VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Another Car Selling Scam

I probably upset someone with playing them along so long on this one. This is almost a Charlie story.

The other day I was scanning through Facebook Marketplace. I saw a sponsored ad for an individual selling a car of interest at a ridiculously low price. So 2 bells went off right away. Typically individuals do not pay for sponsored ads to sell a car. And the firm sell price was about 30% of what the represented vehicle was worth.

I responded with an email and started getting the back story on the car. And of course it belonged to her husband who died and gave it to their daughter but the daughter did not want it so gave it to Mom. And now Mom had medical emergencies and needs money right now. And the ridiculously low price includes delivery to me residence. And I have 5 days to look over the car before I pay. More bells.

I asked for more pictures and some very specific ones which I did not get. Plus she would never give me the VIN or send me a picture of the "clear" title. I also ask if I could arrange for someone to inspect the car. She ignores that request completely.
Then she says not to worry that this is an eBay deal. Yet I cannot find the vehicle on eBay.

So I said yes, let's do this. She said great, she will contact eBay and they will send me an "invoice" with instructions on how to pay for the car. Even more bells are going off after I get the "invoice". There still is no VIN listed and the address she lists as hers is a car wash in Lindon, Utah.

And this is where it really gets funny! The instructions in the invoice tell me that I need to go buy eBay gift cards and then call their "eBay Customer Support" number to pay for the car. The instructions go so far as to tell me that I will need to buy multiple cards because the limit per card is $200. And I might need to go to multiple stores because some stores limit the number of cards I can purchase.

In my last email I told her that I had received the invoice and would pay with PayPal through eBay after she provides the VIN. Then I clearly told her that I believed this was a scam. Have not heard anything since then.

Obviously got too much time on my hands. But it was entertaining!

Funny. Did you report the ad to FB?

Wow !!!! Glad you didn't fall for that one. It's a jungle out there.

Sounds like fun.I messed with a guy once that apparently had a 67 Camaro Convert stored in a sea can and he was dumped in the UK by work and wouldn't be back for months and needed cash.

Hi Tiny,

Yes, I was going to do that but I cannot find the ad now. Now that I think about it I might be able to report using the email address. FB accounts are tied to an email.

What amazed me is that they did not even realize I was playing with them. I even went so far as to offer an additional $200 and would pay them in cash when they delivered the car! That offer was completely ignored!

That is funny but unfortunately someone falls for it, and a newer scam will occur. People and corporations will try everything they can for money. Greed runs deep!! If you get a chance watch Dirty Money on Netflix. The 1st episode is about VW's "clean diesel" the millions they scammed selling dirty cars.