The scam thread ..all motors scams in here!

scambaiter12

This is not my first post on boards …but it is my first post with this profile as I don’t want to draw a link between this post and others I have made….…reasons why will become clearer below. I’m looking for a car at the moment and responded to a couple of adds on Carzone.ie that turned out to be scams. I suggested to a couple of them that they were scammers and that i was going to report them to Carzone/their email service provider, the authorities etc.

With a little foresight I had set up a dedicated email address for this and haven’t used if for anything else much. Scammers don’t liked being called scammers or having their money tap turned off and a couple responded threatening some fairly serious harm suggesting that they would trace my IP address with the aid of their local contacts and come looking for me. All talk, or something more serious….I duuno….some of the 419 scam baiting websites show that many of these scam artists do have local contacts who might be in a position to do this. Either way, I know well enough about IP addresses and what IP information is provided by web-based Gmail accounts in email headers to know that the chances of them tracking me back are very, very slim…even if they had the inclination.

A couple of things strike me.

1: Carzone don't appear to give two sh*ts about any of this. I reported a number of the scams to Carzone.ie via the report an add button. No response whatsoever from them even though I copied them one of the entire threatening emails I had received ……..last time I looked the add was still up there. I can understand that they can’t screen every add, but there are a number of common ploys used by the scammers which they could focus more on and they should be reacting to scams that are alerted to them. They don't seem to think that they have any form of duty of care to their users…and maybe legally they don’t but they have a moral responsibility to act.

2: The service providers seem to take their responsibilities a lot more seriously than carzone…..less so if there is just a suggestion of fraud, more so if there is actual threatening behaviour. I would recommend everyone who notices a scam to report it directly to the service provider responsible…..i am sure we can come up with a list of the main service providers and the email addresses/forms that can be used to notify such behaviour.

3: As visitors to this forum we are probably not going to be the people who will be scammed, but we are well positioned to be doing more to protect other motorists
• by reporting every scam email address to the email provider using their report suspicious/fraudulent behaviour functions (asking them to identify who has been emailed by the scammer from that address, asking them to alert these people to the fact that they may have been scammed and notifying them of the fact that you are alerting the relevant authorities that you have put them on notice that one of their email addresses is being used for fraudulent purposes)
• by collectively putting pressure on Carzone to respond effectively to these scam adds
• by publicising more widely (with the limits of what’s possible on boards) the level of scams on carzone
• by having a suspected scam sticky(if possible/desirable) where suspected scams which have been notified to Carzone can be listed
• by any other means that the collective brainpower of boards can come up with.

Long post apology …..over-reaction on my part??…….thoughts anyone?

Stky10

scambaiter12 wrote: »

1: Carzone don't appear to give two sh*ts about any of this.

Even scammers have to pay Carzone to place an ad. I pay Carzone nothing to view this ad. Therefore Carzone's economic imperative is towards the scammer rather than the potential buyer. Unless you have a way of getting this issue raised in the papers or on tv, nothing will be done about it.

If some people are so stupid as to fall for these scams then thats their fault. Fools and their money are easily parted, and if its not by car buying scams it will be some other method. You can't save people from themselves/their-own-stupidity.

peasant

stickyfied for now

hope carzone sort this soon ...am getting tired of moving x threads per day

biggus

Yes i know this is about scams but bear me out.

After much thought it seems to me that the SIMI and dealers have put huge pressure on carzone to make private ads less attractive and also hard to find on Carzone.

It's almost impossible to find privately advertised vans on the new database setup.

Example
A friend still can't get his two commercials listed unless you know where to look for them and he can't get a refund of avertising costs from Carzone.
Just checked and commercial section now goes through to Autotrader
http://www.carzone.ie/commercials/
this links through to
http://www.autotrader.ie/COMMS/comms.jsp

Not one private van available !!!!!!

He will not advertise on Carzone privately again (or any other way)

If the dealers can exert pressure to delist private adverts the next step could be to allow scams to appear;

Tactics being to scare off the public from even considering private sale and drive people back into the arms of REPUTABLE dealers!

Althought this might seem like stupid behaviour to net savvy people like yourselves it might make a lot of sense to a financial controller who's major RECURRING income comes from Dealers

I've noticed that UK Autotrader adds have discriminated against private adverts for years and now they control carzone.

I'm not into conspiricy theories but have seen UK controlled companies make a mess of Irish businesses before cos they don't realise the power of the word of mouth here and tend to go for quarterly results rather than long term business.

