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They're sure to be caught, if a firearm is used, they will use all the mobile phone and internet data, Nice Ring of Steel (TM), NANPR, and thus will have planty of clues, the person taking the pics even has his reflection in the car, while you wouldn't recognose them from the ones on the listing, this could be because ebay reduces them to 400 pixels wide, and what's more, if you had a brain you just wouldn't take pics of the car in an identifiable location with your reflection on it, and what I think are the acomplaces stood near the yellow container..
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That listing is obviously a scam, by looking at a few basic things an eBayer spending that much money should always do.
The feedback gives it away, but not necessarily the first feedback being negative! The account has lain dormat for almost two years, then loads of 50p ebooks are bought to push the feedback rating above 10 and at first glance look reasonable.
The media do like to knock eBay, but on the other hand, buying a car from someone with a high genuine set of feedback is surely much safer than replying to a mobile numbered ad in the paper or Auto Trader.
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Unfortunately people let their guard down when they think they're onto a bargin, sometimes it's greed, sometimes it's because they are naive. The fact that the gang used a gun to rob them must put the crime into a different league and I suppose when they're caught they'll get a reasonable sentence.
Steve.
---
Xantia HDi.
Buy a Citroen and get to know the local GSF staff better...
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>>The account has lain dormat for almost two years, then loads of 50p ebooks are bought to push the feedback rating above 10 and at first glance look reasonable
Which was also done in 2004, I wonder if there was another scam then.
However, there's a bit of this story missing, I think. Dunno what, I just have a feeling that something is incomplete. The user is still active, you would have thought the police/e-bay would have done something about that. The car never reached its reserve. If it was a scam why set a high reserve ? Bidding carried on after wossname thought he'd bought the car. Why ? There was a warning that it might be withdrawn if sold elsewhere. The police supposedly say they're held back by Data Protection (not true in a justified investigation or with reasonable cause) yet e-bay say that they woudl share that information.
Maybe the person with the account wasn't the scammer. Maybe someone else ripped themoney off. Maybe its all a bit dodgy.
But something smells to me.
Or maybe I'm just overly cynical.
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RE: "Shaharayar Talpur drove Shah and his mother Shahnaz to the meeting point."
This all comes down to basic security - never agree to meet somebody at a 'mutually convenient' point, always meet the seller at their own premises.
If its also their home then make sure it matches the address on the V5.
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"If its also their home then make sure it matches the address on the V5."
And make sure you find a reason to go into the house. My local garage had a guy buy a ringer. He met the seller at "his" house. The guy even walked down the drive as he arrived. Tirned out it wasn't his house at all. It worked like this.
Seller is person A
Seller's accomplice is person B
B stands in a phone box within sight of the house they are selling from. Buyer is given directions to nearby, then to phone to be talked in the last bit, it's a bit difficult. Phones up B, who answers the phone in the phone box. When he gets near, A goes up to the house and asks for a fictitious person, and is told they are at the wrong house. B says "I can see you," and hangs up. A walks back down the drive as the buyer pulls up and the illusion is complete.
This guy bought an £8,000 ringer and lost the lot.
Beware.
V
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But something smells to me.
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this is just one bit that smells to me:
asssuming it is the same car linked above, that reached a top bid of £6802 under reserve.
yet the "mug"ged buyer claims to have negotiated to buy it for £5500 !
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Agreed, there's a strange smell to it, especially as the item listed did not meet its reserve.
If something looks ridiculously cheap, there's normally a reason.
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As mentioned before, the feedback has been rapidly engineered to look at first glance like the seller is pukka when he has little or no Ebay status, and one negative comment. Alarm bells should have started ringing. However, just because this has been done, doesn't mean it's dodgy - if I wanted to sell something valuable on Ebay and had bad feedback or no feedback I'd perhaps do the same thing myself, even for a legitimate sale.
However, the photos were taken at what looks like a car park based hand-car-wash. You know, where you give your car and your keys to someone you've never met so they can clean it, take photos of the exterior and interior, put it up for sale on Ebay... that sort of thing.
Here's another thing... If the car was registered on 1 Sep 2002 why does the MOT run out in Jan 2007? It would have been due for its first MOT by 1 Sep 2005 and that would be valid until this Thursday. There are no previous owners (ie, no case of it having had 12 months MOT slapped on it to aid a sale) so why was an MOT apparently done in Jan 2006?
Why does the seller not know the engine size?
So immediately it's all a bit fishy.
Quite why a high reserve was set I couldn't say. If our scammer was a bit clever it could have been a way of making the victim think he was getting an even better deal... "yeah, because I like you I'll take less than the reserve, but in cash, right?" But the data protection thing puzzled me too. Perhaps they want to be happy that it's the seller whodunnit before they go fishing through his accounts. All a little odd though.
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