Scam Alert

[supercargirl]

I think we should have a thread that call's attention to new Scams.  

 

A Jaguar XK150 was on Craigslist in every location you can imagine.  Great car, ridiculously low price.  Eventually it was red flagged but it was offered to me today by a guy calling himself Steve Ivey.    (steve.ivey1173@gmail.com)   When I asked him for the location of the car and a link to his business "Susan Ivey" responded with this:  

Our website is www.ar-autodealer.com. Please note that, we recently purchased the car, so we don't have it on the website yet, we are discussing the sale of it with different people, I am sure it will sell, so there is no reason to put the info on the website now. The closest major airport to Mountainair, New Mexico is Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ / KABQ). This airport is in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is 75 miles from the center of Mountainair, NM. If you're looking for domestic flights to ABQ, check the airlines that fly to ABQ.

 

I can schedule an inspection and reserve the car for you only after we have the funds into one of our bank accounts, otherwise, I can't hold it just on words, it might sell anytime as I am discussing the sale of it with different persons and if someone enters that door with cash be sure it sells. If you don't want to secure the car, give me a call/email before making inspection arrangements to see whether or not the car is still available.

 

I don't want to be rude, but business is business.

 

Susan.

 

So I went on the website that she noted and called the number to see if I could speak with Steve Ivey.  The number does not ring through. One ring and there is a busy signal.  By the way they mention the car is in New Mexico but the AR Auto dealers are in Florida.  

 

So I put the address of AR Auto Dealers in Florida into Google images and a storage came up.  Double checked and yes it was the correct address.

I got back to them and told them I was interested in the car and was sending someone out to see it.  Would they give me their address.  They responded that someone was looking at the car the next day but that I should send a deposit in case the car was not sold.  After that they disappeared but when you Google that autodealer address today it says the account has been suspended.

 

I hate to say it because I use G-mail but be very aware of gmail accounts and two first names, like James Michael.  For some reason these idiots like to use two first names.  Funny they don't seem to lack imagination when they are trying to steal your money.

[supercargirl]

And then there is this classic:

 

Dear Ms Dietrick,

Robert Martin has sent you the following contact request regarding your listing Jaguar E-Type SI - RHD OTS 4.2 https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/jaguar/e-type-si/1965/503112

"Hello Mate, Have seen the details on the Ad and Will you accept PayPal payment and once the funds clears then I will have someone to pick up. Thank you"

You can contact Robert Martin under email: mrob5497@gmail.comor phone: .

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Prevelant to the point of getting ridicules with craigslist.  It seems the scammers have covered a lot of bases, all kinds of desirable cars, usually generic pics of a nice open or better closed bodystyle, pristine, and 25 to 50%  below market.  Many are just collecting emails to sell, but the other ones are out to clean you out.  Always good to out them if you have specifics, at least this post may make them get a new alias...

Edited June 25, 2018 by Steve_Mack_CT (see edit history)

[Lebowski]

42 minutes ago, supercargirl said:

 If you're looking for domestic flights to ABQ, check the airlines that fly to ABQ.

 

 

Really? I'm glad she mentioned that because I would probably have checked the airlines that fly to Minneapolis.... 

[mike6024]

44 minutes ago, supercargirl said:

I can schedule an inspection and reserve the car for you only after we have the funds into one of our bank accounts, otherwise, I can't hold it just on words,

 

Collecting a bunch of small non-refundable deposits to "hold it for inspection." Not the dumbest way to run a scam I suppose.

[supercargirl]

I had client's in the UK that tried to buy a car online.  They had several phone conversations with the owner and the owner told them they needed to put down a $5,000.00 deposit to hold the car.  He gave them his bank details and a phone number to the bank.  It was a large UK bank.  They called the number.  Talked at length with his banker and felt confident enough to forward the payment to the bank using the wire information from the seller.  Three days later the seller, the money and the "banker" disappeared. 

 

Do you know how difficult it was to have them put a deposit on a car here in the states until he had a chance to fly here and check it out?  Very hard.  Nice people understandably wary.  

Edited June 25, 2018 by supercargirl (see edit history)

[John348]

Pretty Ironic, I decided to thin my collection a little bit over the weekend, and my son suggested that I try Craigslist. I placed the ad for my 75 Cosworth Vega on Saturday night. I had an inquiry from a Mr Logan Watson, who said he was interested, so I emailed him my phone number for further information if he wanted to discuss any questions below is his email.

