Ebay, Gumtree & Autotrader Vehicle / Car Scams

[Amethyst]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Latest Car Scam Warning: Criminal gangs target car buyers through online car traders and auction sites. Beware of individuals or websites offering to sell you a car below market price. These scammers advertise great deals on car trading websites and will ask you to send money before they ship your car. They will tell you the car is with their shipping agent and point you to a website which claims to securely hold your cash while they ship the car to you. They will even direct you to, what looks like, a reputable car shipping website, or money escrow site, but one they have simply copied from the web and changed the contact numbers to their partners in crime. Copying a website is a very simple cut and paste job and some of these criminal websites can look very, very convincing. However, they are simply copies of genuine websites with the contact details changed. Phone numbers listed are to untraceable mobiles and emails sent to you via bulk email accounts. If an email comes simply from an email account or an internet service provider be very suspicious. DONT GET FOOLED. CHECK WHERE YOUR EMAIL HAS COME FROM: Genuine companies will email you through their website: Example: jim@autoshippers.co.uk is good, autoshippers@hotmail.com is a con. Always check your email headers by looking at the properties of the email sender. Tip: simply right click any email address, look at properties and you can usually see exactly where the email has really come from. You can also visit the website the email has come from. This is the bit after @. If that website is not an actual shipping company then the email has been designed to fool you. So, carshippingcompany@hotmail.com is coming from a www.hotmail.com account. It is not coming from a car shipping company! We currently receive over 10 emails a day from victims of this fraud, this is now big business and easy money for fraudsters. It has also been the subject of a BBC investigation. You can see the news report on the BBC News: See also IC3 warning on auction fraud here: Ignore it. Bin it. Delete it. Do not answer it. Some tips and advice. Be cautious of overly complicated transactions involving shipping agents, business partners, middle men and so on. If you see a cheap car for sale online, in another country, and things start getting complicated. WALK AWAY. As with all online transactions please check the credentials of who are you are dealing with. If you have advertised your car for sale online and someone contacts you from overseas with ready cash and a plan for you to pay the shipping agent up front after he has paid you for the car. WALK AWAY. If it sounds to good to be true, then it normally is. Please also be aware that anyone can just copy and paste a website, change a few contact details and they are in business. Always check out the website URL and CALL site owners. Watch out for telephone numbers without standard dialing codes. These can be disposable mobiles designed to be thrown away if tracked. PLEASE. Do not send money to a complete stranger by Western Union. Trust your instincts. If you get that itchy feeling in the back of your neck then ask around, ask a few friends what they think, if you have any doubts whatsoever then just bin that email and walk away. THIS ARTICLE IS COPYRIGHT FREE: Cut it, paste it, spread the word. Better still lets use social media and get this message across. Give this page a great big like and tell your buddies: Written by www.autoshippers.co.uk we ship cars from the UK and www.autocarshippers.com we ship cars from the USA

Kudos to them for posting that.

[dixie2013]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8090559.stm

Criminal gangs target car buyers

Jump media player Media player help Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. The BBC's Fiona Trott on how to spot fake adverts for cars Criminal gangs are duping car buyers out of millions of pounds each year by using adverts on reputable trade websites, the BBC has learned. The "virtual vehicle" scam also involves fake shipping websites that promise to safeguard the buyer's money. The Metropolitan Police say 21,000 advertisments were shut down in the UK last year. The Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group said leading used car advertisers were working hard to combat such crime. BBC correspondent Fiona Trott said criminals were placing adverts on reputable websites, such as Auto Trader or E-Bay, for vehicles that did not belong to them. It made last year one of the worst years of my life Nick Victim of fraud New vehicle scam costs £3m a year The adverts looked legitimate, but once customers confirmed their interest they were directed to a fake website that was supposed to look after their cash until the car was shipped, she said. However, buyers never received a car and the money went straight into the bank accounts of the fraudsters, our correspondent added. The Met Police confirmed that in 2008, 200 people in the UK said they had been defrauded after responding to bogus car advertisements. Officers said if they had not shut down as many as they had, those adverts would have earned the fraudsters over £150m. Action 'needed' Nick, from London, lost £15,000 when he tried to buy a car online from a man who claimed to be a businessman who had moved to Spain and no longer needed his vehicle. When he asked why the bank account details were not in the name of the company named on the website, he was told in Spain it was "very expensive to set up corporate bank accounts". "They spend their entire lives doing it, so they know exactly how to get it through as easy as possible," said Nick. "It made last year one of the worst years of my life." Keiren Puffett, editor of consumer journal Parkers, told the BBC he felt more should be done to protect consumers like Nick. "I would love to see far more warnings directly by the actual classified ads, warning people that there are some scam adverts about and here's how you report it," he said. "But of course, for these classified ad operators, they just want the ads, they don't want to go into that kind of detail - it's more work and hassle." But Adrian Black, chairman of the Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group, said companies were trying to combat fraud. "I would like to reassure everyone that the leading players in used car advertising work very closely both with each other and with the police and the Office of Fair Trading to ensure we identify and stop as many of these scams as possible." Meanwhile, a separate survey has suggested that fraudsters are continuing to target UK consumers with internet scams. Some 77% of people asked in a poll by financial protection company CPP said they had received e-mails from fraudsters that appeared to be from a bank and attempted to extract bank account details and passwords.

[BrianMarkFoster]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Fraud Team number is 0300 1232040. I don't have a link to the Autotrader page.

[Amethyst]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Fraud Team number is 0300 1232040. I don't have a link to the Autotrader page.

Cheers, yes thats normal Action Fraud, pity, thought for a moment they had a special team to deal with these cases.... some hopes eh.

