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Nov 19, 2016 11:53:36 GMT
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Right folks, it saddens and angers me to say that we've had three recent probable scams in the cars for sale section.
You should always keep your wits about you, but of particular note here are the cars were all the kind of bargains that have you getting all excited about netting a car with an appreciating value at a great price. I'm guessing the scammers want your excitement to lead to a deposit - that you'd be willing to risk a bit of money to get in there before others do.
Sadly, there's not a great deal we can do. But here's my checklist to watch out for or ways to avoid being conned:
1. Poorly titled. In each case, the 'seller' hasn't followed the guidelines regarding price and location. (although we do routinely change titles to fit the guidelines...we don't however change spelling or add capitalisation - if a seller writes ford feista instead of Ford Fiesta - the mistake stays.)
2. Slightly illiterate text in the ad (although this is hardly rare in genuine ads!)...or text copied from a real ad somewhere else. I'd copy a section of text (an obscure or specific bit) and pasting it into Google. If it brings up an ad somewhere else, check out the price, the age of the advert, the seller, the location etc.
3. How long has the 'seller' been on RR. People join to post ads all the time, and that's fine. But if the ad is posted by a newbie, that's another tick in the potential scammer box.
4. Ask to view the car. Do they seem reluctant? Are they currently not around? Ask for some pictures of specific areas - if they've only stolen the images from another advert then they're unlikely to have a picture of the exhaust or the radio on file. Hell, ask for their username and the date written on a piece of paper placed on the bonnet in a picture!
5. Does it seem like a total bargain? Too good to be true? Don't let the excitement of a new car taint your decision making.
6. Don't send a deposit unless you're REALLY sure. Ideally, don't send a deposit at all. Go and view the actual car....even real sellers can be sparse with the truth.
7. Ask questions. Test their enthusiast factor. Car people like talking about cars...sellers want to sell cars. Scammers just want your money, not a chat.
9. If you see something suspicious, report it.
10. Be excellent to each other.
9. Party on dudes!
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Nov 19, 2016 18:20:52 GMT
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i know I'm new here myself and i have a car up for sale, but could it be an idea that new members have to be on here for a minimum number of posts before advertising items for sale?
lots of forums have a minimum number of posts before you can put up pics for example
maybe having to put 50 posts up or reply to so many threads might deter the average crack head from trying to exploit a genuine practice?
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BT
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,772
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Nov 19, 2016 20:58:00 GMT
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I can see your point with the above but I kind of feel bad about that idea. I know a lot of forums employ that basis but what makes me enjoy it here so much is that there isn't that mainstream ruling that you get with many other forums and it seems to have worked really well up until now.
I bought my Porsche off of a chap that had registered for only a few days and had minimal posts. Yes don't get me wrong I did wonder if a reasonably priced vehicle posted by a new member was a scam but I held onto my money and drove up to the seller at the first opportunity and he turned out to be an absolute dude and was a pleasure to deal with. If we employed the 50 post rule things like that wouldn't happen and I think that would be a shame. Ok yes it would also possibly rule out the scammers but I think I'm turn it could create an influx of spam with sellers wanting to bump their post count up to rob us of our hard earned or also in some cases for people to legitimately sell things.
Hopefully this sticky can rid most of the problems. Ask for photos, speak to the dude on the phone. I've had it before when I've felt a little iffy about things and so have sent a deposit via the post signed for. This way I had a full name and address to come to if things had gone belly up.
It is not on at all this scamming lark, and without being the leader of a witch hunt here if the offender was local enough I would happily go and call him a cabbage and ask for the monies owed back. But hopefully we can rule these vultures out just by keeping our wits about us being alert.
It may also be worth noting that the police are very much on top of Internet fraud and I myself know that they can recover funds. So please report any thing to the police as to my surprise, they were very interested in it.
Please note that no comment in this reply is aimed at anyone anywhere who may have been victim to a scam.
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Nov 19, 2016 21:07:05 GMT
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Agree with BT.
Some people only register to sell cars we're all interested in. If they needed 50 posts they would go elsewhere to advertise and we miss out.
I said in another post, A photo of the car with username and date on a piece of paper is easy for genuine sellers.
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Nov 19, 2016 21:47:40 GMT
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Get the seller to post a pic of the V5 and/or last MOT with proof of date and time included, and include the car in the same picture. Any genuine seller will take the 2 minutes this requires. I did similar to this as well as send a video of the car to the buyer of a W123 merc I sold blind via this site a year or so back.
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Other sites I am on insist on a piece of paper with the sellers username and the current date in one of the photos. I appreciate this can me done with photoshop, but it seems to help.
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mickap
Part of things
Posts: 179
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Nov 20, 2016 17:14:32 GMT
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I can usually smell out the good from the not so good.
Buyer beware, ask questions, ask for more pics, if not forthcoming, forget.
Definitely don't part with any money until you're standing by the vehicle and even then I'd be getting proof that the seller owns it, lives at the address he's at etc, etc.
