Massive D-Bag is trying to sell me my own car!

[damiandavis]

Long story short, i purchased an X5 recently, did my homework, background checked the seller did all the usual vehicle checks and happily concluded the deal. Well to my surprise while looking around on Ebay for alloys there was the car i bought with the exact advert detail from the sellers Autotrader Ad. Advertised as available for £8k. Bearing in mind this is a 2010 X5 with low mileage - well thats a steal! I contacted the ad owner and told him to drop the ad. I also got in touch with Ebay. No response from Ebay but the next day the ad is gone, as are all ads under the sellers account - Premiercarsales2 on Ebay.

End of the story - oh no! the guy, calling himself Norbert Hoffman, contacts me by email and says

Hi,

Thanks for being interested in my 2010 BMW X5 3.0 xDrive30d M Sport 5dr with 50.008 miles.

(details of the advert repeated - removed as thats dull!)

Final price I will let it go is £8,000. REG Plate: HV10UKS.

I will leave UK in the next few days, that is the reason for the low price, I need a quick sale. 

Please reply asap, thanks, Norbert

To which i replied "When can I view the car?"

And he replied:

Hi,

I live in Thurso, Scotland. My postcode is KW14 7LD. My friend here tried to sell his vehicle last week and he went into a very bad experience! Someone said that comes to buy his car and guess what ! That guy fled with my friend car ! Well, after this, I am afraid to meet someone and deal in person, face to face. That is why I decided to sell my vehicle using the eBay Protection Program. So if you want to buy my car we will close the deal through eBay. In this way I will feel much more comfortable and safe, and you should feel the same as well !

I will appreciate if you understand my proposal and I hope we can close this deal as soon as possible.

​In a few words I can explain how it works the transaction through eBay, I set up the transaction, you send the payment to eBay, I will deliver the vehicle to you with Shiply, the eBay affiliate delivery company. I will pay the delivery costs to your address, no extra costs for you. After you get the vehicle and see that is OK and has no problems or any kind of damages, it is same as I described it, you will send a confirmation to eBay and eBay will send the payment to me. So, until you receive the vehicle, I will not be paid by eBay.​ In case you will decide not to keep the vehicle, your payment will be refunded in full. But this is not the case, because as you can see in the pictures my car is in 100% excellent condition!

If you would like to speak with my directly, well, I have no problem with this, here is my number where you can call me anytime: 01314631113.

Thanks, Norbert

Bearing in mind the ad mentioned a location for the car of Cheltenham, well now Norbert is in the most northerly part of Scotland pretty much, and a bit afraid of face to face meetings. Funny that, as the car is sat on my driveway.

Pondering how long to string this out for. 8k is a bargain after all, and given Ebay payment protection what can go wrong?  ::)

Next step to pass the details over to the police i suppose. However i get the feeling there will be less than 2 hoots given ....

[X5Sport]

You could try reporting it to Action Fraud, and ideally you will need printouts of everything off eBay as supporting evidence.  The email trail might also help.

This type of incident is of more interest to either them or NCA/SOCA rather than local plod.

[damiandavis]

Indeed. may do that. number might be traceable i suppose...

If it causes the idiot inconvenience then its worth it.

[Don Coffey]

Funny enough a friend of mine was offered a car that was at the tip of Scotland, but as he's in Aberdeen, the emails stopped when my friend said he could be there in a few hours.  Certainly worth passing on the info to the authorities as someone will be duped in the end otherwise these scams wouldn't exist.

Don

[Reusch]

Don't bother taking it further you will get absolutely nowhere.

[bluestreak56]

Sign that telephone number up to every ppi and marketing company you can find

[Don Coffey]

[quote="Reusch"]
Don't bother taking it further you will get absolutely nowhere.
[/quote]

That's the wrong attitude. Too many people turn a blind eye in today's society and think only of themselves. At the very least the OP could pass on and then forget about it, something is better then nothing. I also think ebays lack of reaction is concerning as they are the platform from which the scams start.