The carzone database changed recently from select
Private Sale
Dealer

To
Private Sale
Dealer
SIMI Dealer


SIMI influence in very apparent here

If SIMI Threatened to pull all business this would badly effect results and short term profitability and might encourage carzone to aquiese to request from SIMI for assistance in a bad market.

So SCAMMERS drive people away from ALL private sales !!! so if i'm a dealer sure isn't that great; why discourage it? Thanks Carzone at least i'm getting some help for my monthly dealer DDebit.


While i'm at it why don't Autotrader and Carzone have a standard "no agencies" at the bottom of all their adverts. Agencies tend to put off private sellers also from advertising and these scammers won't ring dealers.

All in all Private Buyers and sellers are now getting a raw deal that wasn't apparent when the company was indigenously owned

Sam Kade

I replied to an ad on a UK website about a tractor. The tractor was £4100 about 3k less than what they are making in the UK. The reply I got back in broken english was that he was from outside the UK and was in business with an english man. They closed down the business and were selling off the machinery. He said that delivery was free but he wanted my full address to calcuate shipping costs and that his lowest price was £4000 and the tractor was in a warehouse. I knew it was a scam so I sent him another email and asked for the location of the tractor and the reg number. He replied with more pictures of the tractor with reg blanked out. I sent him another email asking for reg no, chassis no and location of the tractor. No reply.

It's very important to ask for reg no and check it with cartell. When you go to view the vehicle you should make sure the owner lives at the same address as is on the tax book and never meet them at the side of the road. Also make sure that the chassis no. matches the vehicle and wasn't altered. Get as much documentation as you can service receipts, ncts etc.

Kristopherus

Would contacting Philip Boucher - Hayes for his Buyer Beware prog help to spread word the about these boyos ???

BostonB

I think you're right biggus.

I couldn't understand the logic of allowing so many scams on the carzone website and showing so little interest in stopping it. But if the intention was discredit private sales in favour of dealers then it makes perfect sense.

L-M

Sam Kade wrote: »

It's very important to ask for reg no and check it with cartell. When you go to view the vehicle you should make sure the owner lives at the same address as is on the tax book and never meet them at the side of the road. Also make sure that the chassis no. matches the vehicle and wasn't altered. Get as much documentation as you can service receipts, ncts etc.

I think there is alot more fraud and scams taking place through the internet, without people seeing the cars and through Western Union etc. etc. To be honest, i don't think scammers go as far to actually have the car, or a stolen copy. This involves alot more effort and a very high risk of being caught.

bibi-phoque

I agree with what has been mentioned earlier, Carzone has no incentive to stop this, they are getting paid for these fake ads and SIMI is happy as selling a car privately is now officially a pure nightmare. With the price of the ad doubling, Carzone must be pretty happy with all this new business.
However, the number of ads is going down on carzone. One week ago, there were 65600, now there are 64600. You can't win everywhere Carzone...

Have been advertising my car (RX-8) for the last 3 months. One genuine person contacted me, the rest were all scams.

Two scams that I haven't deleted :
- Viktor Putin, mrandmrsputin@yahoo.com (0044 7045761544)
- Mark Girland, m.girland@yahoo.co.uk (00447031941926 and 00447035925925)

"I have just contacted my fiduciary agent to pay for the car by bank draft for 15500euros which will be from an Irish bank and it will only take 2 to 5 days to clear into your account,the draft will gets to you early next week and Inspection will be done on the car by Mid next week. I need the car for my family and I need to act fast in buying it,I will need you make available all the relevant documents for the car .

The Following details will be needed by the Bank to issue out the draft to you:
1, Full Names
2, Full Address
3, Phone Numbers"


I usually reply in french (yes, they all speak french) to "get lost" and it usually stops emails coming back. I also call the garda but they can't do much with a fake email address. I so want to set one up but this is risky business and I won't. But I hate them.

Now I get people asking me why I sell mine 15 000€ when some are at less than 6000€ (http://www.carzone.ie/search/Mazda/RX-8/Rx-8--23/200846190824957/advert) for the same spec. I don't mind the scammers that contact me, I can ignore them, but what bothers me the most is all these fake ads!

redfan

5k from carzone seller but he says hes in the uk. heres part of the email.



