If you are selling a used car you might be interested in knowing about a scam designed to take down the seller. Yes, the seller, not the buyer.
My son recently was selling a Mazda 323 for his friend who has suffered a severe stroke and can no longer drive.
The car was advertisied for sale through the internet for $5400. He was contacted and offered $6000. Wow! No haggling here. Terrific.
Sounded unusual, but if they want to pay more it's ok.
So how does it work? Firstly the scammer selects a car in good condition, but with a little bit of age on it and then the seller is flattered by the offer of a higher than advertised price. The buyer will have some excuse as to why he or she can't view the car. In this instance the person was a marine oceanographer stuck out at sea.
He said that he had organised an agent to collect any car for him wherever it might be and this agent was getting a fee of $1400. Bear in mind, you are a seller anxious to off-load your vehicle so what do you care if he wants to pay over the top and organise somebody to collect?
Oh, and to give some credence to the transaction he would like to pay via paypal. Now this sounds even better. My son organised a paypal account and the transaction progressed.
A few days later he received an email from paypal to say that $7400 had been deposited in his account and could he forward the $1400 to the agent for his share. He was given an account.
Of course, you have guessed it, the notification from paypal is bogus:no:. The scam is for the $1400 if you are unaware the paypal communication is fraudulent.
My son was not caught out by this, but the unwary could be.
The old adage of "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true" still holds.
Regards
Paul
