Anyone selling a 996 turbo beware.

[KTR]

I had a guy from Cyprus (supposedly over here on business)come and have a look at my car with a view to buying it (actually he said his parents were buying it for him as a graduation present). He could not find anything wrong with the car and paid to have 2 inspections doen as well, one by Porsche and the other by the AA. Again nothing was found to be wrong with the car so we agreed a price and he said he would like to come and collect the car and pay with a bankers draft. I informed him I would only accept a wire transfer into my bank account as he told me he was planning on taking the car back to Cyprus within the next few days and I wanted cleared funds.

Anyway he has now pulled out of buying the car as his friends told him not to buy is as I would not take the bankers draft. This all sounds a little suspect to me so if you are selling a 996 turbo and a guy from Cyprus called George contacts you plase be on your guard.

David.

[M@verick]

yup - very dodgy.

I bet he'd have wanted to do the deal on a Friday afternoon as well, and then would have gotten delayed till conveniently just after 4pm.

Steer well clear.

R.

[Carrera2]

KTR said:

I had a guy from Cyprus (supposedly over here on business)come and have a look at my car with a view to buying it (actually he said his parents were buying it for him as a graduation present). He could not find anything wrong with the car and paid to have 2 inspections doen as well, one by Porsche and the other by the AA. Again nothing was found to be wrong with the car so we agreed a price and he said he would like to come and collect the car and pay with a bankers draft. I informed him I would only accept a wire transfer into my bank account as he told me he was planning on taking the car back to Cyprus within the next few days and I wanted cleared funds.

Anyway he has now pulled out of buying the car as his friends told him not to buy is as I would not take the bankers draft. This all sounds a little suspect to me so if you are selling a 996 turbo and a guy from Cyprus called George contacts you plase be on your guard.

David.

It's conceivable that he didn't trust you I guess....just seems odd that a scammer would get 2 inspections. Or clever I guess.

[randlemarcus]

On the bright side, you presumably now have copies of two very recent PPIs to show the net chap over the threshold?

[KTR]

Carrera2 said:

KTR said:

I had a guy from Cyprus (supposedly over here on business)come and have a look at my car with a view to buying it (actually he said his parents were buying it for him as a graduation present). He could not find anything wrong with the car and paid to have 2 inspections doen as well, one by Porsche and the other by the AA. Again nothing was found to be wrong with the car so we agreed a price and he said he would like to come and collect the car and pay with a bankers draft. I informed him I would only accept a wire transfer into my bank account as he told me he was planning on taking the car back to Cyprus within the next few days and I wanted cleared funds.

Anyway he has now pulled out of buying the car as his friends told him not to buy is as I would not take the bankers draft. This all sounds a little suspect to me so if you are selling a 996 turbo and a guy from Cyprus called George contacts you plase be on your guard.

David.

It's conceivable that he didn't trust you I guess....just seems odd that a scammer would get 2 inspections. Or clever I guess.

Like a friend of mine said, spending £600 on inspections to get a £60,000 car is not a bad deal.

And I have 2 inspections showing everything is OK.

[M@verick]

Carrera2 said:

KTR said:

I had a guy from Cyprus (supposedly over here on business)come and have a look at my car with a view to buying it (actually he said his parents were buying it for him as a graduation present). He could not find anything wrong with the car and paid to have 2 inspections doen as well, one by Porsche and the other by the AA. Again nothing was found to be wrong with the car so we agreed a price and he said he would like to come and collect the car and pay with a bankers draft. I informed him I would only accept a wire transfer into my bank account as he told me he was planning on taking the car back to Cyprus within the next few days and I wanted cleared funds.

Anyway he has now pulled out of buying the car as his friends told him not to buy is as I would not take the bankers draft. This all sounds a little suspect to me so if you are selling a 996 turbo and a guy from Cyprus called George contacts you plase be on your guard.

David.

It's conceivable that he didn't trust you I guess....just seems odd that a scammer would get 2 inspections. Or clever I guess.

