I heard of a new scam today.....
Discussion
I have not came across this one before so thought I would post here as a bit of a warning to others.
A friend of a friend is selling his car.
Its a BMW 335i.
Potential buyer turns up in a 330ci of similar age to the sellers car.
Looks over car and takes it for an accompanied test drive.
After looking over the paper work they tell seller they love the car but have another one to look at before they can buy.
All is well and off the buyer goes.
Its all very pleasant and seller goes back inside to his house.
A couple of hours pass and the seller gets uncomfortable about the viewing (for reasons I won't get into here, a few things didn't add up to him).
He happens to look at his 2 keys for the car and noticed something not right with one. Now all keys look identical from the same manufacture give or take. Maybe it was a mark or something that he didn't notice before.
He then goes out to the car and tries they keys. One does nothing. Its from a different car.
At some stage in the viewing process the keys were switched.
Seller gets his Mrs car and blocks his car in.
Ended up getting taking it to BMW and they disabled the other key. Or something to that effect.
More to the story but I'll leave it at that as it covers the basics.
A friend of a friend is selling his car.
Its a BMW 335i.
Potential buyer turns up in a 330ci of similar age to the sellers car.
Looks over car and takes it for an accompanied test drive.
After looking over the paper work they tell seller they love the car but have another one to look at before they can buy.
All is well and off the buyer goes.
Its all very pleasant and seller goes back inside to his house.
A couple of hours pass and the seller gets uncomfortable about the viewing (for reasons I won't get into here, a few things didn't add up to him).
He happens to look at his 2 keys for the car and noticed something not right with one. Now all keys look identical from the same manufacture give or take. Maybe it was a mark or something that he didn't notice before.
He then goes out to the car and tries they keys. One does nothing. Its from a different car.
At some stage in the viewing process the keys were switched.
Seller gets his Mrs car and blocks his car in.
Ended up getting taking it to BMW and they disabled the other key. Or something to that effect.
More to the story but I'll leave it at that as it covers the basics.
Trailhead said:
WinstonWolf said:
godskitchen said:
Shaw Tarse said:
Not a new scam.
Maybe not but its new to meWhy do know-it-all's feel the need to knock threads like this, not all of us have the same level of knowledge as you, and it could stop this happening to somebody else which must be a good thing.
Thanks for posting that. It's a known scam I have seen on here before, but I guess lots of people will have missed it.
No problem in re-posting this sort of thing.
Same thing in reverse, make sure when you buy a car, both keys work, The seller may keep back a key and has your address!
Many years ago there was a gang here in the midlands selling cars and stealing them back and then breaking them for spares!
No problem in re-posting this sort of thing.
Same thing in reverse, make sure when you buy a car, both keys work, The seller may keep back a key and has your address!
Many years ago there was a gang here in the midlands selling cars and stealing them back and then breaking them for spares!
buzzer said:
Same thing in reverse, make sure when you buy a car, both keys work, The seller may keep back a key and has your address!
Many years ago there was a gang here in the midlands selling cars and stealing them back and then breaking them for spares!
How many people buy cars with only one key anyway? How do you know if you have all the keys?. The seller might of had others cut and programmed.Many years ago there was a gang here in the midlands selling cars and stealing them back and then breaking them for spares!
scorcher said:
buzzer said:
Same thing in reverse, make sure when you buy a car, both keys work, The seller may keep back a key and has your address!
Many years ago there was a gang here in the midlands selling cars and stealing them back and then breaking them for spares!
How many people buy cars with only one key anyway? How do you know if you have all the keys?. The seller might of had others cut and programmed.Many years ago there was a gang here in the midlands selling cars and stealing them back and then breaking them for spares!
I will confess it was a school friend who went down for this.... He was the ring leader of a gang selling and stealing them back. The gang got caught because of greed and stupidity. He had a network of guys selling cars for him, and then he would steal them back and break them at his repair garage, or export them.
When one of the cars was linked back to the garage, the police raided it.... And found a draw full of old tax discs which he had removed and thrown in the draw! This linked him to dozens of cars they had processed!!! School boy error!
Similar happened to me in 2005, on a main dealer forecourt:
Buyer asks to view a car on display, sits in drivers seat asking if any warning lights on, mileage check etc. Asks to see V5 and MOT. I trundle off to get the paperwork, car is fine with keys in it as security barrier is down.
I return 2 mins later, buyer is out of car saying 'Ive just rung the missus, she doesn't want a 3dr'. Gives me the key and buggers off.
Next morning, I rock up to open the business, lift the security barrier to get in, and almost get run over by a little red Clio zooming up the pitch, out the gate, and off up the road.
The 'buyer' had swapped the key with another Clio key and then given me the 'wrong' key back.
Buyer asks to view a car on display, sits in drivers seat asking if any warning lights on, mileage check etc. Asks to see V5 and MOT. I trundle off to get the paperwork, car is fine with keys in it as security barrier is down.
I return 2 mins later, buyer is out of car saying 'Ive just rung the missus, she doesn't want a 3dr'. Gives me the key and buggers off.
Next morning, I rock up to open the business, lift the security barrier to get in, and almost get run over by a little red Clio zooming up the pitch, out the gate, and off up the road.
The 'buyer' had swapped the key with another Clio key and then given me the 'wrong' key back.
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