Ebay/gumtree vehicle / car scam please post your story and send us info please

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I have been asked to collate information about this scam so a data pattern can be established to see who is involved.

Could anyone who has been affected by this please send a short PM to me Tools HERE with the following details used in the fraud, these are the details used by the fraudster, not your own personal details.

• Bank Name, Sort Code, Account Number and Name of Account holder
• Ebay/Gumtree listing details, including Make, Model, Price and any links/photos you may have
• Email addresses used
• Telephone numbers
• "Storyline" of where the vehicle is located/suddenly had to move to
• Have you reported it to the Police/your bank/ebay etc?

Also if anyone spots a suspected LIVE listing, please me or a member of the Team know as soon as is possible.

HERE

It may not be able to help those already affected, but hopefully together we can prevent further victims of this fraud.

Please also post up a brief overview of your situation HERE>> Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle Scam. Barclays provide Fraudsters Accounts

Many thanks

LB Team

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Re: Ebay/gumtree vehicle / car scam please post your story and send us info please

Here are a few "tell tale signs" of an Online Vehicle Sales Fraud and what to look out for.

The most important advice I can give and is rule number one, is Do not send money by Bank Transfer or other Moneygram/Escrow service.

Below are some examples of listings on eBay, there are many variations and use various methods to convince you the seller is genuine. Many thanks to those involved for providing images and details, including one-eyed jack, Boycie and many more.

Example 1 - The Zero Rated Seller - An account that has been set up with the sole purpose of defrauding you out of £1000's.



Here the vehicle up for auction is a clone of a previous genuine listing, all photos, descriptions etc have been copied to create the fraudulent listing. The vehicles are sometimes also listed as Classified, Buy It Now sales where the buyer is prompted to "Email the seller". Once contact is made a sale will be offered using a fake eBay "holding account" invoice. eBay do not offer such a service, you will just be transferring money into the scammers mule account never to be seen again and with no chance of stopping the payment.

Example 2 - The Feedback Fake - Similar to Example 1 but here the seller has a limited amount of feedback generated by buying low value items from Powersellers who leave automatic positive feedback, boosting the sellers supposed reputation.

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Re: Ebay/gumtree vehicle / car scam please post your story and send us info please

Example 3 - The Hacked Account - These listings are placed on an existing, trusted sellers account. The fraudsters have gained access to the account after phishing their login details, usually through a fake email(see example x) or by the genuine seller entering their login details on a fake site (see example x). The genuine seller is usually unaware their account is being used and when they try to access it their login details have been changed, making them unable to remove the fraudulent listings.

Here we can see the scammer has hacked various accounts, all with good feedback, making the seller seemingly trustworthy. In this case it is obvious the listing is fake, but it isn't always this easy.


Example 4 - Email/Mobile Contact Only Details In The Listing - Here the seller insists that they only be contacted via email or mobile for a variety of dubious reasons such as

• I am having trouble getting notifications from eBay
• I am selling it for a friend so email them directly
• This is the quickest way to get a response from me

Here are a few examples, many of which are images, not text, embedded within the listing attempting to avoid detection on searches. Under no circumstances contact them in this way.

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Re: Ebay/gumtree vehicle / car scam please post your story and send us info please

Example 5 - The Clone Website - Here you click on a listing on eBay and a script within the description, known as an XSS redirect script, forwards you to a hacked website or fake that at first glance looks and feels exactly the same as the genuine site. You may be prompted to login, under no circumstances enter any login details, this is one way of phishing and you may even end up having your own eBay account hacked for fraudulent use.

Here are a couple examples of cloned sites


Look fairly convincing? Surely anyone can see they are fakes? Not when you are trawling through hundreds of listings trying to find that ideal car at the best price, anyone can be fooled by these, don't let it be you.

Always check the url in your browser bar, as you can see from the two above none of these are genuine eBay url's, easy to miss when you are skimming through lots of listings. Another give away is the À symbol next to the price, this is a scripting error and may not always appear so beware.


Example 6 - £0 Autotrader Adverts - These make the listings appear high in your search results, see attached pdf's

Example 7 - Hacked Dealer pages - These are genuine Dealers who have been hacked by the scammers, within the listings buyers are asked to contact the seller using non-dealer contact details.

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Re: Ebay/gumtree vehicle / car scam please post your story and send us info please

Example 8 - The "Invoice" - A fake invoice purporting to be from a "trusted" source such as eBay, Autotrader or a shipping company. An example of which is below.

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Re: Ebay/gumtree vehicle / car scam please post your story and send us info please

Example 9 - The Cover Story - Usually when you are contacted by the fraudulent seller, they create a story as to why they are selling the car, why it cannot be viewed, and give you details of how the sale will proceed. Many of these are standard scripts used and vary little between scammers. See example emails below.