I think its more likely he will spend a couple of hundred quid to establish his authenticity, call it the cost of acquiring a 50 - 60K car, its a good return on his investment. There are various known scams whereby the interested buyer goes to great lengths to establish a rapport with the seller and look credible - often with a story about "wanting the car for a wifes birthday", or indeed in this case "getting it back to Cyprus for a graduation present" - once the buyer had turned up a couple of times and the seller begins to think of him as kosher - hell agree to buy the car on a friday, and turn up with a bankers draft.
Hell then arrange something like a 12 oclock pick up, but get stuck in traffic on the M25 - he'll call the seller several times to update on progress and will eventually turn up conveniently after the bank has closed for the day, or when transactions wont be processed till the following monday. Either way when the seller expects the money to hit his account on the monday morning hell get a call from the bank instead telling him the draft was wafty and he wont see the money. The buyers mobile phone number will suddenly be dead, and there will be no recourse available since the police wont be able to do anything.

Largely the scam relies on the seller meeting the buyer several times, and establishing rapport and trust. I guess a couple of inspections would help with this. The disappearing act would be aided also by someone purporting to be vanishing overseas with the car once the deal was done also.

Alternatively he may have been entirely legit, but it smells wiffy to me.

R.

[KTR]

I also asked him to get the transfer in place, come down here and call his bank to tell them to make the transfer. That way he would be with me and the car when the money cleared in my account. He had already been to my house and he had the details of my business premesis etc. Don,t know what else I could have done but at least the car will stay in the UK and not get ruined by some young guy ragging it around Cyprus.

[KTR]

M@verick said:

Carrera2 said:

KTR said:

I had a guy from Cyprus (supposedly over here on business)come and have a look at my car with a view to buying it (actually he said his parents were buying it for him as a graduation present). He could not find anything wrong with the car and paid to have 2 inspections doen as well, one by Porsche and the other by the AA. Again nothing was found to be wrong with the car so we agreed a price and he said he would like to come and collect the car and pay with a bankers draft. I informed him I would only accept a wire transfer into my bank account as he told me he was planning on taking the car back to Cyprus within the next few days and I wanted cleared funds.

Anyway he has now pulled out of buying the car as his friends told him not to buy is as I would not take the bankers draft. This all sounds a little suspect to me so if you are selling a 996 turbo and a guy from Cyprus called George contacts you plase be on your guard.

David.

I have also been told a brankers draft can be stopped, especially if it is reported stolen.

It's conceivable that he didn't trust you I guess....just seems odd that a scammer would get 2 inspections. Or clever I guess.

I think its more likely he will spend a couple of hundred quid to establish his authenticity, call it the cost of acquiring a 50 - 60K car, its a good return on his investment. There are various known scams whereby the interested buyer goes to great lengths to establish a rapport with the seller and look credible - often with a story about "wanting the car for a wifes birthday", or indeed in this case "getting it back to Cyprus for a graduation present" - once the buyer had turned up a couple of times and the seller begins to think of him as kosher - hell agree to buy the car on a friday, and turn up with a bankers draft.
Hell then arrange something like a 12 oclock pick up, but get stuck in traffic on the M25 - he'll call the seller several times to update on progress and will eventually turn up conveniently after the bank has closed for the day, or when transactions wont be processed till the following monday. Either way when the seller expects the money to hit his account on the monday morning hell get a call from the bank instead telling him the draft was wafty and he wont see the money. The buyers mobile phone number will suddenly be dead, and there will be no recourse available since the police wont be able to do anything.

Largely the scam relies on the seller meeting the buyer several times, and establishing rapport and trust. I guess a couple of inspections would help with this. The disappearing act would be aided also by someone purporting to be vanishing overseas with the car once the deal was done also.

Alternatively he may have been entirely legit, but it smells wiffy to me.

R.

