topic Re: is this fake? in Motors

is this fake?

2009mell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:39:47 GMT

hi people, have been in contact with a seller for car found on the trading post site. Deal is good, but is it too good? Apparently the owner just moved to uk after divorce. Car is meant to be at transport company in Aust, revs check confirmed what it is and where its registered.
My problem is, the owners email tells me that she has a contract with ebay to sell the car through them... then says...
deal will go like this (remember Ive never used ebay for more than small stuff).
1, i give her my details and shipping address
2, she informs ebay and ebay sends me an invoice for amount payable
3, i pay ebay and the car is "shipped" to me at no cost to me
4, i have 5 days to have the car inspected and decide whether i want it.
5, if i want it ebay pays her, if i dont, she sends for the car, ebay refunds my money and thats the end of that......

Is this a SCAM? Or is this a legitimate way for difficult situation sales to be managed by ebay????
Please Help, still waiting for ebay support to get back to me..

Re: is this fake?

rmb_victoria — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:55:04 GMT

SCAM

Do not go anywhere near this.

There's many different 'stories' but all have the same basic structure.

Re: is this fake?

2009mell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:02:23 GMT

Thanks, much appreciated.

Re: is this fake?

franny2376 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:27:43 GMT

It will be interesting to note what ebay has to say about this as we are interested in two things on the trader, one is overseas and one in darwin, they have both said the same thing about buying, that they would have is "shipped" to me we have 5 days to accept it or not, if not they will ship it back to them at there cost?

Re: is this fake?

2009mell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:35:03 GMT

Darwin is where the car is being "stored" for shipping supposedly , could I just enquire if its a vehicle your interested in, and if so what kind? Would be interesting if we are both looking at the same car.....

Re: is this fake?

viewmont1071 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:33:28 GMT

It is the set up of a fraud third party payment or escrow service that the scam pivots on ie the scammers clone the square trade escrow site or another so that they have immediate access to the car payment and shipping fees, while the seller believes their p[ayment is secure. Generally the ebay account that the car has been listed on has also beeen stolen.

This often shows in the feedback or the sold items search of the stolen account. Often the accounts have a period of inactivity.

If you believe that the ebay account has also been stolen you should report username and listing

Re: is this fake?

viewmont1071 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:41:33 GMT

3, i pay ebay and the car is "shipped" to me at no cost to me

this is the nux of the scam ebay never collects any money for sellers.

link to real squaretrade site

the scam squaretrade site sometimes starts with the URL www.iesquaretrade.com

Re: is this fake?

viewmont1071 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:54:48 GMT

link to ebayau escrow information. I note ebayau has changed the recomendation to the servcie below ebay link
An escrow service is a licensed and regulated company that collects, holds, and sends a buyer's money to a seller according to instructions agreed on by both the buyer and seller. Typically, once the buyer receives and approves the item from the seller within an agreed time frame, the escrow service then sends the payment to the seller.

Escrow is available for any purchase.
Use caution when considering an escrow service

If you are a buyer or a seller and choose to pay or be paid through an escrow service, we recommend you use escrowaustralia.com (www.escrowaustralia.com.au)

There are fraudulent escrow services, so use caution if a seller suggests using a service other than www.escrowaustralia.com.au

If your trading partner insists that you use a specific escrow service and will not accept www.escrowaustralia.com.au (or an eBay approved international escrow service for international transactions) as an alternative, please decline the transaction and report the seller or buyer to eBay:

the info below is integral to not being scammed
To avoid being deceived by fraudulent emails, you should sign in to www.escrowaustralia.com.au to verify information you have received via email. Make sure you type the entire address (www.escrowaustralia.com.au). Do not let the browser auto-type the site address for you. It could auto-type a fraudulent address.

Re: is this fake?

2009mell — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:59:25 GMT

* VIEWMONT* You are seriously armed with information, I cannot thankyou enough for the trouble you went to, to help me out. You were so much more helpful than the ebay security help!!! Thankyou!!!!

