Latest scam

[Robert G. Smits]

Purchased a car on BAT last week from a dealer in Washington.  He emailed me wire transfer instructions late Sunday night to his local bank to a account in his business name.  At 5 AM Monday I received a second wire transfer email from him telling me the account in his first email had not been activated and instructing me to wire to a different bank in a different state and to an account that was NOT in his name or his business name.  The email header was identical on both emails.  This immediately raised a red flag and a  telephone call confirmed that he had been hacked.  The cyber security people on his end indicated that they have seen several cases associated with on BAT transactions.  From now on I am going to confirm all emailed financial transactions by phone.

[Matt Harwood]

Good catch. I haven't seen this scam before, but I suppose on sites like BaT where both the buyer and the seller are known with contact information readily accessible, it's an easy enough scam to pull. Someone less vigilant surely could have been taken. Glad you caught it before any damage was done!

[Dynaflash8]

Exactly one of the reason I do not use wire transfers unless there is simply no other way.

 

[Matt Harwood]

4 minutes ago, Dynaflash8 said:

Exactly one of the reason I do not use wire transfers unless there is simply no other way.

 

 

Wire transfers are still the safest way to go as long as you know to whom you're sending the money. Scams aren't predicated on the wire being unsecure, they are based on the willingness of the victim to send money without doing his homework. A vast majority of fraud and scams like this would be eliminated if people would simply look before they leap like Robert did BEFORE sending the money, not after. A major component of any scam is a victim trying to get a great bargain or something he really wants and therefore they aren't really paying attention to the transactional side of the deal.

 

If you're paying attention, you won't get scammed. The scammers aren't smarter than you, they're just counting on you to be dumb.

[Brass is Best]

The idea of sending any form of payment without speaking to a real person is crazy. Wire transfer is by far the safest way to send funds. Checks are worthless. I have a whole stack from Scammers. Always confirm wire instructions over the phone before sending funds. Then you will never have a problem. Scammers always want things to happen fast. Slow down and think. A real person will not be trying to rush you to pay. The telephone is a wonderful tool which we should all learn to use more.  

Edited February 28, 2019 by Brass is Best (see edit history)

[Trulyvintage]

19 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

Wire transfers are still the safest way to go as long as you know to whom you're sending the money. Scams aren't predicated on the wire being unsecure, they are based on the willingness of the victim to send money without doing his homework. A vast majority of fraud and scams like this would be eliminated if people would simply look before they leap like Robert did BEFORE sending the money, not after. A major component of any scam is a victim trying to get a great bargain or something he really wants and therefore they aren't really paying attention to the transactional side of the deal.

 

If you're paying attention, you won't get scammed. The scammers aren't smarter than you, they're just counting on you to be dumb.

 

Exactly ....

 

A Con can’t happen without a Mark.

 

Don’t be a Mark .....

 

Some folks expect something for nothing .... almost literally.

 

When they get nothing - they blame the Con Artist - not themselves.

 

Bank to bank wire transfers are the safest and most economical way

to send money over a distance - you know who you are sending money

to and you have a receipt.

 

 

Jim

[Guest]

I have sent and received numerous wire transfers over the years with no problems. However, there was a new wrinkle when I sent one last week for a car. My bank had me sign a form stating that I had not received the wire instructions ( routing number, account number, etc) via email or fax. I didn't question the reason why, assuming that their reason was to avoid responsibility for sending the funds to the wrong account due to a typo in emailed or faxed instructions.  Now I realize that most likely my bank was aware of scams like the one described by the OP. Confirming emailed instructions by phone as described by the OP is the solution.   Thanks for posting!

Edited March 5, 2019 by Guest (see edit history)

[Licespray]

My uncle bought a caravan twice. Sent money, got told no money arrived, sent it again, seller disappeared. There was no caravan.