Subject: Re: Carzone Classified Enquiry


Hi Anto,
Some pics of the car and the aa check report of the car history are attached in e-mail. The car is here with me at the base, in UK. If you are interested to buy my car we can use a third party escrow broker ( Moneybookers.Com http://www.moneybookers.com/app/help.pl?s=escrow ) to secure the transaction and to handle this whole process for us. Using a reputable E-Commerce third party escrow company will secure the transaction and you will receive the car before I'll get paid and of course I'm also covered because the funds will be kept safety into the escrow account. This is the best way for me even if I'll have to pay some extra money for their services. I'll cover the broker's fee and like I've explained, the shipping will be free because I can use one of our airplanes here and I don't have to pay anything. Let me know if you are interested.
Regards!
Paul




On 11/26/08, xxxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
hi paul,
thanks for the reply... i would be very interested in buying the car but would need to do a backround check on it. could you send me the reg plate detail and after i have checked it we can arrange something.... thanks
regards anto...

---

From:xxxxxxxxxxxx<To: "xxxxxxxx@yahoo.co.uk" <axxxxxxx@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, 25 November, 2008 18:28:02
Subject: Re: Carzone Classified Enquiry



Hi,
I'm Paul McClain, you inquired about my 2005 Alfa Romeo 156.
I apologize for the delay, I'm in the military and now I am in United Kingdom and that's why I couldn't reply in time. If you are still interested in buying it, I'm asking 5,000€ . The car is registered in Ireland. It has a clean title, very well maintained, always garage kept, no rust, excellent condition, runs and sounds 100% perfect with no leaks or noises. All power and optional equipments are working perfect. I have to sell this car as fast as I can because in three weeks I will be in Iraq and I think I'll stay there for a while that's why I'm selling it so cheap. I intend to buy a new car when I'll get back home. If you want to buy the car please e-mail me back.

Thank's
Paul

robbie99

Try reading the stickied thread.

milltown

Yes it is.

homer90

redfan wrote: »

Hi,
I'm Paul McClain, you inquired about my 2005 Alfa Romeo 156.
I apologize for the delay, I'm in the military and now I am in United Kingdom and that's why I couldn't reply in time. If you are still interested in buying it, I'm asking 5,000€ . The car is registered in Ireland. It has a clean title, very well maintained, always garage kept, no rust, excellent condition, runs and sounds 100% perfect with no leaks or noises. All power and optional equipments are working perfect. I have to sell this car as fast as I can because in three weeks I will be in Iraq and I think I'll stay there for a while that's why I'm selling it so cheap. I intend to buy a new car when I'll get back home. If you want to buy the car please e-mail me back.

Thank's
Paul

This well worn line was used on another post here for another add .....
SCAM SCAM SCAM

partyguinness

Complete scam...am selling on Carzone at the moment and getting plagued by similar (badly written) emails..

ps anyone want a 06 BMW 320 Coupe...:):)

partyguinness

stay clear of emails from:-

teddy smith, karl elliott and yves gontard

My guess is that they are African (Nigerian my guess) chancers in England

Even got one this morning

ice9

hi,
what is the deal with this?

____________________________
"
Thanks for the mail and for the advice but i just want you to understand that am okay with your asking price but i want you to understand that my customer made it clear to me that he can only make the payment by bank draft and we will wait for the bank draft to be clear in your bank before making any arrangement for the transport and You have to note that the shipping payment will also be added to the actual amount and this will be handled by my shipper so you dont need to worry about the shipping. if you are okay with this arrangement just send me your full details in your next mail..
Name (has to be issue on the cheque):
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Country
Phone(Home,Mobile,Office):
Last Price:
I wait to read all this from you so that the cheque can be sent down to your destination... .Kindly call me +44703XXXXXXXXX
Cheers

--- On Sat, 11/29/08, Conor <coxxxxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Conor <cxxxxxxxx@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Carzone Classified Enquiry
To: texxxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, November 29, 2008, 12:46 PM

hi,
5th owner
no accidents form any owner
E4000
immaculate condition
dublin, Ireland
I need a bigger car for family.
Pics attached.

If you are serious about acquiring this model you will need to come to dublin.
I only accept cash or bank draft.

Thanks for your interest.






texxxxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com wrote:
> Name: Jaxxxxxxxx
> Phone No: 70xxxxxxx
> Email Address : tedxxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com
> Ref/URL:
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Honda/Prelude/2Litre/200848190995368/advert
> Comments: Dear Seller, I was fortunate to spot your advert on the net and
I like to know if it is still availabe for sale . if available,please get back
to me with the following enquiries: Are you the first owner? Any accident? Your
last price ? Present condition? Also the pics? where are you based? why did you
intend to sell it? Pls get back to me immidatelly you read this E-mail I wait to
read from you soon next.. My phone is +44xxxxxxxxxxxx
"

__________________________________

thanks
-ice

ice9

ah, sorry, I was too hasty there.....this one is James Teddy......Sounds suspiciously like Teddy Smith?!

