Caveat Emptor.

[oldcar]

Let this innocent looking photograph of a large wooden box be a warning to members who may think about buying “stuff” from total strangers based in America or any other place around the world! 
Enthusiasts like me, tend to think that everybody in the old car movement are as honest as all their friends and all other people interested in old cars as a hobby.
Many of you already know the story of how I have a little earlier this year bought back the 1929 Renault Monastella that I had sold some five years earlier as an unfinished restoration project. However you would be excused from not knowing that after doing this I had then placed a “Wanted” advert on the Antique Automobile Club of America’s internet “Forum”looking to buy some of the missing parts for this extremely rare model. 
The AACA Forum is really huge and widely read by Enthusiasts from all around the world.
Some weeks later I  was pleasantly surprised: Completely out of the “Blue” I did receive just one reply….
Now you had better settle down into  a comfortable chair:-
I had received a reply to my advert from someone on the West Coast of the USA. In this unexpected reply, the respondent explained that he was now 89 years old and not in good health, he was due to go into hospital for major surgery.  Before going into hospital he was attempting to tidy up his affairs. He too had a 1929 Renault Monastella that was in good running condition but that he had been unable to sell it in America as a complete car which was why he had now contacted me. He went on to explain that he had an excellent mechanic who could remove the motor and gearbox and pack then into a crate for shipping to me. Would I like to buy them? In a reply I had cautioned him about the difficulty some people had encountered  when attempting to remover the gearbox  from the front of the torque tube. He very promptly replied that his highly qualified mechanic was used to working on his Renault and  that he had already removed it from the car and had it packed ready for shipping.
We agreed on a price and I decided that while it would cost a bit more, taking into account the troubled times we are experiencing and the state of the vendors health I would have them airfreighted to Australia.  The vendor contacted me again to tell me that he had gone ahead and had his mechanic pack both the engine and gearbox, ready for airfreight! He even sent me a photograph of the by now sealed crate. He  then arranged for me to send the money, just over US $5,000 to his daughter’s bank  account, Two or three weeks later I received another email from his son. His father had not survived the operation, He would now be looking after his fathers affairs. Then another two or three days later still I received another email from the”son”. He had been forced to use a considerable part of the money I had sent to his father via his sisters bank account to pay his father’s Funeral expenses, he would now need another US$700 to pay the airfreight.
At this point for some unknown reason an alarm bell started to ring in my head. Meanwhile I received another email, this was said to have come from an employee of the airfreight company here in Australia. They had just received the crate addressed to me and wanted to arrange for delivery early in the following week. So I thought all was well! The crate would be delivered in a few days time. Early in the next week I received another email from the same person explaining that there had been a slight delay getting the engine and gearbox through the Australian Customs but he was confident that he would be able to deliver the crate in the following week. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday. Wednesday came and I received yet another email, The truck carrying my crate had broken down. They were sorry but they were working on the truck and should deliver the crate hopefully in the next day!

 

 

Not even the photograph is genuine.

Closer examination will show that ithas been heavily re-touched.
BUT the next day, was by now  Friday, yet another email came explaining that due to the back-log of deliveries he would not be able to make the delivery until the following week.

I am still waiting!  When I started to try and discover what had happened, I found following enquiries around Australia and in the USA, that the shipping company whose details appeared on the “Bill of Loading” had gone out of business two years earlier. There was no crate addressed to me and that I was the last in a long list of victims of this scam.
He/they  have been successfully ripping people off all around the world,  replying to “Wanted" adverts and offering to sell them stuff for Classic Cars and Motorcycles for some years.  
A very lucrative full time business.  Banks seem unable to touch them as they are constantly opening new Bank Accounts in a variety of names and closing them again as soon as the money has been received and extracted.
I have been able to discover; that this has been happening with some slight variations to enthusiasts around the world for some years.  
Please do not just take my word for this, Try for yourself, enter the name “Atwood Foglton” into Google! or your “search engine” You may be surprised at the results.

Edited August 7, 2020 by oldcar (see edit history)

[oldcar]

Oops I closed the above thread before I had signed it.

My name is Bernie Jacobson, I am an eighty three year old enthusiast. I am lucky in that  by driving open sports cars most of my life I have managed to remain fit and healthy. I do 99% of the work on my cars, a 1934 Lagonda Rapier that I have owned since 1986 and have driven over 100,000 miles in addition to the Renault which is my current restoration project. It is being rebuilt from what I call a "Basket case" This is based on the use of the expression with regard to victims of the Trench warfare in France during World War 1.

I live in East Doncaster a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Above is the 1929 Renault Monastella I am currently rebuilding.

 

This photograph  shows my 1934 Lagonda Rapier, I am in the process of replacing the carbon brushes in the Generator. The Rapier is four cylinder 2 OHC 1500cc

Edited August 7, 2020 by oldcar (see edit history)

[hidden_hunter]

That sucks, looks like there have been more than a few attempts here on the forum to others as well

 

My now wife lived in Doncaster East when we first started dating, shame I didn’t see your cars driving around!

[C Carl]

Always beware of the guy with the complete running car from which he can supply you with any part(s) you need.    -   Carl 

[Bhigdog]

A pix with the part next to that day's paper front page helps but still no guarantee..............

[$um Fun]

Sorry to here about the scammer. Sooner or later justice will be waiting for them.

 

The picture with the crate looks like a bad photoshop, the AU for Australia looks like  child did it. The shadows for the strapping is off and they used a blue pallet (chep pallet), these are leased pooled pallets that need to be returned. Overseas pallets need a certificate of fumigation and a bunch of other markings.

 

Hope they catch the F*****S.