Selling car - concerned about a scammer

[toff]

Hi,

I recently received an enquiry via AutoTrader:



Hi, interested in your car but there is 250 miles distance from your location. I need to

check the car with police here before come to your location. I have cash in hand, please

give the next details so I can check that everything is OK with the car:

registration number:
owner's name and address:
any finance on this car:

I hope you understand me but there is a long distance and I don't want to come there and

then have any problems with the car.

Thanks,
Joan


Does this smell of a scam to anybody else? (The English is good, but not quite native & who has £15k+ "cash in hand"?) I'm worried about my car being cloned.

My plan:
I've asked her to give me a call from a landline telephone and I plan to say "I'm busy, can I call you back" then call her back on the number. To make sure it's not a payphone etc, I will call it back later on.

I will then offer to send all of the details via post. That means I'll have a landline phone number and address in case anything goes wrong.


Anybody else got any advice / points of view?

Cheers
Al.

[clive30v]

I would ignore mate if your in any doubt. too many people out there wanting to do you up the pooh hole when selling a car sadly:mad:

[size12]

All they need is the reg number then they can do a HPI they do not need your details for this. Would your car be able to cope with the Nigerian roads?:D

[Rusk]

Like said above all they need is the reg plate. I would ignore.

[megger]

As everyone says- ignore. The police won't tell them anything about your car or your details, data protection and all that!

[bez101]

id give them wrong details bet they still mail back and ask if they can have it picked up

[magician]

DELETE IT BIG TIME!
It's a scam. I had the same kind of email last week,
hit delete my learned Audi driver

[toff]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I haven't had a reply to my last email, so I presume the scammer has moved onto a less suspecting target!

Just to help anybody else googling the email address (as I did, to see if it's a known scammer) the email address is: greenjoan84@yahoo.co.uk

Selling a car privately is a real chore these days, so many scammers about! But I guess you face even bigger scamming salesmen if you go to the dealerships!!

I hate the way they make out your car is worth nothing, when they are actually making £500 - £2k out of the trade-in! I guess that IS their job though.

Cheers
Toff.

[magician]

halo. i turust this is a specsial email as you were in my thouts and i havee good news for you my dear firend.
your greaat antie winny from katmandoo has deeeepli passsed awayu and yu jhave been awarded sixteen million us dollars at once. however i need youu to send me the keys to yor audi and your address and my family will come to pick it up as to show that you stilll have love for dear aunty wiiinie.
Bless ya my friend.
:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh: :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh: :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh: :biglaugh::biglaugh:

[toff]

Haha good one Magician!

I used to be an IT manager for a big PR firm. I can remember being summoned to a director's office to explain why an email like that had reached her inbox...

...only to find out they were annoyed because they'd actually entertained the emails (probably the not-so-blatant ones) and realised what they'd done afterwards! We had one lady who actually sent her bank details believing she had come into some money! Durrr!

Toff.

PS: "Gone from a Subaru Impreza rocket ship to pure REFINEMENT!!!" - you don't know refinement until you've driven a V6 TDI :p

[Borab0y]

I had something similar when I sold my Bora a couple of months back,

I'd advertised it on the bay and got an email from a guy in Malta saying he had cash and wanted my car.

I was thinking its a scam so I told him to call me which he did. He told me he could come over in a week and pay me in cash then take it away.

I said if he was serious he could pay a deposit by either western union or paypal, next thing £1000 turns up in my paypal account.

Two weeks later he turned up paid the rest in cash (which I took to the bank strait away just to be sure) and took the car to an exporter.

He had to pay for the export and then pay tax on it when it got to Malta, must of cost him a fortune but he said they dont have any modded 1.8T Bora's over there so its unique and attracts alot of attention.

[ginvi]

This is clear cut scam from someone who is not local to UK.
Why?? "I need to check with police here before come to your location", give away 'before come'
Buying and selling has nothing to do with police they have better thing to do.
If you have time on hand pretend to be keen and desperate(let her think she is winning a soul).Email her to give you address and you will drive down for her to see the car.

[toff]

Looks like I have a serious buyer now.

Whilst I would love to teach the scamming scum a lesson, life's too short!

When I got an email from someone requesting all my credentials for "a background check" I gave them the address of a Police station and the name of the chief constable!

I wonder how they got on! haha!

Al.