They don't bother to ship the car, in my experience. Once they've got their cash it's job done, and move on to the next mug!
Another target for the scammers are people with homes to rent in Farnce/Spain, often advertised on the web. They offer to take it for six months, send the chq for three time the amount needed etc.
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Yes the scam is to get cash money from a bogus money order / draft / what ever ( in legal terms its called a False Instrument )
They are using you and your car to get the money, only later do you find out the false instrument wont pay up.
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They got my email from an advert on the Jag Enthusiasts website - it doesn't display the address, but has a button marked "respond to this ad" and then the site forwards you the message.
Not quite so much of an out and out scam, but having put an ad in Autotrader, I had about a thousand phone calls from some outfit offering to match me up with potential buyers, for a mere £80. What concerned me was that they had lts of outgoing phone numbers, but no centralised data system, so when I told the first one to go away, that didn't stop all the other calls. In the end, I just stopped answering any call with an 0208 number...
O
PS - the Jag is still for sale, and much better and cheaper than the XJR offered by another contributor!!!
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Jaguar XJS V12 - comes with free personalised oil tanker.
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If you're interested, here's how I got one of them to stop emailing me:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=29362&...f
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>>some outfit offering to match me up with potential buyers, for a mere £80. >>
This is a scam that has been going on for years. It's been known for them to make a recording of the call and then edit it to make it sound as though you agreed to them putting your vehicle on their books.
IIRC the AA or the RAC did a campaign at one time to have such practices outlawed.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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They got my email from an advert on the Jag Enthusiasts website - it doesn't display the address, but has a button marked "respond to this ad" and then the site forwards you the message. Not quite so much of an out and out scam, but having put an ad in Autotrader, I had about a thousand phone calls from some outfit offering to match me up with potential buyers, for a mere £80. What concerned me was that they had lts of outgoing phone numbers, but no centralised data system, so when I told the first one to go away, that didn't stop all the other calls. In the end, I just stopped answering any call with an 0208 number...
I agree this is a nightmare with any car ad you place in the Autotrader (through no fault of Autotrader).
I got so sick of these car-match people in the end I just started telling to pxxx of and stop bothering me !
The ultra-annoying thing is that they open the conevrsation is carefully scripted so that the first few seconds leads you to believe you have a real buyer on the line.
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Watchdog did something a few weeks back on one of the companies.
www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/reports/transport/transport...l
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"I would not release the car until I had proven cleared funds in my bank account"
And this is where people get caught. Pop the draft into your account and it will probably clear OK. You'll see the funds in your account. Then, a few weeks later, when the postal system gets the cheque to Timbuktu and it is highlighted that the draft is stolen, the bank will take the money back out of your account.
In summary, in the case of bankers drafts, "cleared" doesn't always mean "cleared".
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I've also had loads of calls from car matching scammers..........just pay £80 and ........ loads of buyers
Has any body heard of any one actually paying these scammers and getting a sale ....... as they must have really big phone bills to pay each month........
I'm now following one posters advice from yeasterday and using the calls to vent some fustration ....... yeah ill just get him??? 10 mins later they seem to have rung off!
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From what I understand no-one ever registers with them as a buyer. How many times have you gone to an agency and waited for the "right" Mondeo to come along? Just look in Autotrader - there are thousands of them. No buyer needs the service.
So... what they do is register you as a seller, then assume that if you're selling you're looking to replace and you're therefore a buyer. So they then bombard you with details of other people's cars just like they bombarded other people with details of yours.
It's not exactly a scam, but they don't have any buyers lined up for your car, and if you do sign up then you become one of their "buyers" as well. It must be making money due to the number of people suddenly doing it.
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Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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"I would not release the car until I had proven cleared funds in my bank account" And this is where people get caught. Pop the draft into your account and it will probably clear OK. You'll see the funds in your account. Then, a few weeks later, when the postal system gets the cheque to Timbuktu and it is highlighted that the draft is stolen, the bank will take the money back out of your account. In summary, in the case of bankers drafts, "cleared" doesn't always mean "cleared".