 

"Thank you for getting back to me regarding my inquiry, please can you assure me that i will not be disappointed with it,as I'm ready to pay your asking price, and i'm buying this for myself,but i am a very busy type at work so i am not around due to my job as i work offshore, and there is strictly no call only email because our satellite server has been down due to work,but I'm able to access my mail anytime as i will make use of wireless laptop,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it,so you wont have to worry about the shipment because i will make an arrangement with a pick up agent at there company to help me come pick it up at your location after the payment has been made to you so don't worry about shipping.

 

My Mode of payment is via PayPal as as i don't have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my PayPal account and this is why i will insist on using PayPal to pay for this so if you don't have an account with PayPal that is not a problem because its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one in just 3 minute all you need to do is Just log on to www.paypal.com on your phone or computer and create an acct with them and i will be responsible for all the PayPal fee/charges on this transaction,so once you are done with the set up all i will need is the email address use to set it up and i will effect the payment immediately.

 

So i hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible,and nothing is going to leave your side until payment clears in your hand through paypal then you will be the one to choose a suitable date and time for the shipping agent co to come pick it up at your preferred location and they will be handling the title and any other things for me. 

 

Kindly get back to me with the below info in order to process the payment.

 

Full Name:

PayPal E-Mail Address:

Phone Number:

Total Amount to send"

 

I realized this was a scam IMMEDIATELY (I am just dumb guy who grew up in The Bronx) , I did reply and told him that as the seller I decide the terms and this is not one of the terms I would consider. (not as polite as I put it now)

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by John348 (see edit history)

[supercargirl]

Oh my goodness.  That one made me laugh out loud.  What could possibly go wrong?  He has his paypal account online but not his bank. You can't call him because there is no satellite service offshore yet he is on a computer with internet access. 

 

But really what is his end game?  That's what I don't understand.  He is not asking you for money and it seems a pretty convoluted way to get an e-mail address. 

 

I just answered my own question.  I bet the Paypal link is bogus.  If you hook the Paypal account to your bank account you probably just gave them all of your sensitive banking information.  

Edited June 25, 2018 by supercargirl (see edit history)

[John348]

30 minutes ago, supercargirl said:

Oh my goodness.  That one made me laugh out loud.  What could possibly go wrong?  He has his paypal account online but not his bank. You can't call him because there is no satellite service offshore yet he is on a computer with internet access. 

 

But really what is his end game?  That's what I don't understand.  He is not asking you for money and it seems a pretty convoluted way to get an e-mail address.   

 

Good question, but whatever his endgame is, it will not be in my best interest. I was not that curious to find out either. Every good con game I heard of starts with the con person giving the "mark" money to gain trust. I am sure that this was going in a direction where he was going to ask me to put some money up with a third party as "good faith" to guarantee that the title or something else would be delivered. I was going to start a thread on this later today. I did not intend to hi-jack your thread

  

Notice both of these scammers that contacted us had names that used two fist names? makes me wonder if Robert Martin and Logan Watson work at the same "offshore site" 

Edited June 25, 2018 by John348 (see edit history)

[supercargirl]

Definitely not hi-jacking the thread.  I think everyone that has had a run-in with a scammer should post so that other's can be aware.  And yes they are fond of the two first names.  Again serious lack of imagination.  Especially your guy.  He's quite a complicate fellow.  And they actually do post fake Paypal links. 

[John348]

I seldom ever use Craigslist, when I did it was for cheap things. About an hour before Logan contacted me I had a local guy come by and bought a set of rather new tires my son took off of his Jeep Wrangler that I got tired of looking at. He contacted me through Craigslist, gave me his phone number told me to call him. I did he came by about 40 minutes later gave us the cash and left. I was starting to gain faith in my fellow man on the internet.... then Logan tried to enter my life.......

[trimacar]

I had one of those guys contact me on a car I had for sale, and he was very specific, said he was buying the car for his father, but he was on an oil rig off the coast of New Zealand. So, he had to send me money, but first I had to send him a wire transfer of $2000 or so to prove that I was "sincere in selling the car and not a scam". Well, that's nice, I replied (after Mr. Google told me all about the oil rigs in the area), could you please tell me the specific oil rig that you work on, I know that this rig is producing and this rig they have hopes for and, oh,  I have monetary interests in that region and know the owner's quite well".....