What is their deal though.
They just want some personal details by the looks of it.

Sizzler

partyguinness wrote: »

Complete scam...am selling on Carzone at the moment and getting plagued by similar (badly written) emails..

ps anyone want a 06 BMW 320 Coupe...:):)

I'll give you 15k for a quick sale? I will send you a draft though for 55k and want you to send the 40k balance back to me via western union

Sizzler

All of these clowns appear to be operating from the UK using UK mobiles so the cops here can do fook all so you need to is let the fraud chaps in the met police know that you details of a few chaps they might like to have a word with

fraud.alert@met.police.uk

Esel

ice9 wrote: »

ah, sorry, I was too hasty there.....this one is James Teddy......Sounds suspiciously like Teddy Smith?!

What is their deal though.
They just want some personal details by the looks of it.

Read the fuppin' thread!

The scam in this example is that they send you a bogus draft for too much money, and ask you to refund them the difference (via Western Union usually). If you are stupid enough to do so, you have just given them this amount of money, as, a couple of weeks later, your bank will inform you that the draft did not clear.

ninty9er

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Audi/A8/3.0TDI-Q/200848191026678/advert

L-M

ninty9er wrote: »

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Audi/A8/3.0TDI-Q/200848191026678/advert

That one is really, fella i know selling it.

ninty9er

Limerick-man wrote: »

That one is really, fella i know selling it.

I haven't cross checked the numbers but he also seems to be selling a 06 730d for €14k

L-M

ninty9er wrote: »

I haven't cross checked the numbers but he also seems to be selling a 06 730d for €14k

:P


Joke

ninty9er

Limerick-man wrote: »

:P


Joke

A smilie would have helped in the first message.

Haven't you got school to be going to early.....off to bed with you:pac::pac:

L-M

ninty9er wrote: »

A smilie would have helped in the first message.

Hahah a smiley would have given away the game, i thought you'd be out with the credit card:D

victor1

Limerick-man wrote: »

That one is really, fella i know selling it.

http://www.barclaymotors.ie/viewanad.php?ad_id=280769

ad

Goodluck2me

Hi again,

Just to let you know, the car is based in Germany. I use to live in Ireland until few months ago, after I finish my study, I moved in to my origins place.
I can't sell it locally, due to a different standard...and of the very high import duties and all the restrictions regarding registration and emissions tests. The only thing is to sell it back. Is a Right hand drive, irish supplied car not an import. still have irish registration.
At this point the car and all papers are already sealed in crate,stored in the shipping company warehouse and ready to be shipped.
It will be shipped directly to your requested address (home or work address) and all the shipping charges are included in the asking price of 7900 Euros.
The financial part of this deal will be managed trough eBay protection program.You will make the payment to them.The money will remain in their account until you will receive and inspect the car. You have the 7 days inspection time period and the option to accept or reject the car.
Please keep me posted if you need more information.

I see now that he has started it with "hi again" even though it is the first time he replied, obviously just a copy and paste job.
This is the original E-mail I sent them, with the car report attached.

e-mail was walshestephens@yahoo.ie


Hi,



I am enquiring about the car you have advertised on Autotrader.ie. I notice that there are foreign plates on it, have you any idea how much the VRT would be on the car to import it, if it's not already been done.

Also has it ever ben involved in an accident?

Where are you based in Dublin, so that I could take a test-drive, if I am interested.



Thanks



XXXXXX



Here is the insert from the website in case you have several cars up






AUDI A3


Price


€ 7,900 (Stg £ 6,680)


Year


2006


Mileage


25,000 miles


Colour


Red






Petrol, Coupe, 2 Doors, Manual, Huge spec A3 2.0tdi(170) s-line quattro, very rare car with this spec, Sat nav, Bluetooth, Multi function steering wheel including Voice activation for phone, nav etc. Half leather s-line seats, Bi-Xenons, Rear park distance control, Bose stereo, Dual climate control, Heated electric mirrors, Rear sun blind, No scuffs or marks on the alloys, perfect paintwork, Hpi report,much more.

L-M

victor1 wrote: »

http://www.barclaymotors.ie/viewanad.php?ad_id=280769

ad

Lol, you missed the joke. But nice find.

partyguinness

Sizzler wrote: »

I'll give you 15k for a quick sale? I will send you a draft though for 55k and want you to send the 40k balance back to me via western union

Hilarious...make it 25k