My wife advertised her car for sale on Auto Trader and has had two separate e-mails, both from females, saying that they were working overseas but that they wanted to buy the car unseen and would pay the asking price via Paypal. Their agent would pick up the car. Can't see how, but this feels like a scam. Anyone heard of this?
Simples.... Say yes, but their agent has to bring cash...The "ladies" only need to pay the agent by PayPal. Yes pretty sure it is a scam...you can block the paypal account easy...by saying the goods are faulty/not up to scratch etc...by then your car is long gone...and soon after they close the account and they are gone too
If you think its a scam, its a scam. Especially with anything to do with foreign buyers. Why would anyone buy cars from the UK when theyd be cheaper in Europe and have the wheel on the correct side? Ask for cash instead and you wont hear from them again.
Thanks for this. We would not have taken up these offers, but I was curious as to how the scam would work. It seems it's just in a false payment confirmation from Paypal. Cash is king!
They arent even bothered about the car, they send in a fake overpayment and ask you to return the overpayment through western union. This payment cannot be refunded so you are still left with your car and out of pocket.
I'm selling a vehicle for a friend on Kijiji - I'm in New Brunswick (Atlantic Canada) - posted ad 11:00pm - at 4:00am next morning got this response from an obvious scammer. NYC for Christ sake - Kijiji is generally for local buyers & sellers. Now I just pre-ordered my QPR shirt using PayPal, so hope that transaction is okay. Well, Thanks for the pictures and the prompt response. However, I am willing to proceed with the purchase of the vehicle but I will like to know the working condition of the vehicle's engine and others accessories.In other words, and what is your final price? Looking forward to hear from you. Sounds good to me. Well, I am happy to purchase the vehicle and thanks for the pictures. Nonetheless, I hope you have a PayPal account if not kindly set up a PayPal account via their website and get back to me with the verified paypal email and your name in full so that I can proceed with the payment of the vehicle before i leave my office.and let me know if you would want me to wire the money into your account. After the payment has been confirmed,I will get in touch with the transportation company that will come for the collection and the inspection of the vehicle. Looking forward to read from you. Regards, Johnson Woods 25 Bedford St. New York City, N.Y. 10014 (646) 504-4368 Then another email from this scammer:- I was just thinking you might have had some other buyer's who are very much interested in buying the Vehicle from you so i think the best way to outbid them is by offering you an Additional $800.CAD to your own asking price on the Kijiji add, I won't be able come for the inspection of the Vehicle my self due to present Job But But i have a pick-up Agent who will be contacting you about where and when the picking of the Vehicle will taking place after have completed the payment transaction with you. I'm actually purchasing the Vehicle for my Parent residing in Ontario . Please tell me a little more about the present mechanical condition and how often you do the service or if possible the history then we can take it from there. I will wait to read from and if we come to a quick agreement i will proceed with the payment immediately..
I recently had a two $5 transactions taken, so I blocked my Paypal Account, changed the password, then reported these. Waited a couple of days - money was refunded back (to the Paypal Account though, not my bank account) and then I completed security questions to unblock. I suspect someone had hacked in, got my Paypal Account and was trying a couple of little tickles before $100+.
Would also appear that you may be corresponding with two different individuals, neither of whom speak English as a primary language. The second email capitalizes nouns (and things that the author seems to believe are nouns) whereas the former does not. And Kijiji is overrun with this stuff. I'm a province over from you, and when advertising for a roommate a couple years back I got a bunch of replies involving some variation on payment through Paypal or Western Union. Seemed a rather bizarre avenue for the "I'm overseas and cannot deal with you in person" scam, but I suppose they deal in volume.
Not sure how this scam works, but seems like a great tactic we could somehow tweak in our favour to punt out boswinga etc...Any ideas how we could word the advert?
