autotrader scam BEWARE!

[cars1993]

Evening all. To cut the story short, people have made attempts all the time to scam me on things like auto trader and gumtree. well this is exactly how they go so here is what to look out for. its starts off like this:

Emailed me with this address: [e-mail] with interest in one of my vehicles. He started by asking how long ive owned it, whats the actual price and when was it serviced? I obviously reply normally answering everything

2nd email: nice Hearing back from you..I'm quite satisfied with the condition and price. I will be paying the PayPal charges from my account and i will be paying directly into your PayPal account without any delay,and i hope you have a paypal account. If you have one already, just send me the address to send it to, which is the email address you use for it or you can send me a paypal money request, so once i receive the details i will go ahead with the payment through PayPal and then i will contact my shipping company after you get the payment. I will need your home address for it to be Picked Up by the Shipping Company..

NOW THE ALARM BELLS RING....

3rd email: Hello I want to notify you that i just complete the payment into your account, £2,500 meant for the car and £700 meant for the pick up charges has been successfully deducted from my account i also include an extra charges of £100 meant for the Western union charges because i got an message from the shippers company that they only accept western union a method of payment, i just got a confirmation message that my account has been debited now and you should have received a notification message in you email box from PayPal as well, if not kindly check inside your email [e-mail] INBOX, SPAM and JUNK folders very well for the message from PayPal and the pick up agent. hope you get the agent name and address ?? kindly go to Western Union to and send the pick up fess to the name and address of the pick up agent as confirmed by PayPal, get back to me once you get this done so we can proceed with the sale. Thanks and nice doing business with you.



You've received an instant payment
Dear [e-mail],

This e-Mail confirms that you have received an Instant payment of £3,300 GBP
from David Lucas via PayPal MERCHANDISE Payment Service.

Reversals: This method of payment can not be reversed.

Status: Pending - Transport Company Awaiting Payment.


View the details of this pending transaction below
Summary of this transaction
Sent From David Lucas
[e-mail]
Sent to [e-mail]

Transaction ID KMM69870892V1725L0KM
Item Amount £2,500 GBP
Transport Charges
Western union charges

Total Amount

Item Title
£700 GBP
£100 GBP

£3,300 GBP

CAR - Purchased



Transport Company: " Bajas Express "

Courier Details:
Agent Name: James Brimmer
Address: 625 Smith Ave
City: Omaha
State: Ne
Zip Code: 68112
Country: United State.

Address Status: Confirmed

We wish to inform you that [e-mail] has made the payment of £3,300 GBP to your account and the money is still in transit and we mandated you to send a sum of £700 GBP to the pick up agent address before your account will be credited with the total sum of £3,300 GBP.

Calling Us Is Not Allowed Because We Do Not Disclose Our Payment Tab On Phone Facilities but you can reach our customer service rep at [e-mail]

SO BE CAREFUL OUT THERE

[Roo]

Thanks for the warning but this is as old as the hills.

[9mm]

My alarm bells would sound at the second email, not the third. Post his initial email. I bet if I read that they would be ringing straightaway.

I can only guess these scams work every now and again but by God they need a gullible individual to fall for them.

[northandy]

op, dont take offence as its not directed at you, but i'm still amazed how many people fall for this. First line of email 2 would have had me pressing delete.

[eliot]

"shipping company" = scam
Anyone paying for a car sight unseen, also very likey to be a scam too.
Anyone not prepared to phone you - scam

[H_Kan]

As all the other posters have said, the 'overpay and need partial refund' is pretty old as far as scams go.

The only difference I can see is that the english is a bit better then a few years back.

[Mermaid]

H_Kan said:

..

The only difference I can see is that the english is a bit better then a few years back.

Now in funds, can afford good education.

[With these feet]

There are far better ones that that..

Spotted a few cars that were realistically priced but still 2/3rds of what they would be up for. Trader, with a garage name and link to their website. Looks legit, only not one of the cars were on the website, all of the cars on there were bargain basement type cars nothing over £1500 where the Autotrader cars were 5 - 7K. Phone numbers were different as were email contacts. Looks like the rouges pick a genuine garage then pretend to be them, get large deposits to hold the cars for punters and then scarper. Thing is there are loads of "do not reply to ad mail David0897222@ xyz mail.com which Autotrader seem to allow.....

[catman]

H_Kan said:

As all the other posters have said, the 'overpay and need partial refund' is pretty old as far as scams go.

The only difference I can see is that the english is a bit better _then_ a few years back.

Almost!

Tim

[northandy]

With these feet said:

There are far better ones that that..

Spotted a few cars that were realistically priced but still 2/3rds of what they would be up for. Trader, with a garage name and link to their website. Looks legit, only not one of the cars were on the website, all of the cars on there were bargain basement type cars nothing over £1500 where the Autotrader cars were 5 - 7K. Phone numbers were different as were email contacts. Looks like the rouges pick a genuine garage then pretend to be them, get large deposits to hold the cars for punters and then scarper. Thing is there are loads of "do not reply to ad mail David0897222@ xyz mail.com which Autotrader seem to allow.....

That goes on on ph quite a bit too, they know to set them up over a weekend or bank holiday weekend to get maximum coverage before they are taken down.

[ch427]

As soon as i see the words "whats the actual price" is enough for me.

[lost in espace]

He's just been in touch with me. Thanks for the heads up.

[lost in espace]

He's just been in touch with me. Thanks for the heads up.