Gumtree Scam

[Ephraim]

Whilst looking for a shed to replace my Porsche which leaves at the weekend, I discovered an ad on gumtree entitled "2002 MAZDA 6 TS2 BLUE" with nice pics of the car and priced at only £700.

I was suprised at the price, but being ever the wary optimist, I dropped him a mail via the gumtree site.

[quote]
Hi,

I've seen your ad on Gumtree, and assume that you must have put the price in incorrectly, as it's up for £700. If that's really the price then I'll take it. Ring me and we'll arrange payment.

I expect that it's an error, but had to check.

Cheers,

John.

[/quote]

I received the following back:

[quote]
Hi there,
Before we move forward I would like you to know that I posted the ad on eBay as a "classified ad" and it was transferred on gumtree due to their new eBay-gumtree partnership(eBay bought Gumtree in 2005) and now instead of being listed on eBay it's listed on gumtree.
Because of this I can only close a deal through the eBay system and with eBay members only.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
PS: I'm an experienced seller on eBay. You can check out my eBay ID happy2771. Here is a link where you can see my feedback: http://myworld.ebay.com/happy2771

[/quote]

Obviously, this made me even more suspicious, as he'd not addressed any of my questions. I asked them again and got:

[quote]
Hi there,
The buy it now price is 700 pounds, newborn necessities forces low price sale (description reflects the reality, no hidden faults). I work as an engineer in military service therefore would like to apologies for late replies, military base regulations don't allow outside calls for a faster communication. The last champ made me travel 4 hours back home from my base to tell me he had a family emergency and if I would accept a few pounds less. A complete RAC report is available for the happy buyer. Test drive and inspection are available only to genuine buyers who'll go through the eBay process. If you have the cash and determined to strike a deal then all we have to do is to inform eBay and register the transaction with them.
David Simmo (http://www.myspace.com/davidsimmo)
P.S. My number is 07******0. Won't be active till I'm on leave but you can message me and I'll add you to my contacts.

[/quote]

A quick google later and I found this:

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t...

Seems that "David Simmo" is advertising cars all over gumtree and then trying to spin a line to get people to pay out a deposit. I've dropped an email to the real David Simmo in an attempt to alert him to the issue. I'll drop an email to the ebay chap as well, as I'm betting he knows nothing about this either. and I've reported the gumtree ad as well.

I've popped this up here to alert people to the scam, but also to ask if anyone has any suggestions for other action I could take. I presume that the BiB won't be interested as no crime has been committed as yet (tho he's probably got some money out of some people). Is there anyone that is bothered about this sort of thing?

[rallycross]

a 2002 Mazda for £700.
on gumtree.

what else could be it be other than a scam?

[EDLT]

I'm amazed the car didn't turn out to be in Italy.

[Ephraim]

rallycross said:

a 2002 Mazda for £700.
on gumtree.

what else could be it be other than a scam?

Is it that much less believable than 2000 Accords for £500? Lot of them around. It did seem dubious, hence the initial mail - but then you see tales of £164 Audis (See bangernomics thread) and so there are clearly bargains out there to be had.

[sassthathoopie]

Gumtree have a 'report this message as suspicious' option on their emails. I've used it twice and been thanked with what looked like a personal message both times.

[Condi]

Yes, an old thread, but this was the first result when I googled his ebay name. Seems the same guy is up to similar tricks;

Enquired about this;
http://birmingham.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbik...

and got this in reply....

[i]Hi there,
A quick heads up, check out the ad on eBay for a more detailed description and pics. It's listed with a buy it now price under my eBay user ID happy2771. Had enough of test pilots.
Sorry for the inconvenience.[/i]

Only now hes using the name Frank Hicks, and stranger than that when you check out his ebay page (http://myworld.ebay.com/happy2771?clk_rvr_id=233972703940) he doesnt have anything advertised? Email farming p'haps?

[Scot 62]

Is it true that E bay own Gumtree ?.

With Gumtree you don't hand over the cash until you have actually seen the vehicle, paperwork etc - I sold my Jeep for Free on Gumtree last week after failing to sell it twice on E bay at a total cost of £18 !.

I don't see how a scam could work on Gumtree

[Deva Link]

Scot 62 said:

Is it true that E bay own Gumtree ?.

With Gumtree you don't hand over the cash until you have actually seen the vehicle, paperwork etc - I sold my Jeep for Free on Gumtree last week after failing to sell it twice on E bay at a total cost of £18 !.

I don't see how a scam could work on Gumtree

Yes they own Gumtree - since 2005

Well done on your success - I thought it was widely understood though, that absolutely everything on Gumtree is a stolen/dodgy/some kind of scam?

The scam won't work on Gumtree, hence the sellers directing people to hijacked eBay accounts.