Don

[rickyclean]

This is fraudulent behaviour at best. EBay are notorious for not dealing with matters, but that should not stop you from pursuing this, as to leave such scams unanswered is to allow the crime to take place. Report the person to eBay, keep a full record of your communication including your actual purchase. I would also report this to the relevant authority and the police as this is criminal fraud.

I had a similar issue when I was trying to buy my wife's car (a Saab 93 2.8T estate). All was going well until the person wanted to meet me in Dover by the ferry terminal wanting cash..... In the end it turned out he did not have the car at all.... You can image what his intentions were....

[Reusch]

Don I've reported loads and got nowhere and I'm 1st to have a go

[Don Coffey]

[quote="Reusch"]
Don I've reported loads and got nowhere and I'm 1st to have a go
[/quote]
I can understand your frustration I know it can feel like you're wasting your time but unless all of these incidents are reported, giving a fuller picture and showing the authorities the scale of the problem then less is likely to be done. I wonder if some TV show could take these scammers on?

Don

[Reusch]

True Don

[Insight G40]

I enquired about a Q7 on AutoTrader before I bought my X5, £8k for a car that was worth £14k, low mileage, well specced. Was listed as a Cat D.
Photos of the car taken in different locations, seemed a little strange but the price made it worth enquiring about.

Received a text after calling the number in the ad informing me that the seller could not talk due to her deafness disability and provided an e-mail address.

Sent an e-mail an received a rely from a woman who's husband had died recently and was/had left the country and needed to sell his car.

Asked why it was Cat D to be informed that it had had an accident with a bus, but the only repair had been a replacement drivers door. Hardly enough to warrant it being uneconomical for the insurance company to cover the cost of repair.

The e-mail further informed me that the car was with a holding/transport company in the north west who would deliver upon payment of the full asking price.
They would hold the payment for 10 days to give me time to inspect the car and if I was not happy would collect the car and refund in full. That was never going to happen )

I did some background investigation on the company, it's what I do for a living, and although it appeared to exist on paper, once I got below the surface it quickly became clear that this business was a not what it claimed to be.

Here's a copy of her e-mail

The car is already at Shipping Company- www.TD-Distributionltd.co.uk (ready for delivery) in Cheshire. The left front door was changed with a new one, that was all the damage.As i said, the transaction  will be done by the shipping company, due to the fact i'm overseas and I can not meet with you in person. They will be the 3rd, objective party  involved in the transaction. This way you will actually pay for the car after you will receive and test it, because TD-Distributions will hold the  funds in an Escrow  and release it to me only after you accept and  confirm the delivery.

You will have 10 days to test , decide and accept the buy. If you decide to  take it you will have to contact them and confirm that, so they can  release the money to me.  If  you won't like it you will have to ship it back to me within the 10 days  and they will refund you. The shipping back will be done on my own  expense, but I am sure this will not be the case.

If you decide to buy the car,please include the following information in your next email.
-Full Name;
-Shipping Address (postal code,full address)
-Phone Number

Please get back to me at your earliest convenience

[JimmySpeed]

These scams come with so many red flags I'm genuinely surprised that anyone gets sucked in - the only reason I can think of is people's greed blinding them to the obvious - the £20k car that they think they can get for £8k.

I wouldn't call myself a master detective but these things usually smell soooo fishy you need to spray air freshener in the room after looking at them!

[libra007]

I actually made very low bid 13K  to a genuine looking PRe LCI E70 last year, soon after winning the bid the seller start calling me number of times on the phone asking for deposit ASAP that rang some bells. So I asked him to wait until i do some checks on your car and asked him for Reg Number, he provided reg number that was a valid car registered in UK as import - he went on explaining car has been moved to republic of ireland and back to UK again. further checking the google picture search reveal pictures he put on add was a US version and from US car forum and was left hand drive in closer check of pictures!

it looked all dodgy to me so I said to him this looks like fraud to me and he threatened me with legal proceeding I said sure!