[M@verick]

KTR said:

I also asked him to get the transfer in place, come down here and call his bank to tell them to make the transfer. That way he would be with me and the car when the money cleared in my account. He had already been to my house and he had the details of my business premesis etc. Don,t know what else I could have done but at least the car will stay in the UK and not get ruined by some young guy ragging it around Cyprus.

Think you played it 100% right chap. At the end of the day as was said above youve got some recent inspection reports now, and probably saved yourself a large loss at the hands of a scammer. If the guy was legit i see no reason why he'd walk away from the deal on those terms, and on the upside there will be other buyers so either way no harm done.

Selling a high value car privately is a minefield.

R.

[fidgits]

yeah, it sounds suspect...

I suppose he could have been genuine and just as paranoid as you, but I guess if your in any doubt, better safe than sorry!

[davyboy]

It does sound a bit odd considering he had paid money for 2 inspections.

I just wonder if their culture is a little different form ours, and there is more emphasis on trust and relationship building as with the Saudis?

Not saying your wrong, just trying to understand.

[domster]

The guy was either a scammer or a dick.

Fancy thinking it dodgy for you to want funds wired into your account! It's a better way to transfer money than a draft. If he was worried that you'd do the runner, i.e. non-simultaneous exhange of funds/car, then he could have agree to do the deal at his bank. You can be with him in a little room when he fills in the BACS form, so you know it's all legit.

The PPI stuff is a lot of effort and investment for him, but could pay off hugely if the scam works. A genuine buyer would sort something out if he really wanted the car - I've arranged flights back to Germany when I went over to buy a car and the deal couldn't go through at the time.

[henry-f]

The inspections are a truely lovely touch. The first time I heard of it done like that I thought what a stroke of genius, I mean who in the criminal world gets the AA to inspect their intended target !

See: A few tips if you`re buying or selling

Keep smiling, and don`t have nightmares.

Henry

[M@verick]

henry-f said:

The inspections are a truely lovely touch. The first time I heard of it done like that I thought what a stroke of genius, I mean who in the criminal world gets the AA to inspect their intended target !

See: A few tips if you`re buying or selling

Keep smiling, and don`t have nightmares.

Henry

Apologies Henry, my explanation seems to have plageurised your website. Ive always surfed straight to the stock list, so hadnt seen that there before. Sincerest form of flattery and all that tho .

R.

[Adam B]

yep sounds dodgy

David - his loss, maybe my gain

[roygarth]

As a matter of interest Henry do you allow punters to drive cars away on presentation of a bank draft? If so how do you protect yourself from bouncy drafts?

[wrn]

As much as I hate to say it, the value of the dealers starts coming into play... you know they are not going to run off with £60k of your cash/car.

[kayc]

It was obviously a spoof..who would buy a 996tt?

[henry-f]

roygarth said:

As a matter of interest Henry do you allow punters to drive cars away on presentation of a bank draft? If so how do you protect yourself from bouncy drafts?

We have a number of practical safety nets in place to ensure we don`t fall foul of fraud whilst still easing the transfer of funds burden on our buyers.

We do have the advantage of an economy of scale, (300 cars a year rather than 1 private sale a year), and also the fact that we are a financially very stable organisation who isn`t going to do a runner with someone`s money. (I would never dream of transferring funds to a private individual prior to collecting a vehicle).

This is a subject very close to my heart and an area in which a surprising number of people a year fall foul of scams. My hands are tied in terms of offering too much information regarding problem areas when dealing with the trade (certainly I can`t name names), but the link posted covers most likely problem areas.

I am told a least one person recently released from prison following a sentence for vehicle fraud is back acquiring cars still wearing his tag!

Henry

[POORCARDEALER]

These fraudsters are increasingly sophisticated and prey on sellers more often than not who are asking more than retail for their cars, the criminal thinking they wont have had many calls and maybe a bit desperate to sell......one fraudsters favourite tail was his wife was recovering from cancer and the car was a surprise present for her, he used the same tale on at least 15 people............not bad work when the average cars value was £20K.
Until they get 10 years in jail rather than 10 months, it seems to be the crime of choice.