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Selling your car and fraud

1488 Views 12 Replies 9 Participants Last post by DGF, Jun 3, 2005

amt7565

Discussion Starter · May 27, 2005

Hello-
Since I bought my bimmer 2 week ago, I need to sell my old car. What is the best precaution I can take to avoid fraud? What do I do if I sell my car out of state? I am worried about disclosing my bank account number for any wire transfers since it will effect my privacy and security.
Is Paypal safe?
Any advise is appreciated.
Thanks.

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Uncle Fester

· #2 · May 27, 2005

Cash?

Or a cashier's check and wait until it has cleared before you hand over. (Beware, there are cases of counterfeit checks though).

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DGF

· #3 · May 30, 2005

I have the same concerns.

I have my wife's 325XiT posted in the classified section of the 'fest and have recently listed it on autotrader.com. Within one day I received the following email:

"HELLO,I AM A VEHICLE CONSULTANT AND INTERESTED IN YOUR VEHICLE,PLEASE UPDATE WITH YOUR VEHICLE INFORMATIONS,IAM OFFERING THE SUM $27400 IF STILL AS DESCRIBE IN AD . ADVICE ASAP.
REGARDS
BRADLEY"

....and then a day later, I received this:

"Sam Patrick, Director SAMPAT AUTOS INC.
#59 Kensington high street, Chelsea, London w84pt specialist in Auto
shop/sales/serv & general delivery.I have an interested buyer,
to offer $27,400 for your car,if ok and available, reply ASAP."

Both these offers were $100 under my asking price of $27,500, and, as you can see, almost identical formats. I think that my price is a good one, but surely these "in the trade" guys have access to wholesale inventory? I mean no offense to these gentlemen, but the whole thing feels a little strange.

I emailed responses, but stipulated that I wouldn't even consider handing over the car until funds were firmly in my account - no replies back yet.

What do people think? Are these for real?

Thoughts obviously appreciated!

- Dave

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em-dash

· #4 · May 31, 2005

DGF said:
I have the same concerns.

What do people think? Are these for real?

Thoughts obviously appreciated!

- Dave

I wouldn't deal with these guys if I were you. I read an article in the Mercury News a couple months ago about a woman who got ripped off from some guy overseas. I don't remember all of the details, but the guy wanted to buy her car, and somehow he managed to clean out her bank account.

Think about it. Is your car so unique that someone would be willing to spend big bucks shipping it to Europe?

Here's some info on scams from Craigslist: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

best of luck,
Greg

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sunnykk

· #5 · May 31, 2005

Cahiers's Check, Nothing else if you ask me. better safe than sorry.

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DGF

· #6 · May 31, 2005

Thanks for the responses - coincidentally I did hear from the first guy. He wanted to know a bunch of things about the car, including the VIN - I read elsewhere on the Forum that "VIN-theft" is on the rise. Apparently stolen VINs are used to legitimize fake car listings...... again, I'm not sure if the emails I received are anything to do with this type of transaction, but the info on Craig's List and the Cashier's Check advice seem very pertinent!

It's sure scary out there!

- Dave

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jav330ci

· #7 · Jun 1, 2005

Advice from a banker

Cashier's checks can be difficult to authenticate. Sometimes it takes several days to find out the check is counterfeit, since lots of banks won't give information over the phone. Watch out for someone overpaying and asking you to wire the funds back. Be extremely careful if you're dealing with someone from out of state that doesn't even want to see the car before they buy. A wire transfer is the way to go, funds are guaranteed and your bank will credit oyur account upon receipt of the funds. If you don't want to give out your main account number, go to your bank and open a small savings account for the sole purpose of receving the wire transfer, then close it out afterwards.

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LDV330i

· #8 · Jun 1, 2005

When I offered my 318ti for sale I got an e-mail offering to pay full price. He claimed to be an englishman working for a Turkish client. He even gave me a full physical address. (Un)Fortunately I noticed that a town called Victoria Gardens did not sound like it would be located in Turkey. :rofl:

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amt7565

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 1, 2005

I sold my car yesterday-
They buyer met me at my bank and made a cash deposit. Then I handed him the title.

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RedSilver

· #10 · Jun 2, 2005

For a good laugh, visit Scamorama

Yes, it's sad that we live in a culture which allows crooks to run free and infest every
aspect of our daily lives. Many of the inquiries you receive will be fake. And a large
number of Cashier's checks in circulaton are also fake. The authorities don't care.

For a good laugh, however, visit www.scamorama.com to see how your fellow citizens
bait these crooks, waste their time and money, and generally increase the overall
level of drollery here in the 21st century. People have posed as fictional characters
and jerked these crooks around for over a year

Also visit www.aa419.org, a group that takes down web sites used by the scammers.
I have personally helped take down more than a dozen.

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DGF

· #11 · Jun 2, 2005 (Edited)

Coincidentally I just sold my car too! I took a cashier's check from a cool couple that I was able to meet in person and look squarely in the eye. I arranged to drop the car off at their house....... so I know where they live!

FWIW, I have our second BMW up for sale (330CiC) on autotrader and I am recieving multiple "I am a veicle consultant and I'll give you $100 under asking price + just send me details" emails each day. I'm just ignoring them all. [Now the Xit has been sold I can actually afford the new E90 that we're picking up in 3 weeks on the ED program!

]

Thanks again to all those that gave advice.

- Dave

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paulg

· #12 · Jun 3, 2005

DGF said:
Coincidentally I just sold my car too! I took a cashier's check from a cool couple that I was able to meet in person and look squarely in the eye. I arranged to drop the car off at their house....... so I know where they live!

FWIW, I have our second BMW up for sale (330CiC) on autotrader and I am recieving multiple "I am a veicle consultant and I'll give you $100 under asking price + just send me details" emails each day. I'm just ignoring them all. [Now the Xit has been sold I can actually afford the new E90 that we're picking up in 3 weeks on the ED program! ]

Thanks again to all those that gave advice.

- Dave

Read this link. Very informative.

Caveat emptor... and the seller too.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

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DGF

· #13 · Jun 3, 2005

Thanks Paul,

I got the same link from one of the earlier posts, but very worthwhile re-reading. I particularly like the recommendation to "trust your instincts"........ if it looks like a rat, and smells like a rat, then it proba........

I laughed out loud when I saw LDV's post about "Victoria Gardens" in Turkey - I guess that we're not talking about criminal masterminds here!!

Safe selling,

- Dave

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