Scam for buying cars on Carzone.ie etc

ballinasloe

I recently advertsied my cr for sale on the Carzone website.

I received a number of enquiries from people who were interested or who had questions.

One though, was from a man claiming to be a car parts dealer in London and that he was interested in my car, to send on my final price in Sterling. I did but explained his cheque would have to clear before I could give him the cra.

He responded to say he was happy with that and to consider the car sold, that he would send on the cheque with an 'excess' for the delivery and that he wanted me to send the balance via Wester Union to his shipping company.

It all sounded dodge and that there was a scam about so I'm ignoring it, just wondering if anyone might know what could have happened?

Cheers :rolleyes:

Hagar

Definite scam. Avoid like the plague.
Why on earth would anyone send more money to pay for a car than is necessary?

stepbar

Sounds like ur man wanted u to launder a bit of cash....

ballinasloe

well, I think he was saying that the 'excess' was for me to pay the shipping company.

you're right though, seems like definate scam...just surprised that Carzone don't have any warnings about this kind of thing in the same way Ebay and the likes do.

PaddyFagan

100% scam - relies on the fact that the bank will release the funds on a foreign cheque (or draft) before it has actually cleared. You see the funds are released into your a/c, "pay" the shipping company and hand over the car. Some time later (the banks can take their time over this) the bank, discover the cheque bounced (or draft was a fake) and "reclaim" the money from your account.

The moral of the story is that until you have written confirmation that the cheque/draft has cleared, DO NOT part with any money or property.

Paddy

See http://www.hoax-slayer.com/overpayment-scam.html (or Google with a selection of the following words - scam overpayment shipping)

franksm

heh heh - I got the same 3 times when I was selling the Stag.

One was from the Netherlands who offered my asking price + 2K to cover shipping. I wrote back and forth, baiting him, and after about 6 emails or so got him to put it in writing with a copy of ID to the Garda HQ in phoenix park. At least it got him off my back - don't know if he actually fell for it.

If people aren't willing to meet you, then it's 100% scam. Or if they can't meet you, get them to send a deposit (bank draft) which the bank can check for you there and then (serial number). If all is okay, you can write a receipt back to the buyer with wording around the deposit and take it from there.

prospect

I have my car on carzone also and received a call from an English number yesterday.
I just told the guy the cars was sold, couldn't be bothered listening to him.

PaddyFagan

franksm wrote:

get them to send a deposit (bank draft) which the bank can check for you there and then (serial number).

This isn't a 100% correct, all they can do is try to get the issueing bank to confirm the details - it's from the UK or else where this might not be possible.

Paddy

ciscokid

Put mine on carzone and got same crowd after me too. Idiots.

KmcG

I have my car advertised on Carzone also and received a call today from a bloke saying he was from a company called "UK Vehicle center" www.vehiclecenter.co.uk
He told me that he had potential buyers in Ireland for my car and that they were offering €150 below my asking price..
He then explained the whole process that he would contact the buyers and arrange viewing etc...
Then he asked for my credit card details! He wanted me to pay 100 sterling for this service up front and when the buyer bought the car using any method other than cash I would get the 100 sterling back!
What a Scam! Steer clear. I can see some people falling for this. The simple fact is they have no buyers for your car, all they want is your money and you will never hear from them again.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

I had a motorbike in buy and sell and got the same type of email

mike65

What would con men do without Western Union...

Mike.

AMurphy

ballinasloe wrote:

He responded to say he was happy with that and to consider the car sold, that he would send on the cheque with an 'excess' for the delivery and that he wanted me to send the balance via Wester Union to his shipping company.

......

Cheers :rolleyes:

200% scam. They get your car and the "excess" you returned.
However, given Western Union is the bank of choice for scammers simply demand the payment via that company also.

Wolverine_1999

Hah, what a scam (Unfortunately I've become in expert on these...)

fletch

KmcG wrote:

I have my car advertised on Carzone also and received a call today from a bloke saying he was from a company called "UK Vehicle center" www.vehiclecenter.co.uk
He told me that he had potential buyers in Ireland for my car and that they were offering €150 below my asking price..
He then explained the whole process that he would contact the buyers and arrange viewing etc...
Then he asked for my credit card details! He wanted me to pay 100 sterling for this service up front and when the buyer bought the car using any method other than cash I would get the 100 sterling back!
What a Scam! Steer clear. I can see some people falling for this. The simple fact is they have no buyers for your car, all they want is your money and you will never hear from them again.

Got a call from this guy today....I acted all interested and said I was very interested in his scam lol....he started tellin me how he'd never scammed anyone in his life...I was literally laughin down the phone saying I suppose you want my credit card details now...he just kept denying it was a scam....I jus kept laughin down the phone saying "whatever" to him....eventually I jus said "**** off" and hung up
Oh the number he rang from was +2545018345

adam01

franksm wrote:

heh heh - I got the same 3 times when I was selling the Stag.

One was from the Netherlands who offered my asking price + 2K to cover shipping. I wrote back and forth, baiting him, and after about 6 emails or so got him to put it in writing with a copy of ID to the Garda HQ in phoenix park. At least it got him off my back - don't know if he actually fell for it.

If people aren't willing to meet you, then it's 100% scam. Or if they can't meet you, get them to send a deposit (bank draft) which the bank can check for you there and then (serial number). If all is okay, you can write a receipt back to the buyer with wording around the deposit and take it from there.

Excellent.

It's not like me that i,m a mill air, be on your grds
.....ADs

Our man in Havana

fletch wrote:

Oh the number he rang from was +2545018345

You had a person from Kenya scamming you!

fletch

Bond-007 wrote:

You had a person from Kenya scamming you!

lol Thanks I was wonderin where that phone number was from....although the guy sounded English

zuutroy

Got the following email from Carzone on the subject:

As a Carzone.ie advertiser you may be contacted by the Vehicle
Center, a UK based company, or a number of similar organisations using
different names. The Vehicle Center will claim to have a potential
buyer for your car. Our feedback from other customers is that such
buyers do not exist. We recommend that you do not engage in any way
with these companies; indeed the European Consumer Centre in Dublin has
recently issued a warning about the Vehicle Center.

Typically the Vehicle Center claims they have a number of buyers in
your locality who had specifically requested the model you are
selling. The cost of the referral generally is about €100. This may
seem reasonable if you get the impression that a hassle-free sale can
result. However having paid the fee, all those who have called
Carzone.ie and the European Consumer Centre Dublin to complain, have
said that not only did no sale result but that they did not even get a
single phone call.

We advise anybody selling a car to be aware that making payment to
companies who offer to match sellers with potential buyers may not
guarantee that a potential buyer will actually make contact.

We have also become aware of callers claiming to have a relationship
with Carzone. At Carzone.ie we have no relationship with any referral
service and we do not phone our private advertisers.

Indeed we have had been told of advertisers being called and asked to
confirm contact information, claiming they are from Carzone and they
need to clarifiy details of the advert and credit card information. We
would ask you to be very cautious don’t give out any personal details
or credit card details over the phone.

Be assured, none of the team here at Carzone will ever ring looking to
confirm your details out of the blue and will certainly never ask for
your credit card details over the phone!

We would also appreciate if you would get in contact with us, by email
at classifieds@carzone.ie or by telephone on (01) 667 4280, if you do
have suspicious calls or enquiries. The European Consumer Centre is
also interested in this area and they can be contacted through their
website www.eccdublin.ie or by telephone on (01) 809 0600.