Hi,

First of all I want to thank you for your interest in my vehicle: Honda Cr-V 2.2 I-CTDi EX 5dr Diesel Estate
There are no issues with this vehicle, she has been diligently maintained by a careful dealer and has been regularly serviced, it has full service history and HPI clear. The final price that I want for this vehicle is £ 5,775(including shipping and handling). My husband died 3 months ago (he had a heart attack) and this vehicle brings me bad memories and that's the reason why I'm selling it. I along with my daughter decided to sell the house and we moved to my sister in Stockholm, Sweden. Unfortunately I can't conclude this transaction personally because my work involves a lot of traveling but I left everything prepared for the sale. From the beginning you have to know that for the payment I request ONLY secure pay, I prefer the payment to be done using eBay Money Back Guarantee services so both of us can be protected.

Thank you!

Hi,

The car is already at the shipping company in the UK. I asked them to allow viewers to go there and inspect the car but their reply was "We are not a showroom!"
So, let me re-state for clarity to ensure you fully understand:

Since I`m located in Sweden and the car is in the UK we need to have our deal registered at eBay.
The money will be paid to eBay who will hold the money essentially in escrow, till you receive and test the vehicle.
There is a 10 working -- not calendar -- day inspection period which commences after you receive the vehicle.
If the car is accepted, you must contact eBay and let them know so they can release the money to me.

Please take into consideration that I receive the money only after you will test the car and make sure everything is OK. If you agree with these terms and you have the money, send me your ebay username, full name and address and I will initiate the transaction with eBay. You will receive all the transaction details from them.

Best regards,

Hello there,

I am glad to hear that you are interested to buy my 2011 PORSCHE BOXSTER 2.9 2dr PDK Roadster!
Although I am registered in the UK,i recently moved to Cadiz, Spain (where my family is from) and the car is being shipped from here. I want to sell it in UK due to the fact that it's an UK version (right handed),it meets all UK standards.I bought this car from UK and It still has UK registration, so you won't have to pay any import and insurance fees.The car meets all United Kingdom guidelines so there will be no problem regarding UK Customs policy on receiving the car.The car is in perfect condition, the bodywork is immaculate,no scratches, dents or hidden defects as well as the interior in excellent non-smoking condition , never been implied in any accident and it is as advertised.The car comes with log book, HPI cleared, No finance. You will get from me the keys and all documents to register the car in your name.If the car is not how i described it, i will offer a full refund. It will be insured during transportation and will be delivered at your address in maximum 10 days. Final price is GBP 6,500 (the price includes shipping and insurance fees).The price is low because the car is right hand drive in a country where all cars are left hand drive so in Spain is very difficult to drive this type of vehicle and nobody wants to buy it here in Spain.Instead of keeping it in garage (during this economical crisis), I decided to sell it to someone back in the UK for a really attractive price.
I want to take this opportunity to assure you that this deal is 100% legitimate,the deal will be manage by a well known company,in this way both buyer and seller are 100% covered during the steps of this transaction.
Let me know if you need any further details or if you would like to buy my car.

Thank you

Hello there,

I am glad to hear that you are interested to buy my 2011 Citroen DS3 1.6 HDi 110 DSport Plus 3 door!
Although I am registered in the UK,i recently moved to Cadiz, Spain (where my family is from) and the car is being shipped from here.
I want to sell it in UK due to the fact that it's an UK version (right handed),it meets all UK standards.I bought this car from UK and It still has UK registration, so you won't have to pay any import and insurance fees. The car meets all United Kingdom guidelines so there will be no problem regarding UK Customs policy on receiving the car.The car is in perfect condition, the bodywork is immaculate,no scratches, dents or hidden defects as well as the interior in excellent non-smoking condition , never been implied in any accident and it is as advertised .
The car comes with log book, HPI cleared, No finance. You will get from me the keys and all documents to register the car in you name.If the car is not how i described it, i will offer a full refund. It will be insured during transportation and will be delivered at your address in maximum 10 days. Final price is GBP 2,600 (the price includes shipping and insurance fees). The price is low because the car is right hand drive in a country where all cars are left hand drive so in the Spain is very difficult to drive this type of vehicle and nobody wants to buy it here in Spain.Instead of keeping it in garage (during this economical crisis), I decided to sell it to someone back in the UK for a really attractive price.
I want to take this opportunity to assure you that this deal is 100% legitimate,the deal will be manage by a well known company,in this way both buyer and seller are 100% covered during the steps of this transaction.
Let me know if you need any further details or if you would like to buy my car.

Thank you!