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Last Edit: Nov 20, 2016 17:19:41 GMT by mickap
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VIP
South East
Posts: 8,293
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Nov 20, 2016 20:44:02 GMT
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Other sites I am on insist on a piece of paper with the sellers username and the current date in one of the photos. I appreciate this can me done with photoshop, but it seems to help. If you're thinking of Edition 38, that's only a requirement for parts and doesn't apply to vehicles. |
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VIP
South East
Posts: 8,293
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Nov 20, 2016 20:46:14 GMT
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Agree with BT. Some people only register to sell cars we're all interested in. If they needed 50 posts they would go elsewhere to advertise and we miss out. I said in another post, A photo of the car with username and date on a piece of paper is easy for genuine sellers. I'd agree with some sort of minimum post count. It encourages newcomers to participate and integrate with the community, rather than RR just being another theatre for their advertisement. |
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Nov 20, 2016 23:22:20 GMT
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Could anyone who has been scammed, or had any dealings or PM conversations with recent possible scammers please send me a PM.
The ads I'm most interested in are:
The black Fiesta RS Turbo.
The green Mk2 Fiesta Ghia.
The silver 2001 BMW X5.
The Blue Mini Mayfair.
Thank you.
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Nov 21, 2016 13:13:03 GMT
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Other sites I am on insist on a piece of paper with the sellers username and the current date in one of the photos. I appreciate this can me done with photoshop, but it seems to help. If you're thinking of Edition 38, that's only a requirement for parts and doesn't apply to vehicles. Nope vectra-c. Could even insist on the paper being inside the car and the photo taken through the window. |
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Nov 21, 2016 13:18:07 GMT
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A minimum post count doesn't work, as I've seen this on other forums and the scammer just posts single word replies to other threads to get the post count up, then they post the scam adverts
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1993 Fiat Panda Selecta
2003 Vauxhall Combo 1.7DI van
2006 Mercedes Kompressor Evolution-S AMG SportCoupé
"You think you hate it now, wait til you drive it"
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Nov 21, 2016 13:19:56 GMT
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I'd agree with some sort of minimum post count. It encourages newcomers to participate and integrate with the community, rather than RR just being another theatre for their advertisement. People don't need to be part of the community to have cars that are of interest to the community. Having a minimum post count is a sure fire way of reducing the quality of posts (as people try to get to their arbitrary limit) and/or dissuade people from coming on and offering for sale interesting cars they may have inherited (and people point them here to get rid of them). Also it wouldn't stop scammers, they are every bit as capable of pretending to be part of a community as they are of pretending to have cars for sale. |
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VIP
South East
Posts: 8,293
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Nov 21, 2016 14:04:52 GMT
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A minimum post count doesn't work, as I've seen this on other forums and the scammer just posts single word replies to other threads to get the post count up, then they post the scam adverts Works just fine on E38, although they have a larger Mod base who watch out for inflated daily post counts and remove posts from people who spam reply to get to their target. |
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Nov 21, 2016 14:21:31 GMT
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Works just fine on E38, although they have a larger Mod base who watch out for inflated daily post counts and remove posts from people who spam reply to get to their target. People still get/got scammed on E38 |
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GJUK
Part of things
Posts: 238 
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Nov 21, 2016 14:29:25 GMT
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May I also add the follow Be wary of anyone phoning you on a private number, if a number is given as a contact; try it before sending the money. Be wary of the scammer wanting an 'instant' and on the spot payment, larger than normal deposits. He might push for £200 instead of £100 or similar. Search eBay for similar completed listings ActionFraud advised me that there have been cases of people held at gun point for agreed cash transactions on cars also, so never agree to take cash with you to a meeting. Don't do what I did and try to mult-task while buying a car. Men cannot multi-task.  |
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GJUK
Part of things
Posts: 238
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Nov 21, 2016 14:30:04 GMT
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Oh and if you created a minimum post count of say 50, this would stop a lot of fraud.
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uzzy87
Part of things
Posts: 79
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Nov 21, 2016 15:58:56 GMT
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The black RS Turbo was scrapped hpi show a scrap marker against it..it was up for 1500...
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Nov 21, 2016 17:25:43 GMT
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This may sound harsh but alot of the time its true.
How to not get scammed - don't let the greed of a potential bargain make you forget your common sense.
Ive heard it so many times the scammers don't even have to ask for a deposit, the person getting scammed is so blinded by the thought of loosing this bargain they offer it themsleves to secure it. Its only after they have sent it that the obvious becomes apparent.
First checks if unsure - google reverse image search, this will pretty much show you if the images have been posted anywhere before.
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Ryannn
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,421
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I thought I was good at spotting scams, that mini was far too cheap, but I was drawn in by both Fiestas!
Minimum post counts just encourage spamming or people going to general boards to post their adverts instead. When I want to sell a random part I have left over from an old car, I'll do it on a model specific forum rather than eBay, if the forum has a post count, I just go to Facebook instead.
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