Potential Scam from PH Classifieds - Mod Alert

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

Hi Everyone

I sent an email in response to an advertised car through the PH ads about an hour ago, then received the following reply. Is anyone familaiar with the process the vendor is describing? As I certainly never thought that there was an " official procedure through pistonheads"
The general make up of the email seems wrong
car cheap
vendor "overseas"
pushing delivery and suggesting a payment process.

I was going to email the vendor back to see whether or not it would be possible to view the car to get an idea of how real this ad is.

If a Mod would like to email me directly I will be happy to point you in the direction of the Ad.

Thought it would be proudent to share this with everyone.

Regards

Owen

text from the reply appears below.


http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/xxxxxx.htm



Hello,

The car is in excellent condition, no damage, never involved in any accidents, garage kept, clear HPI, full service history!
I just moved in US (but the car is in UK) and i am selling it for £7500 including delivery anywhere in the UK. The price is so low because I need cash for a new left-hand drive car and now I am a little desperate to sell the car as fast as possible. If you want to buy this car email me back with your full name and address to start the official procedure trough PistonHeads. Once the requested details will be provided, PistonHeads will send you a notification with ALL the info regarding delivery, purchase protection, payment and refund policy so please provide your details before any other questions. You will find 90% of answers in that notification from PistonHeads! Will wait to hear from you.

Thank you for your interest.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

I had another reply when I asked where the car was. This does seem like a scam to me.


The car is currently located at the following address: Hugh Street, St. Mary's, Isles Of Scilly, TR21 0PL. As you can see from the location of the car it's very far from the UK mainland. If you want to pick up the vehicle yourself I have nothing against but you will spend a lot of time and money to do that.
So, that's why I'm offering free delivery (I have a friend that has a delivery company and he owes me "a couple of beers" and he said he will help me with the delivery - the car is ready to be delivered to your door immediately). You will also have access to a refund policy and I don't know how to tell you but 99% of the sellers don't offer this refund policy so once you pay for your vehicle you don't have the possibility to request a refund if you are not happy with your purchase. So please think about my offer and let know if you prefer to pick up the car or have it delivered at no extra cost. If you prefer to pick up i will take the first fly to UK but not before getting a deposit. I don't say you are not serious but last time when i came to UK for a "buyer" he don't even meet with me so i don't want to happen this again.
Let me know ASAP your decision because i have many emails for the car.


Thank you!

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

This is obviously very annoying and disspointing. I know that there isnt too much that can be done to stop it happening. But would it be possible for PH to only allow properly registered people to advertise?

If someone isnt prepared to confirm their identity in some way then remove the Ad. This one doesnt even have a phone number on it, simply an internal PH email link.

I will leave it to you how to confirm identities etc, but there must be a way to discourage this.

Owen

[Marki]

total scam forget it ,, move on

[Mr Will]

If you could email me through my profile, or hit the "report to administrator" button in the top left of the advert then i will make sure that it gets removed and the user is banned.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

Just seen this...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=23&...


Looks like this is already under control.

[Mr Will]

Thanks for the email, it is now deleted and banned!

[debfran]

hi there i know im a bit late on this subject but i have also have had the same problems when trying to contact people about there cars.I have had a few e-mails back saying they cant talk to me on the phone and to e-mail them my details or even transfer the money to them and they will get the car to me.

[Mr Will]

debfran said:

hi there i know im a bit late on this subject but i have also have had the same problems when trying to contact people about there cars.I have had a few e-mails back saying they cant talk to me on the phone and to e-mail them my details or even transfer the money to them and they will get the car to me.

This definately sounds dodgy, Use caution when buying any vehicle, if it feels dodgy or looks too good to be true then trust your instincts and walk away. There are plenty of genuine sellers out there to choose from.

For more info please take a look at our fraud warnings page: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/warnings.asp 

[8244michel]

this guy is adding a bit of variation to his scam. see below response to his mustang being sold on Pistonheads yesterday.

From: [e-mail]
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:23:37 -0500
Subject: Re: '1967 FORD MUSTANG' at PistonHeads.com

Hello,

I am selling this car for £2,900.00 including delivery anywhere in UK.I set at a "very, very low" price to guarantee a sale. The only reason is that I need cash for a family emergency. I have to tell you that I'm currently out of town with some major problems so pick up/view isn't an option. If you want to buy this vehicle email me back with your full name and address to start the official procedure trough PistonHeads. They will send you a notification with ALL the info regarding delivery, purchase protection and refund policy so please provide your details before more questions. You will find 90% of answers in that notification from PistonHeads!
Thanks

[Scraggles]

any add that reads "pick up/view isn't an option" really ought to be ignored, how else would the car be sold on ?

[RacingPete]

If anyone does get a notification from PistonHeads (that isn't from us ie ending pistonheads.com in the email address) then can you send them onto us here in the technical team so we can get the email accounts shutdown.

It's an ardeous task but we are trying to do everything to stop these scammers and thus this would be an added help.

Send them to [e-mail]

Cheers
RP

[Stefluc]

I had a similar onw when i was selling my car via Auto Trader i contacted them and they said not to entertain or corrospond with them as it was a scam,as you will probably be aware there is cons flying about daily from all over the world trying to catch people out,all it takes is one out of say 1000 e-mails to get conned and they have made there money.
I know there will be some out there who cant resist the temptation of winning the lottery or sharing in someone eleses good fortune
Stefluc