Hellfire
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 08:41 AM |
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Scam or Real??
OK, heres one for you.
Browsing through Autotrader last week and came across an ad for a Mini Cooper S. The price was too good to be true, only £6,400. I assumed it was
missing a 1, so contacted the seller and asked if the vehicle was still available at the price advertised on Autotrader. Here's the following
e-mail responses;
Hi Phil,
the 2005 Mini Cooper S is still available for the price of £6,400 GBP. The car is in excellent overall condition. I have just moved back to my home
country Hungary because I got a very good job offer here. The Mini is here with me as well, but I can arrange shipping. It is still UK registered.
Please email me back soon and let me know if you are interested.
All the best
I then ask him for the full spec and get a list as long as my arm with loads of photos which seem to back it up, including the registration mark. The
e-mail says this;
Hi Phil, I have attached the pictures and description.
If we come to an agreement the Mini will be delivered directly to your home address and the cost for that and for the insurance will be included in
the initial sale price. The car will be shipped by truck and that will take about 2 weeks.
Because of my loacation I suggest that we close this deal using the security provided by eBay's Vehicle Purchase Protection Program on such
transactions.
You must be an eBay member in order for us to do that.
Please get back to me asap and let me know if you are fine with this and also if you have an eBay account.
All the best
Followed by this;
Hello again Phil,
The payment will be done to an eBay agent via bank transfer and after you receive and inspect the Mini, the money will be released to me. The
transaction will be fully under eBay's surveillance, giving us both security and insurance that nothing will go wrong. They are acting like a
third party in this transaction. When the car arrives you have 7 days to see and test it which way you like. Within this period you have to decide if
you purchase it or not.
If you decide to take it you will have to contact ebay and let them know that so that they can release the payment to me. If you won't like it
you will have to ship it back to me within the 7 days and ebay will refund you. The shipping back will be done on my own expense.
Here is how eBay's Vehicle Purchase Protection Program works:
1. Buyer, seller reach an agreement.
2. Buyer deposits money in escrow.
3. eBay escrow confirms to seller that the escrow amount has been received in the escrow account.
4. Seller performs the required services (shipping, insurance).
5. Buyer accepts delivery and informs eBay escrow about the acceptance.
6. eBay releases the money in escrow.
Please get back to me asap and let me know if you agree with this.
All the best
Like they say - If something looks too good to be true, it usually is. So, does e-bay have a Vehicle Purchase Protection Programme like the e-mail
says and whats this Escrow??
Phil
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nitram38
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 08:48 AM |
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I wouldn't touch it.
Paypal is the only ebay recommended form of payment and then only up to £500 is guaranteed.
I also think that Hungary is one of those countries that ebay cannot touch when it comes to recovering money..
If he really wanted to get rid of it fast, he could have walked into a dealers over here and got that sort of money.
Why wait until he got home?
Also why not try and sell it at the correct value if he has the car.
Don't waste your money unless you can afford to lose £6400 !
Escrow does offer fraud protection apparently here. I would contact them first if you are serious.
There are lots of so called "escrow" sites that are not real, so check it out!
[Edited on 5/3/2007 by nitram38]
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02GF74
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 09:15 AM |
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dunno; ask yourself how would you feel if your money went missing, if you are ok taking that risk then give it a go.
If it were me, then book a flight to Budapest wherever and pick up the car in person - payment to be done in a bank or some other safe location (you
don;t want to be driven to some remote viallage and have a gun poked in yeer face  )
make a little holiday out of it.
try the fly out/pick up idea, if he is still genuine, he would mind that.
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zxrlocost
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 09:16 AM |
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phil ebays responses are very useless and take about two days to return emails terrible
when they reply it still appears very automated or foreign translated
I will give you the link to live chat they will ask you a few account questions there in america, but make sure you ask loads of questions
https://cschatlb-na.corp.ebay.com/chat.asp?profile=15&imp_id=000_ActivationVisitorHP
theyll ask for most things apart from your password
ta chris
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PLEASE NOTE: This user is a trader who has not signed up for the LocostBuilders registration scheme. If this post is advertising a commercial product or service, please report it by clicking here.
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Rob Lane
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 09:29 AM |
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It's a well known scam. Do not follow it up.
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Hellfire
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 10:02 AM |
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It's the sort of scam you'd expect on e-bay but I was sursprised when I found the ad on the Autotrader website.
Anyway, I have e-mailed him back suggesting I fly over to Hungary and do the deal in person. Doubt I will hear anything more from him now 
Phil
[Edited on 5-3-07 by Hellfire]
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DarrenW
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 10:15 AM |
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Wasnt there a young kid got robbed at gun point some time ago for a deal on a Merc. Similar sum of money as well i believe. I seem to recall the stroy
was something along the lines of he borrowed the cash off his mother, and both the lad, mother and also his best mate went along to view the car and
then was mugged.
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scottc
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 11:31 AM |
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Yep, happened in Dagenham, Essex.
Think it was a CLR.
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Hellfire
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 02:08 PM |
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Just had a reply from him
Hi Phil,
the idea of you coming here to collect the Mini would have been great a few days ago, but since then I have crated it at the shipping company and I
have paid for that. I have also paid eBay for using their services, so I would like to stick with them.
Please get back to me asap and let me know your decision.
All the best
That was rather presumptuous of him wasn't it? 
My move I think. Any suggestions?
Phil
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nitram38
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 02:19 PM |
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Give his email address out to a few spam mailers. He'll soon be spending all his time clearing his mailbox.
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iank
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 02:24 PM |
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He sounds rather slicker than most of the scammers.
Some care required if you want to play with the clever ones.
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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Richard Quinn
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 02:49 PM |
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Let me guess, he's going to advise you of the escrow service that he always uses?
I know people who have fallen for this. Don't bother and I wouldn't bother engaging him any further.
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scotmac
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 06:54 PM |
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What did he pay...a few hundred bucks for the crating and ebay services...so, tell him you'll cover the that when you arrive to pick it up.
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martyn_16v
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 07:19 PM |
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Ask for a 'bread on head in front of car' photo
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greggors84
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| posted on 5/3/07 at 11:53 PM |
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Someone tried this with me, but I was the seller, they used a fake ebay escrow service. Said the money would be released when I sent them the
confirmation of the shipping. So I sent them a fake confirmation of the shipping, confused them some what!
Also my brother was looking at tickets for the Champions League final last year and the seller wanted to use an apparently official ebay escrow
service which didnt exist.
I wonder if they all use the same fake escrow service!
Chris
The Magnificent 7!
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