 

Funny, he never got back to me...and here I thought we'd be lifelong friends...

[Lebowski]

I've sold hundreds of things on Craigslist from auto parts and cars to rocks and chain link fencing and have had no problems 99% of the time. If it's not a big item I meet them at a gas station a mile from my house. I tell them to call me when they get there instead of setting up a time to meet. Don't give up on CL just because of one bad experience....

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Agree w Lebowski.  Been skunked once online, on MTFCA forum, not CL so it can happen really anywhere.  In my case seller was dishonest in description and sent pics carefully designed to hide damage.  But that was likely not a pro just an idiot...

[victorialynn2]

Most of you know I successfully sued someone using my pictures to scam people on a bogus website. As best as we could tell, he was just gathering emails to target for other scams. You can reverse search pictures on Google to see if the car pics show up in multiple places, to identify bogus ads. 

 

On the local news tonight they had a story about online car scams. Red flags are sellers who have stories about being off shore or other reasons they can’t meet in person to show you or an agent the car, and only want to communicate by email and not phone. They are collecting deposits or purchase price for cars they don’t own by wire. 

 

It’s a safe bet that you, or an agent, should see a car in person, before purchase. I personally sold a few cars on eBay without the buyer seeing them, but I wouldn’t risk that if I was the buyer. 

[supercargirl]

I buy and sell cars for collectors.  It is not always possible to meet someone in person before a financial transaction like a deposit takes place.  Often times the buyer and seller are on two separate continents.   When I send a request to the buyer for a deposit I send a list of current references.   Any car should be inspected of course but to get to that point a level of trust has to be established.  

 

I agree Craigslist is not the only place you find scammers.  Both buyer and seller have to do their homework.  Good old due diligence and listening to your gut.

 

Congratulations on the successful lawsuit.  Is it the subject of a thread on the forum?

 

 

[victorialynn2]

2 minutes ago, supercargirl said:

I buy and sell cars for collectors.  It is not always possible to meet someone in person before a financial transaction like a deposit takes place.  Often times the buyer and seller are on two separate continents.   When I send a request to the buyer for a deposit I send a list of current references.   Any car should be inspected of course but to get to that point a level of trust has to be established.  

 

Congratulations on the successful lawsuit.  Is it the subject of a thread on the forum?

 

 

I work in real estate and see so many wire fraud scams that I am super parinoid. I think there are some specific red flags and combined with your gut, it’s possible to weed out most scams. It’s all what your comfort level is. 

 

Yes, there is I go about it on the site. I will see if I can find a link. 

[victorialynn2]

Here is the thread @supercargirl  I wasn’t able to stop him, just a judgement (settlement) for copywright infringement because he used my pic. My attorney thinks it set a precedent though, so maybe that is helpful somehow for the future. 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2018 by victorialynn2 (see edit history)

[Digger914]

2 hours ago, victorialynn2 said:

Here is the thread @supercargirl  I wasn’t able to stop him, just a judgement (settlement) for copywright infringement because he used my pic. My attorney thinks it set a precedent though, so maybe that is helpful somehow for the future. 

 

Un published cases aren't per se president setting, but they can be used to support an argument and sway an outcome. More importantly, reporting the act and outcome encourages others to act and that does make a difference.

[victorialynn2]

8 hours ago, Digger914 said:

 

Un published cases aren't per se president setting, but they can be used to support an argument and sway an outcome. More importantly, reporting the act and outcome encourages others to act and that does make a difference.

Thanks for the clarification Digger. What my attorney said was that it was the first case of it’s kind. I didn’t realize the distinction. 

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I’ve noticed that scammers have found their way into this site too. I was looking for a carburetor and got 2-3 messages here saying to text them. I don’t text someone the second they say hi to me, I’m a gentleman.. but I didn’t write them back on here and they didn’t reply. I made a thread about this just last week. 

[Steve_Mack_CT]

I would be most comfortable with an online transaction from a regular.  Some on this forum speak to each other almost daily.  If the transaction is a big one, having a broker helps increase comfort level.

 

I havent bought a car long distance but did sell one overseas.  In my case broker handled it and I trusted them, as buyer must have had to as well.  I might not be interested in either end of a distance transaction without that service.