to a mobile with a foreign gentleman on the line.

Hi,

First of all I want to thank you for your interest for my car. I've almost reached an agreement with a potential buyer. Unfortunately, it looks like there are some problems and he doesn't have all the money to pay, for the moment. It is in extremely good condition,100% HPI Clear, full service history. Currently I am on a business trip to Italy and will have to stay here for about 6 months (this is why I am selling the car for a low price and I am looking for a fast sale to finance the Italian project ). I left the car in Stanton Transport custody ( www.stanton-transport.co.uk ) and they will handle the sale for me. The V5 log book is already signed on my behalf, the car will come with 2 keys, all service records and previous MOT's. Stanton Transport will deliver the car directly to your home address and I will pay all delivery expenses.
If you are interested in purchasing the car just contact Stanton Transport department that handles the sale directly at: info@stanton-transport.co.uk and they will assist you with any questions you might have regarding the transaction.
When contacting the Stanton Transport please specify my name ( Emma Moore ) and the car make and model.

Thank you,

davidbarratt

4 posts

161 months

Monday 5th January 2015

Yes this is a definite scam - I had an Emma Moore emailing me back but it's so obviously a scam as the idiots can't spell properly and ask for money upfront etc - I phoned some clown who was clearly abroad so I asked him to phone me back and of course he didn't.

Here's the last email they sent me as I was playing along to see how far they'd go:
Hope someone catches the scumbags!

Thank you for your enquiry regarding this vehicle.
Vehicle Land Rover Defender 90 Td5
Year 2002
Mileage 89,000
Price £3,900

You're in safe hands when you buy using Stanton Transport services.
Pay for your vehicle and have it delivered directly at your home address for free! With our new online buying system 7,142 sales were made via Stanton Transport in the last year,a total of £3,771,254! Given our vast experience in selling vehicles we will offer you a 100% safe,fast and pleasant transaction. Stanton Transport provide reliable & efficient vehicle transport services with a fleet of single & multi vehicle transporters operating daily throughout the UK & Europe.
We confirm that the vehicle is in our custody, it has been fully inspected by our technical support team and it is in very good condition. All documents are present and in perfect order.
All vehicles sold using our services:
-Have a Full Service History
-Are fully HPI Clear
-Have a minimum of 6 Months MOT
-All vehicles supplied with 3 months warranty
-7 days free driveaway insurance
We are afraid that due to the temporary lack of personnel and due to previous bad experiences we had with a lot of undecided customers just wanting to test drive and not to buy we do not organize private viewings or cash on delivery.
Please allow us to explain you the 4 steps of the transaction :
1.PAYMENT- To verify you are a serious person and genuinely interested in purchasing the vehicle you will first have to send the payment for your transaction by bank to bank wire transfer to our Buyer Protection bank account.

2.DELIVERY- After your payment is successfully received and verified we will deliver the vehicle to your address. We will organize and start the shipment the same day your payment has been received and the delivery will take maximum three working days.

3.INSPECTION- On delivery you will benefit of a 48 hrs inspection period of the vehicle before deciding to purchase the vehicle. During the 48 hrs inspection period you can have the vehicle inspected by your local garage or have it AAA/RAC verified, we absolutely welcome any checks you want to perform on the vehicle and documents.

4-SALE COMPLETED/REFUND- Only if the inspection is 100% satisfactory and you will decide you want to keep the vehicle we will forward your payment to the seller's bank account and the sale is successfully concluded.
If, for ANY reason, you will refuse the vehicle we will refund your full payment immediately to your bank account or in cash right there and then and collect the vehicle from you (absolutely no extra charges for you).

This is a 100% secure system for both buyer and the seller because we will release your payment to the seller only after you have received and inspected the vehicle.
If you want to take the deal to the next step all you have to do is to send exactly the following information:
First name:
Last name:
Address:
City:
County:
Post Code:
Phone Number:
Once your details will be received we will send you the official payment invoice for your transaction

To send your details simply reply to this e-mail

Please decide quickly if you will buy it or not as a few potential buyers have expressed interest and our golden rule is first come first served.
We trust you found our service helpful, comprehensive and easy to use.
Please remember Stanton Transport next time you or a friend are looking for vehicle transport, Inspection or vehicle storage

Kind regards,
Stanton Transport team
For any kind of questions please feel free to contact us by replying to this email
This message was brought to you by Stanton Transport team

elms

1,926 posts

252 months

Tuesday 6th January 2015

Maybe its just me, I cant believe that anyone actually thinks those cars and prices could be genuine and even enquire on them in the first instance.

But I guess these scammers rely on the gullible and stupid.

RacingPete

8,864 posts

204 months

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.as...

Wednesday 7th January 2015

lysgra777

13 posts

112 months