[Amethyst]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Just in case anyone is wondering why we set up the new forum with the ***SCAM LISTING** in which come from One-Eyed Jacks facebook feed - it's because within a maximum of 15 minutes of him posting them on Facebook, this happens, automatically...
http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...NING-CONDITION



I have taken the forum off the new posts feed, and the listing at the top of the forum home page so it shouldn't interfere with the forums natural order too much , however they will show in the activity feed. Hopefully that can be put up with in the interests of the greater good.

[Crazy council]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

My friend is wandering if he can run some pattern matching software againat ebay and autotraider to provide a list of likely scam posts... if he could. He could possibly set up some autoresponding email software to communicate with the scammers to get to the stage of getting the paypall or bank account numbers..... sort of automate the process of exposing them....

[Tools]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Thankfully no ! My bank alerted me that it sounded like a scam! Lesson learnt.
Do I need to upload any of the details given to me to file with you/ record with you? The supposed seller has just emailed telling me he's forked out lots of money to set up the transaction. What a shame!

As Ame said, would be good to hear how/why your bank alerted you and which bank it was.

I have paid £2550 for a VW Polo. The details are: VRN MW60RDX. The seller is Donna Harland.

The Company is www.vtm-transportes.com and the bank details where i have sent the money to are as follows:

Bank: Barclays
Sort: 20-36-16
Account: 13447731
Paid to: Favian Ghizari

I have called my bank and they have raised an indemnity with the other bank (whatever that means) and i have called the Special Action Fraud Team, but they are busy and i have to call them back this afternoon.

Can anyone help and advise me what to do?

Amethyst, i got this car through AutoTrader.

I made the bank transfer 3 days ago and I communicated with the seller via e-mail. dharland308@gmail.com

I don't know the difference between fraud teams but that is who the bank told me to ring so i did. I will call them back at 2pm, apparently they are quieter between 2 - 5pm. I just want my money back.

I have spoken with Barclays and unfortunately the funds were withdrawn very soon after they were deposited.

My friend is wandering if he can run some pattern matching software againat ebay and autotraider to provide a list of likely scam posts... if he could. He could possibly set up some autoresponding email software to communicate with the scammers to get to the stage of getting the paypall or bank account numbers..... sort of automate the process of exposing them....

Interesting, PM me with more info

[Tools]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

For future reference, after explaining the difficulties victims have faced in the past when trying to report that they have been scammed on a vehicle purchase, we have agreed with Barclays the most efficient way to report to them.

If you are unfortunate enough to have fallen victim to Online Vehicle Sales Fraud and the account money was transferred into was a BARCLAYS account, then please follow the steps below.

• Telephone the general Consumer Contact number 0845 755 5555
• Make it clear that you are a victim of an Internet Selling Fraud/Online Vehicle Sales Fraud ( important you use those keywords)
• Ask to be put through to The Fraud Operations Team
• Before putting you through they may ask you a series of questions to establish some key information, please be co-operative and give as much info as you can, always insist on being put through even if they say they will pass on the information.
• The Fraud Ops Team will ask for the Sort Code and Account Number if not already given before being put through. Please make sure you have these ready.

Their aim is to get the account closed as soon as possible, so the call may be brief and seem uninterested in any other details, please take this into account when speaking with them, their job is to close the account ASAP so they are not being rude or uncaring.

The possibility of any funds remaining in the account is very slim/next to zero as the fraudsters usually withdraw any funds within a matter of hours of it being deposited.

The next point of call is to contact your own bank to inform them of what has happened, again there is very little that can be done but reporting it is important.

Contact Action Fraud by telephoning 0300 123 2040 (some mobile providers may charge you) or online , give as much detail as possible.

Again, Action Fraud are not there to investigate, they are there to collect data.

If you think an Online Vehicle Sale is fraudulent and have not transferred any money yet, then please post up details here and we can take a look, if you have an account number for the money transfer then please give us that as soon as possible so we can report that directly to the bank. If it is a scam, even if you have not lost any money, please still report it to Action Fraud.

[Amethyst]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scam. Barclays provide Fraudsters Accounts

Simple solution.... all we need to do is get these fraudsters to 'Stop Paying Poll Tax' and the Full Force of Her Majesty's Goverment will be on em 'Once and for All'. And in the mean time, I'll continue to text the B'Stards (07407 265925 & 0203 290 1565) & waste their attentions on myself. This current thief is the 7th one I have come across on e-bay alone. Jokes aside, I thinks we need some kind of 'Police Service' to be started in the UK. You never know, It may just work...!

02032901565

Been used again, hopefully someone will post shortly

[Guest]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Excuse me while I bash my head several times against a brick wall, then jump off a tall building

http://www.newstalk.ie/Women-who-too...-leave-Ireland

[Tools]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Hang on, I think I'll join you ffs.

I have posted in the comments.

[Tools]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

More on the story here http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-30389948.html

[Guest]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

Poor reporting there - in the Independent.ie - first the headline declares "two women...jailed on condition that they leave Ireland" when it should say the opposite : NOT jailed

Then it says "buyers would view the items and agree to buy them" which gives the impression that they literally view the item.

As we know, no victim sees anything other than a few images on a website

Also, I might even allow these women their absurdly light 'punishments' if they grassed on the scammers, who were susequently arrested, but there's no mention of that

[Tools]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

I took it from here that they had

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that a wider Europol investigation has been established as a result of these arrests

[Guest]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle / Car Scams

I took it from here that they had

Doesn't mean much - Europol (should) have been aware of the names of the big players for months if not years. They've even arrested Popescu in the past and let him go, so it's very clear to me that at every level of "investigation" into online vehicle fraud affecting the UK, nothing makes any difference. This latest news article underlines yet again the greater power of CRIME PREVENTION as opposed to crime investigation. And prevention costs a huge amount less - as I ably demonstrate.