A novel scam

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Tue 28 Jul 2020 19:23
A novel scam - Steveieb

So this is what happens.

A punter rings the dealer and asks for details of the Porsche he has in his used stock. In particular he asks about the tyre condition which raises alarms.

He quickly agrees to buy the car but says he is away for a few days so could he have an invoice for the car which costs £44k.

The invoice is sent and the money arrives in the dealers account. He then checks with the bank for confirms the money is sound . So he releases the car which has been sold to a company which is in financial services.

it is only when the dealer checks out the company further that he has taken out a loan in his own name for the full price of the car.

So the dealer has been scammed by the punter who has the company’s bank details , other personal details from Facebook and maybe the address of the dealership ?

Is this a new type of scam maybe ?

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Tue 28 Jul 2020 21:18
A novel scam - Falkirk Bairn

This was in the papers 2 weeks ago - Lanarkshire 2nd hand dealer selling a Porsche.

An "agent" called BBL was buying for someone overseas

Cheque duly arrives from BBL and could be cleared.

Smelling something wrong they dug deeper.

The cheque was Government Funding BBL = Bounce Back Loans

The 2 owners had clocked this because there was no attempt to negotiate, test drive etc etc

The con trick was the scammer had applied for a BBL loan in the name of the garage.

Had he let the car go he would have been down £30K+ and he would have been on the hook for paying back the Govt Loan.

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Tue 28 Jul 2020 22:01
A novel scam - Zippy123

Writing BBLs. This is extremely hard to do, though like all things in banking, not impossible.

Full KYC is undertaken on all loans. Whilst a borrower can go to a different bank, most will apply through their own bank.

Borrower will need to show ID, if a Ltd business, then board meeting notes to show loan agreed to.

99.999% of applications go through their relationship manager who will know the customer and write up the case for the loan.

Every single loan that I have seen, and I have checked the system for payment details, have gone direct to customers' current accounts via BACs or CHAPS.

Many car dealerships have already applied for CBILS or CLBILS and are not eligible for BBLs. I wonder if the fraudsters cloned a similar business details like BuyACar vs BuyACars but then again, for Ltd cos and PLCs we always lend against the co-reg number not the name alone.

Just to be clear, the loan is backed by the Govt. The high street bank is the one paying out the money. The "BBL Bank" - actually the British Business Bank does not pay out the money as such.

Edited by Zippy123 on 28/07/2020 at 22:48

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Fri 31 Jul 2020 12:06
A novel scam - mcb100

Nothing like that process when I applied for a BBL as a sole trader. 30 second application from a new business account and paid almost instantaneously.

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Fri 31 Jul 2020 18:43
A novel scam - Zippy123

Nothing like that process when I applied for a BBL as a sole trader. 30 second application from a new business account and paid almost instantaneously.

All the checking would have been done by your bank behind the scenes.

If you already had an account with them then all the KYC etc is in place or the banks systems can do certain KYC checks very quickly depending on the loan size and the banks rules.

We link to a credit vetting agency who will confirm identity within a few moments for a new customer based on the electoral roll, existing cards, loans, etc.

And of course you have confirmed what i said re the amount being paid to your account instantaneously. As I said, not one loan from the 100s of thousands that we have paid out have been by cheque. They have all been to the borrowers' account.

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Fri 31 Jul 2020 10:59
A novel scam - expat

and he would have been on the hook for paying back the Govt Loan.

That seems very unfair. Some scammer impersonates an innocent party and the bank gets taken in. Surely it is the bank that has been defrauded. The innocent party knew nothing about the matter and never applied for a loan so why should be pay it back?

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Fri 31 Jul 2020 13:13
A novel scam - MVP

Know of someone with a holiday business who applied for a loan but was told the property had already £70k taken out on it.

Turned out the guy he had bought it from seven years ago had applied and been given the money.

I think it costs about £2.50 to do a company or land registry check online but the powers that be obviously are too incompetent to even do this.

Never mind, tax payers will pay and those in charge will continue to ride the gravy train.

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Fri 31 Jul 2020 16:20
A novel scam - Steveieb

Any idea if your small trader company of limited company can check to see if any loans have been taken out in their name .

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Fri 31 Jul 2020 18:50
A novel scam - Zippy123

Any idea if your small trader company of limited company can check to see if any loans have been taken out in their name .

Credit checking agencies record all this stuff. Experian is one.

Charges are recorded at Companies House (there is a short delay). https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/

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Fri 31 Jul 2020 18:46
A novel scam - Zippy123

and he would have been on the hook for paying back the Govt Loan.

That seems very unfair. Some scammer impersonates an innocent party and the bank gets taken in. Surely it is the bank that has been defrauded. The innocent party knew nothing about the matter and never applied for a loan so why should be pay it back?

They would have paid the cheque in and would need to repay the money - net cash movement zero But it is not feasible, as far as I can see for the loan to be paid by cheque from the British Lending Bank.

They would have been defrauded out of the car though and that's down to them.

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