This is an interesting scenario, as I always thought that if you asked the bank the question "can I draw against these funds" and they say yes, I assumed you were okay. I agree that when looking at ones account via cash machine or online, you can see funds which do seem cleared, but I always thought that if the bank confirms clearance of funds this was okay ?
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It is a fact that this particular scam, known as "criminal cash back" fraud emanates from Nigeria.
There are scores, if not hundreds, of lower echelon Nigerian criminals sitting in a room somewhere making out wholly counterfeit cheques, or making out stolen and washed cheques to Mr A.Mug.
These cheques are then bundled up by the thousand, or scores of thousands and sent by air courier into Heathrow/Gatwick etc. They are then further couriered to council flats in Peckham, Barking and Dagenham where further teams of lower echelon Nigerian criminals are cramming the cheques into individual envelopes and stamped with a UK stamp for sending to Mr A.Mug.
It is a very profitable industry and will continue to be because there are so many niaive (greedy?) people out there. You won't see Mr A.Mug in the phone directory, but there are thousands of them out there with it tattoed on the forehead.
Apart from the one curious case mentioned on this forum (and probably part of another scam)the fraudsters who contact you are not interested in meeting you or viewing your Ford Mondeo.
Advertise in Loot, Ebay, Auto Express or Exchange&Mart and you will soon find that this scam is not restricted to vehicle sales. Selling your old International Rescue Tracey Island? a moth eaten 3 piece suite? the pine TV cabinet? the Ikea Kroggskog rug? your Cyprus Apartment for summer rental? You will also probably get a call offering you a cheque for greater than the amount asked.
It is an epidemic and probably a greater one than the much talked about Avian Flu will ever be. It is on an epic and continental scale. Someone in Buttmunch Ohio is just as likely to become a victim as someone in Husbands Bosworth.
Don't be tempted to play Sherlock Holmes, they won't take the bait. Remember they are the arch and expert scammers, you are the scam'ee. i.e. you can't kid a kidder. Don't ever be tempted to cash a cheque/draft and send the remainder off to a person you don't know, nor have never met. It won't be long before an enterprising Financial Investigation Unit from a police force local to you decides to arrest and charge victims with money laundering offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act. So, a double whammy of losing several thousands of pounds and men in badly fitted suits knocking at your door in the early hours of the morning, scaring you, the wife and the kids in the process. So, no job for you at Tiddle, Tiddle & Wink Accountants with a CRO number for dishonesty to your name.
Remember.....you haven't won the Spanish/Canadian/ Lower Mongolian lottery 'cos you didn't enter it. You haven't lost a distant relative previously unknown to you who is leaving you millions of pounds in a will, no one has over-invoiced the Nigerian Petroleum Company and willing to share the millions stolen with your goodself, and no one is ever going to offer you a cheque in excess of the amount you ask for except in the commission of a criminal act!
The offer of "something for nothing" always ends up as "nothing for something"
You would be amazed at the number of people in this world who really, really don't know that!
So, don't do it. Not even to see what happens, don't think that there is a .000001% chance of it all being OK, 'cos it ain't. Discard any notion of legal standing of you & bank where draft is cashed and you are given all clear.
Offer of cheque in excess of amount asked +western union transfer of remainder =fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud.
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Tack, that was the most beautifully crafted description of this scam I've ever read. Far more entertaining than anything on telly tonight. Bravo!
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Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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Tack, that was the most beautifully crafted description of this scam.............
Thank you kind sir for your supporting comments.
I see this type of thing day in and day out and it never, ever ceases to amaze me that people are quite willing to transact in this way. It drives me mental!
A lot of people say that people are too cynical these days. I am afraid that they are not cynical enough. People will invest in double glazed windows with security locks, an alarm system and CCTV, they will peep through the curtains 'cos a stranger has parked outside their house. But, they will send off thousands of pounds from their own bank account to a person they have never met based on a phone call or email response to their advert. Aaaargh!
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