Avoiding the scams!
The Met-police and the trading standards have contacted us regarding e-mail scams they are investigating Whilst these scams have only affected a small minority of people it is a recognised scam that has the potential to leave sellers thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Vehicle Export Scam
The scam, officially known as the West African advance fee or 419 fraud involves a buyer from abroad (we’ve had examples from Holland, USA, Nigeria) posing as an international dealer who wants to buy a vehicle. They claim that they are owed money by a client in the UK who will send a bankers draft for the full price of the vehicle, plus a few extra thousand to cover the cost of the shipping without viewing the vehicle or proof of condition and usually put their lack of phone number down to a temporary fault.
The emails are often full of spelling mistakes and poor grammar to persuade the victim that the fraudster is an uneducated person who wouldn’t have the ability to defraud them. The fraudsters also try to make themselves seem genuine by stating that the vehicle is a present for their wife, son, daughter etc and use this as reason for the urgency involved in the purchase. Many of the emails are signed off with a comment like ‘regards to you and your family’ or ‘may the peace of lord be with you.’
Never release your vehicle until you have confirmed with your bank that the bankers draft has been given value.
The seller is then asked to pay the draft into their bank and wire the excess money to the buyer to pay for the shipping costs. The bank draft itself may seem genuine but be wary; we’ve had reports of bank drafts being accepted which have watermarks and bank branch stamps on them but are revealed as forgeries after being paid into the bank.
After the money has been sent, the seller hears nothing more from the ‘buyer’. Normally, the bank will contact the seller after a few days to tell them that the bankers draft was stolen, forged or that it has bounced so check with your bank how long it will take for a bankers draft to be given value. (Ask the bank if you can withdraw funds safely on the cheque rather than if it's cleared as there is a difference between a cheque being cleared and funds in the account). If the bankers draft is forged the money will be stripped from the sellers account, leaving them thousands of pounds out of pocket. Customers have informed us that neither their banks nor insurance companies could help to mitigate their losses. The met suggests that if you receive an email which you believe could relate to a scam, cause the sender some inconvenience by forwarding a copy of the email to the Internet Service Provider from where the email originated.
For example:-
abuse@hotmail.com
abuse@compuserve.com
If you receive a letter through the post, throw it away – the sender has not targeted you personally.
Be extra vigilant when selling a vehicle – particularly if there seems to be anything out of the ordinary.
Remember; never release the vehicle until you have confirmed with your bank that the bankers draft has been given value. With this scam it can be days before the seller is told that the cheque is fake or stolen, so be wary.
Important links:
Trading Standards - http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/
• Metropolitan Police Fraud Alert - www.met.police.uk/fraudalert
Report a scammer - fraud.alert@met.police.uk
La Ferrari.com works hard to help buyers and sellers avoid scams - please contact us if you have been targeted so that we can add information to our website about your experience.
Overpayment Scam
NEVER ACCEPT PAYMENT FOR MORE THAN THE AGREED PRICE. These scams usually involve faked cheques or bank transfers that exceed the agreed amount. The criminals request that you send them the difference when they discover the 'mistake'. Subsequently the banks then discover that the cheques were fake or that the bank transfer wasn't of valid funds and debit your account leaving you out of pocket.
Buyer Waiting Scam
Rather than being carried out via email, the latest scam to come to our attention is carried out over the phone. Scammers are calling sellers up telling them they have a buyer for their car with money ready, but the seller just needs to pay a £4.99 fee over the phone with a debit card first.
The sting in the tail with this scam is that they then go ahead and withdraw as much money as possible from the victim's account, emptying it completely if not stopped.
We advise that you are very wary about any company phoning up claiming to have buyers waiting as soon as you make a payment. Even if they do not intend to empty your bank account, genuine companies will not require upfront payment from the seller and you are likely to be left out of pocket waiting for imaginary buyers to get in touch.
Wire Transfer Scam
Scammers have recently started trying a new tactic to part you from your money. They ask you to send the value of the car via wire-transfer to yourself or another trusted person and then send them a copy of the receipt or various other details to prove you have the funds to pay.
This is supposedly to avoid time-wasters but in reality they then use this information to impersonate you and withdrawn the cash without your consent.
La Ferrari.com works hard to help buyers and sellers avoid scams please contact us if you have been targeted.