Discussion
Hi Guys
I want to send a warning message to all members and potential car buyers, about using the piston heads website when buying cars.
Over the weekend of 19/20th July 2014 I came across an advert for a 2009 Alfa 159 1.9 JTDm Limited Edition for £4200. I initially thought there was a mistake due to the low price, but also thinking I had lucked out so I followed up.
Following the exchange of a few emails with the seller directly a process was started whereby i was requested by what looked like authentic piston heads email chain, (authentic looking banners etc) to deposit the money into an escrow account owned by piston heads, who would hold the money on behalf of the seller. The seller claimed to want a quick sale in order to work abroad and that piston heads would handle the sale.
The process was that Piston heads would send me the car for me to review within 48hrs following receipt of my monies into their third party account, after which time I could keep it, they would then send the money on to the seller, or if i changed my mind within this time I could send it back and have my money returned to me. This sounded ok and I felt confident that the process was legitimate. Suspicions were raised when I tried to get an update from piston heads themselves as to whether they had received my latest email regarding delivery of the car.
I called the website and they informed me that its likely that I have been the subject of online fraud. They told me they are well aware of the scam (amongst others) and that they have a fraud warning on each advert. Looking back, I admit my mistake was not doing what I normally do before parting with good money to buy a car, and that is to see it and inspect it personally before parting with funds. I guess my enthusiasm for a 'good deal' got the better of me.
My warning to you is that piston heads have known about this sort of thing for some time now (at least 5 or 6 years) and despite having put a warning on each classified ad, I missed this 'fraud warning link', I believe it is easy to miss. They also believe the scammers access their email system/website to continually carry out this scam.
After begin scammed I strongly suggested to piston heads to put the warning as a link on their home page under 'Resources or Classifieds' for example, so that it is more easily accessible and can give people clear warning and advice about car buying over the internet.
My guess why they don't want to do this is so that they don't want to scare off potential visitors and give the wrong impression of their site. I'm as angry with piston heads as I am with the scammers (and myself to be honest). For PH they have known about this for a number of years and seem to do the bare minimum to counter it in terms of their system security and easily accessible fraud warnings.
Having looked into this further, I'm not the only one to have been caught out. So please be aware when buying from piston heads (and it appears auto trader, ebay, and other sites) that you could be scammed. Piston heads don't seem to want to put in the necessary security or safeguards to assist people to avoid being scammed and conduct a sensible buying procedure. So BUYER BEWARE !!!!
Thanks
SlideyJoe
I want to send a warning message to all members and potential car buyers, about using the piston heads website when buying cars.
Over the weekend of 19/20th July 2014 I came across an advert for a 2009 Alfa 159 1.9 JTDm Limited Edition for £4200. I initially thought there was a mistake due to the low price, but also thinking I had lucked out so I followed up.
Following the exchange of a few emails with the seller directly a process was started whereby i was requested by what looked like authentic piston heads email chain, (authentic looking banners etc) to deposit the money into an escrow account owned by piston heads, who would hold the money on behalf of the seller. The seller claimed to want a quick sale in order to work abroad and that piston heads would handle the sale.
The process was that Piston heads would send me the car for me to review within 48hrs following receipt of my monies into their third party account, after which time I could keep it, they would then send the money on to the seller, or if i changed my mind within this time I could send it back and have my money returned to me. This sounded ok and I felt confident that the process was legitimate. Suspicions were raised when I tried to get an update from piston heads themselves as to whether they had received my latest email regarding delivery of the car.
I called the website and they informed me that its likely that I have been the subject of online fraud. They told me they are well aware of the scam (amongst others) and that they have a fraud warning on each advert. Looking back, I admit my mistake was not doing what I normally do before parting with good money to buy a car, and that is to see it and inspect it personally before parting with funds. I guess my enthusiasm for a 'good deal' got the better of me.
My warning to you is that piston heads have known about this sort of thing for some time now (at least 5 or 6 years) and despite having put a warning on each classified ad, I missed this 'fraud warning link', I believe it is easy to miss. They also believe the scammers access their email system/website to continually carry out this scam.
After begin scammed I strongly suggested to piston heads to put the warning as a link on their home page under 'Resources or Classifieds' for example, so that it is more easily accessible and can give people clear warning and advice about car buying over the internet.
My guess why they don't want to do this is so that they don't want to scare off potential visitors and give the wrong impression of their site. I'm as angry with piston heads as I am with the scammers (and myself to be honest). For PH they have known about this for a number of years and seem to do the bare minimum to counter it in terms of their system security and easily accessible fraud warnings.
Having looked into this further, I'm not the only one to have been caught out. So please be aware when buying from piston heads (and it appears auto trader, ebay, and other sites) that you could be scammed. Piston heads don't seem to want to put in the necessary security or safeguards to assist people to avoid being scammed and conduct a sensible buying procedure. So BUYER BEWARE !!!!
Thanks
SlideyJoe
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