Re: is this fake?

viewmont1071 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:41:52 GMT

no problem, dont like seeing anybody getting their hard earned $$$$$$ ripped off.... the report autobot or an ebay sycophant button pusher reported the four one nine post and I got a smack on the bot bot ... not to worry my bot bot needs lashings of soothing cream most mornings from the faux pas posts the night b4

Re: is this fake?

flanmur — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:04:18 GMT

no problem, dont like seeing anybody getting their hard earned $$$$$$ ripped off.... the report autobot or an ebay sycophant button pusher reported the four one nine post and I got a smack on the bot bot ... not to worry my bot bot needs lashings of soothing cream most mornings from the faux pas posts the night b4

Some people just don't like to see things as they are or be told the "Painful" truth.
Really It is the down fall of this site.

419 scammers are relient on greed.Not their own but those that don't mind taking risks for a percieved saving or bargain on an item that costs a lot more than what they are offering.

I have never not seen and touched a bargain...
Anything else is fairy tales.

Report away!@!

Re: is this fake?

2009mell — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:11:30 GMT

Thanks for all the helpful feedback people! I tried to rationalise my sinking feeling when talking to the supposed seller, remember someone always told you to never look a gift horse in the mouth..?
Sooo glad I did, so thankful for the confirmation I wasn't a complete nutter and all your help.

Re: is this fake?

2009mell — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:13:13 GMT

Oh, and Viewmont.... hope the "bot bot" is ok ...:^O

Re: is this fake?

lazarovski2008 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:56:38 GMT

Hi this has just happened to me today. My husband found the ad in the Telegraph and I emailed saying that I ws interested in the car and got the story of the divorce and that see has moved to the UK. I had a felling that it was to good to be true so I contacted ebay to see if it was fake and it is. The thing taht triggered me off was that payment had to be made via Western Union Money Transfer so I checked with some people from work and was told not to do it. I just hope that no one has actually sent her anything we almost did.

Re: is this fake?

nofoxgiven — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:32:15 GMT

aaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha you would be a fool if you took this deal they are out to rip you off mate aaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha

Re: is this fake?

jozja84 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:11:52 GMT

Hi there was this regarding an outlander??
I was looking at the same car myself

Re: is this fake?

2009mell — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:41:54 GMT

hi lazarovski2008,
I have been looking for a particular car for about 4 months now, for every 10 I have found in my price range I believe 4 are possible scams.
I have done REVS checks and even found out the name and address of a registered owner, hit the white pages for a number, called and got a man who had called the police 2 weeks before because a man was seen taking photos of his car out the front of his house by his neighbour, it was certainly NOT for sale... HE was not a divorced woman, and was mighty thankful I had gotten in touch with him.
BE CAREFUL, they prey on women in particular, I got my brother and my brother in law to enquire about 2 different
cars I suspected were scams, my emails were replied to immediately, they were not replied to at all.
We ladies are more likely to be understanding and less suspicious of another woman, and a tragic divorce story only lessens our guard.... Good Luck and Happy Hunting

Re: is this fake?

mcbemma — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:36:59 GMT

Hi
I have been asking the same thing. Is this a red mazda? I have gone through all the steps. The dodgey thing is how you pay through western union. .. I did get a text though. I wonder how they got my phone number?

Re: is this fake?

flanmur — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:19:28 GMT

These scam's are primarily after your cash and secondry it is about your identity.

They are compiling information on people that are ready to be fleeced.

If you don't put yourself in a position to be ripped-off then you have nothing to worry about.

Re: is this fake?

2009mell — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:08:56 GMT

hey mcbemma,
no, the first scam i found was for a 100 series cruiser wagon. That was a few weeks ago, and my first post looking for help in here. Since then, 4 other 100 series cruisers, 2 nissan patrols, a pajero and an xtrail.....all claiming different stories about living in other countries for different reasons( one heartless bastard actually claimed to be a single Aussie mum in the states for an operation on her sick daughter!!!)
They ALL want your details.... they WONT give you theirs....
BE CAREFUL, after speaking with my freinds hubby that is a detective in VIC, these scams are everywhere, are nearly impossible to track down, and once they have your full name you would be horrified the information they could have access to.