UK CARS SCAM. BE AWARE!!!

Please read carefully if you don’t want to become a victim like me and my sister and some of my friends. I am sending this message from my behalf and from behalf of all the people I know who have been ripped off. I am sending this message to a lot of friends and ask them to forward it to others to help as many people as I can.

WANT TO SELL YOUR CAR?

LIST OF SOME UK SITES BELOW WHERE NOT TO GO:

Scam 1 Motor Network – £89.99 - http://www.motornetwork.co.uk – A COMPLETE RIP OFF.
They are looking for car adverts from other websites and start calling the sellers telling them that they have few buyers wanted to buy a car like yours, but you have to register with them first. It is “only” £89.99 one off fee. And that’s it; once they take your money forget it. Be aware, don’t let them take over they may ring you over 5 times today, and pushing you to register with them. They can tell you for example: “We have three buyers who want to buy your car right now.” Well you tell me how, when the buyers haven’t even seen your car? PLEASE AVOID!!!

Scam 2 Webmotors - £15 - http://www.webmotors.co.uk - USELESS
For this money they are going to put your advert on their website until your car is sold. – WHAT DO YOU GET FOR YOUR MONEY!. They have no visitors and therefore no car buyers that will be interested in buying your car. You might as well give your money to someone in the street and ask them to sell YOUR car for you. PLEASE AVOID!!!

Scam 3 Auto Seek - £15 - http://www.autoseek.co.uk – a Car Data sister site.

Scam 4 Car Data - from “just” £79.99 - http://www.cardata.co.uk – PROBABLY THE FOUNDER OF THIS SCAM. THE WEBSITES ABOVE ARE PROBABLY SOME OF THE MANY CAR DATA GAMES.

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LIST OF SOME HIGHLY RECOMMENDED UK SITES FOR BUYING OR SELLING CARS:

AUTOTRADER – from £5.99 to £45 for two weeks - http://www.autotrader.co.uk
DESPERATESELLER.CO.UK – For just £29.99 they will advertise your car on 101 top websites http://www.desperateseller.co.uk. Don't be fooled by the name Desperateseller, whether you're a desperateseller or not they can help you sell your car fast by giving it as much exposure as possible. My sister in law advertised on desperateseller.co.uk and sold the car within a week. At just £29.99 DesperateSeller.co.uk is great value for money!
EXCHANGE AND MART – from £5 to £15 for two weeks - http://www.exchangeandmart.co.uk
FRIDAY AD – from £10 to £45 - http://www.friday-ad.co.uk

THE SITES ABOVE ARE RECOMMENDED BECAUSE I AND A LOT OF PEOPLE I KNOW HAVE SOLD THEIR CARS THROUGH THEM.

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Please, if you are looking to buy or sell a car from the internet, be very careful which sites you’re visiting and what kind of emails/offers you’re receiving.

If you are a seller, you might receive an email message similar to this below:
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Sellers lookout for these signs!

* Overpayment scams - the person says they want to buy your item without seeing it! They will say they have someone owing them money who will send you a cheque. This will be for far more than the item is worth, the idea being that you take the cost of the item and send the rest to their shipping agent. They will ask you to send via Western Union or Money, NEVER SEND MONEY USING WESTERN UNION or MONEYGRAM for the overpayment of goods. Truth is that this will be a fake/counterfeit, stolen or an altered cheque (check). This will bounce eventually, often after you have sent the money to them. You will then owe the bank ££££'s - the scammer will have disappeared, abandoned the free email account he used to communicate to you.
Think about it would anyone really trust a total stranger with more money than something is worth?
* Clues to detect a scammer
o Poor use of English, strange combinations of long words, god, bless ...
o Strong emphasis on the payment method
o Asking for information you have already given in the advert
o May talk about representing a client, shipping agent ..
o Have a sense of urgency to need your item - do they not sell it in their country?

Buyers lookout for these signs!

Lookout for items that are priced less than the market price! These tend to be cars that are being advertised for an amazing price. The price will be so good that you feel you need to get in touch. The advertiser will say the car is in another country to where you are, but that he has a good courier that will get the item to you in a few days. He will then ask for a deposit via Western Union or Moneygram, NEVER SEND MONEY USING WESTERN UNION or MONEYGRAM. Never send money for a deposit for something you have not seen, especially to someone overseas.

Fraud Alert

Do not accept cheques for your goods, from distant buyers, that are of a higher value than the item you are selling. The fraudsters post you a counterfeit cheques and you wire them your good money. Their cheque may well clear, but you will lose the funds once the bank realise the cheque is fraudulent. Example: you sell car for £5,000. They post you fake £7,000 cheque and you send them £2,000. Don't fall for it!
Example of dodgy email:
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Thanks for your mail, due to what i have told you concerning the payment and the shippment that you my shipper will come for the pick up of the BRAND NEW HP iPAQ pda H2210 as soon as the cheque clear. My client that is owning some funds in United Kingdom (£3,500), i will instruct him to issue the cheque for you and as soon as it clear you will deduct the cost of the BRAND NEW HP iPAQ pda H2210 (£389) the remaining balance will be send to my shipper via Western Union Money Transfer for immediately shipping arrangment. Do get back to me if these is okay by you, so that i can forward your information to my client ASAP.. Hope to hear from you soon
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GOOD LUCK!



Karen.

This is similar to an earlier post, but it bears repeating. If you've been caught out, the only course of action that I can think of would be to contact your local Trading Standards Office at your Local Council Offices, they should be able to help.

Remember TANSTAAFL
There
Ain't
No
Such
Thing
As
A
Free
Lunch

...and TANJ
There
Ain't
No
Justice