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Fraudulent CL ad


Thriller

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Hi all. I was recently forwarded an ad trying to sell one of my cars.

1952 Buick Straight 8 Runs Good. ALL ORIGINAL. Clear Title.

I was not aware that my car, tucked away in a shop in rural Manitoba, was even sold, let alone in the Carolinas. I haven't asked my wife yet whether she was included in the sale or not either.

I believe the photo was harvested from http://www.mts.net/~dthille/52roadmaster.html

While I don't think anyone here is necessarily naive enough to fall for this, particularly if you have been to a recent National and met Suzanne, I just wanted to put this out there for folks to be aware of.

I have reported this ad to the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (Phonebusters). I don't expect anything to come of this, but I would certainly like the seller to be scared witless.

Should anyone like to have some fun with it, particularly if you are in the area, ask to see the car, or ask for details that only an owner could know. As it is, the description does not match the car in the photo.

There was some discussion of this on another thread, but it was buried in something of a thread theft (by me). The possibility of someone using my photo as an example of a '52 Roadmaster was raised, but usually when someone does that, there is mention made that the photo is not of the car for sale. Also, it would be courteous to ask permission to use a photo, when it is pulled from another site.

One of the things I will be looking to work on is to add some sort of watermark / copyright claim on photos that I post online. This doesn't bother me terribly much, although I'm not happy about a photo being chosen that include She Who May Kill Me When She Finds Out How Much I Spent For Christmas. My greater goal is to prevent anyone from being defrauded by this shyster.

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It's so cheap to just go out and buy a digital camera these days. A decent one can be had for less than $70. THis shows definite signs of laziness. If you're making a CL ad, either go through the trouble to buy a little camera, and take a couple pictures, or don't put any pictures on at all! The formula seems simple to me.

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Very weird. My first thought was to laugh because I do see your wife and I know what she looks like!

But, I guess this fellow maybe has a 52 Buick and has no digital camera?

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My guess is that he's trying for a "sight unseen" sale over the phone. If anyone managed to get ahold of the "seller" my guess is that he'll say the car is somewhere else and he can't get to it to see it. He'll try to convince you to send a deposit and/or buy the car sight unseen, then vanish with the cash. It's not just borrowing the photo, it's using the photo to commit fraud. It's common, and they choose cars that are nice enough to attract attention, but not nice enough where a casual buyer will insist on an inspection and/or test drive. I don't think many people fall for it, but there must be just enough morons out there blindly sending cash to keep these guys doing it.

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Just got off the phone with this guy...I have an unlisted, proxy protected, Internet phone I can use.

First off this guy is barely able to communicate, seemed either extremely dim or just out of it. I started asking questions about the car, he basically repeated the add. I asked him if the car in the picture was his and he said yes.....I then let him have it. Strange he did stay on the line, he kept saying that car he has looks exactly the same with the same rust spots....he was trying to still sell me FGS!!!! I believe he does have a Buick to sell...just not that exact Buick in the picture....obviously:rolleyes:

To be honest I think this was just some lazy intellectual peasant who looked up a picture that looked the same and used it. Google image really does spawn this activity because it's so easy.

I reminded him of all the laws that he is breaking and that the Feds will pay a visit (yea right :rolleyes:) and that if not taken down I will call tomorrow....(I do have the ability to spam his phone automatically hehehe, I know I know...not worth it but I just like to think big)

Not a scam as we typically think of one but a scam none the less....man its one thing to rip a pic of someones wife and use it but to use one with your car?????

......hmmmmm did I get that last one backwards :P

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Marck...shhhhh...be vewy vewy quiet. ;):D The guys here will want it up in "Me and My Buick" before I get a chance to pick it up and take more photos.

Bob - I'm glad you had some fun with this guy. Even if all he has is his grade 3, he should be able to know that taking someone else's photo and pawning it off as his car to sell is dishonest. I mean, why shrink it down so much otherwise? Unless he is concerned that someone might question the license plate. If he has a '52 Roadmaster for sale, why not simply post a link to my page saying it looks just like this one? Thanks for making the call and suggesting he remove it.

I guess I'm still not sure. I'm inclined to think Matt is correct, which is why I reported the ad and posted here. Even if he's got the same car, it is dishonest to imply that the photo is of the car.

Say Bob...you don't happen to have a recording of that conversation, do you? That would be entertainment!

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