There have been lot of fraud and scams happening in online purchasing world these days. I heard about a recent fraud/scam with a friend who wanted to purchase a used car from Craiglist and lost over $5000.
I have been hearing about this fraud from long time. Now I noticed that its still happening. Last week I started looking out for a used car for myself and browsed through craiglist for Toyota Corolla and sent some emails to the craiglist sellers email id. Below is the email I recieved in response. This guys is quoting the car price too below the KBB price and I am sure that this is similar fraud mail. The pricing of car is smartly put much lower then KBB value, which makes it an attractive offer. See the mail below
From: Tom Adams <tom2a22@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Subject: re: 2004 Toyota Corolla S TYPE AUTO - $4700
To: tom2a22@gmail.com
Hello ,
I am now located in North Dakota, starting this week.
I'm in the Grand Forks Air Force Base, my job being in Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Det 320.
The nature of the job requires me to travel all over US facilities for different investigations.
The car is like new with clear title, fully working,in perfect running condition, low mileage,with no hidden damages or accidents as it has always been garage kept.
You will receive the car with all the necessary papers (clear title, bill of sale, user's manual, insurance etc)..The asking price for my car is $4.700
This is a large purchase and I would like to use a third party for this transaction as I want a smooth and safe transaction .We will use eBay Motors Protection as third party.
All your payments will be to eBay and please note that eBay will hold your money until you will confirm that you received the car and you transferred the title into your name.
If you agree with these terms, please send me your full name and shipping address so I can register the transaction with eBay ASAP.
...waiting for your fast answer,
Best wishes from,
Lieutenant Colonel Tom Adams
Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Det 320
Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota
Below are the attached snaps with this mail
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I am replying to this email now and will post his reply as soon as I get it. So keep a close watch on this post.
Also make sure you inform your friends and relatives who are looking for craiglist used items. Its always good to deal with local people and have a physical look at the item you are planning to buy. In fact now even Craiglist has a message on top saying
Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any arrangement involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, or a landlord/owner who is out of the country or cannot meet you in person. More info
I am surprised that there is no way of stopping these frauds. I suspect it is being done by many people now as it is so common.
The mail shown above is just a kind of mail, I think there are more similar mail floating around. Post your observation and comments here about similar frauds and make our friends and family aware of this scam.
Posts
18 comments:
Are you actually telling me that people actually buy/pay for the car on Craigslist without seeing it in person first??
I've sold two cars on Craigslist and both times the buyer paid cash the first time they viewed the car. One of them never even bothered to test drive the car. Scams are easy to pull off and easy to spot. There's a lot of gullible people.
There are a lot of Gullible poeple out there! I would never purchase a car without test driving it and having a background check on it.
It's too easy for people to run these scams apparently. It only takes one gullible person to make it worthwhile.
I've seen scammer ads such as these. I even replied to one once because it was worded to convincingly. My standard answer now for craigslist is that I'm not interested if I can't pay cash in person after seeing the item.
the net is full of scam ads, you just have to be alert and make sure that you dont get easily fooled !
if i bought a car or made any other kind of big purchase off an online ad, i would definitely pick one locally so i could actually see the items. it's just too hard now to know who you can trust on the internet.
People spend so much time scamming. If they used their brains for good things instead, the world would be a better place.
I can't believe anyone would buy a car without seeing it first. My husband and I listed our car on Craigslist a few months ago. We had some people look at it but ended up selling it to CarMax only because of a time-frame issue. It's a great way to sell / buy if you do it right. I'd be careful.
I found it strange that he tells which department in detail he works in. Plus it was not difficult that hes not working there.
The scammers is no problem, but the ones who get scammed is. Without the foolish people the scammers would be without "work".
People should get a grip.
That's scary that something bad can happen like that. Good luck with your dealings.
Scams are running rampant. I wrote in my blog @ being scammed just a couple of weeks ago.
Great Read,
Jen
http;//thoughtsfromthefrontporch.blogspot.com
It's a shame that people do fall for these scams, but they do. It's good that you're showing the entire deal here. Maybe someone will learn from this.
Buyer Beware! I will be interested to see the follow up...
Before I declare this a scam, I would love to know the response. I would never buy a car sight unseen in anycase. Ebay is a safer place to buy than some. My son sold his motorcycle on ebay. The buyer came from TX to NC to buy it.
I had a friend get scammed like this about 4 years ago on Craigslist.
We sold our van on Craigslist, but again the person came to the house, drove the car, agreed, paid, etc., and left. Don't think I'd buy anything - particularly that expensive - based only on photos and a hope and a prayer. Good advice, thanks!
Oh my!! Now a days you have to be so careful when purchasing online!! This is a good warning for all of us! If it sounds to good to be true, it's probably not!
Your FL furiends,
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