Hello,

A good friend of mine is in a bit of a scam. I was wondering if anyone in Santa Clarita could help.

here's the story. He purchased an Alfa a few days ago for his wife from a guy in Texas. The car has been delivered to his house. The seller calls to ask him if he's selling the same car again on Ebay. He says no, and the seller in Texas then tells him that his car is currently listed on Ebay. Pictures, VIN number and all:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...=ADME:B:EF:US:1

I was wondering if anyone in the area could do 2 things:

1. Contact the seller to ask to see the car in the next 2 days or so.

2. Ask the seller how many previous owners there were.


The Ebay lister does not have the car. I don't think he'll email back. But just in case, we're wondering who it is. We've contacted Ebay fraud. The seller has no feadback. The bids are all hidden. I think this guy may be trying to scam the actual car from my friend.

-'Chung

I just sent a request to see the car asap. Now I'll get some bullets for my gun...

I'll let you know if there is a response...

-Mike D.

This is a common scam. Someone steals pictures and description from another e-bay auction and lists it as their own to try and get money from a buyer. You shouldn't have anything to worry about as you are not tied to this auction or sale in any way.

That's why you don't buy an expensive item from someone with no feedback who just signed up for their ebay ID last week. Especially when they make the bidder's ID's private.

Demick

Here's an idea. Go ahead and bid like $50,000 for the auction. After you win, you can tell the seller that you are already the owner of the car and that he is a lowlife, lying, stealing @# @#$ #$% $%^ % &^ *^ %$^ #$ %#@$ @# $! @#$ $!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and he can go @#$%#$^%$%^&%^*&!!!!!!!!

.....at least you will save an unsuspecting buyer a lot of trouble and hassle and possibly $$$.

Demick

Thanks for the help. . .

Scammers suck. I hope this guy gets caught.

-'Chung

Report the damn thing to eBay or trace she / he/ it if you can and report it to the local police.

I've seen this before. The "seller" isn't in the US, and is probably in Nigeria. The last time I sniffed one of these out it was for a 59 impala that they were selling for well below a reasonable price. They try and get you to contact them outside of ebay, by offering to sell it at a fixed low price. Once you contact them, they say something like "I just moved to italy, so it will have to be shipped, but I know someone...". Then it just becomes the standard Nigerian shipping scam.

Just contact ebay's fraud department, and tell them they aren't selling that car, because you own it and they just stole the images from a previous auction. They'll pull it in a day or two.

Low feedback doesn't always work.. sometimes they hijack accounts with good feedback. There is only one way to avoid these scams.. "If it's too good to be true, it is."

Report the auction to ebay

Hiedi

it is worse than being "WENZLED"

happens with mtn bikes too. saw one bike I really liked and did not win. checked a week later and it is back, same pics and all. I knew this one was a scam and kept asking to see it (said I was 5 min away). the "seller" offered up every excuse in the book why he had to ship it.

i dont get it...

so seller A sells item to someone
seller B copies auction from seller A without actual item, sells the item and leaves the country to go to Mexico?

b

I watched a WICKED 48 Hudson go over 13,000 last week. This Mon I happen to find the SAME car with the SAMe ad as a buy it now of 5,500 I e-mailed the guy, told him he was full of B.S. by tues night ad was gone. I have also reported the same individual 7 times for selling a "rebuilt" 944 turbo engine with MANY extras for 1500.00. I saw it sell legitimately and this a-hole keeps listing it under diff names along with 2 pages of other "unbelievable" Deals. A-holes

Here is the response I got from this. Interesting thing, I have over 1300 positive feedback and he asked me about negative HUMMMMMMMM.

Sounds asian as drops the "ss" off words. Interesting he/she wants to use "Regarding the payment I am aware of the buyer's protection and we will use Auto Trader secure payments " not sure what this is but not an ebay thing.

I do not plan to give him any more information has he did not say where and when I could come and see the car.

mike

Dear Customer,
The car is located in Santa Clara,CA. It has all the papers(complete) as well as the servicebook.
I want this transaction to be smooth enough as I am caught in the middle of some very important events and have very few time at my disposal. The car is in perfect condition, no scratches, no special marks, no need for additional repairs what so ever. 84262 miles onboard, a great car ready to be yours. It has no accident or any engine problem.
The price is $2,800 including shipping costs anywhere in the continental US. There are no other costs regarding this transaction. Now, in order to be able to buy it please let me know if you have any negative feedback and, if this is the case, for what reason. I apologize for asking for such information but I need to be sure.
Please also provide me with the following details necessary to take a decision:
-your full name and address for shipping
-your ph#
Regarding the payment I am aware of the buyer's protection and we will use Auto Trader secure payments which will hold the payment until the buyer receives the car. To complete the payment you must have cash available.
If I receive the requested information you will be informed by Auto Trader during the next 12-24 hours.
Thank you.

Hmmmmm...Auto Traitor.......well let's see will ship it to the east coast, that'll consume about $1.5K of his 2.8K

Give him Miles address........

Ah,

Santa Clara now. . . I don't think this foolio is in the country.

Coming up as bidding ended now. Guess E-bay got to it??

I hope so. . . he did report it to Ebay. Looks like he is listed as an unregistered member now:

Note: "Not a registered user" can refer to members who have cancelled their membership, or whose membership has been suspended by eBay. For example, a member whose correct contact information is no longer on file with us may have their registration suspended until the new contact information is entered. In either case, the member appears as "not a registered user" and is not allowed to buy or sell on eBay.

and the auction has ended. . . I hope they pulled it.

-'Chung

Same thing happened with the 2.7 I bought off of ebay. Someone posted the seller's same pics and description offering it for sale. We reported the guy to ebay. I don't know what happened to him.