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Buyer offers higher than purchase price to secure car unseen and wants to send shipper to collect it after Bankers Draft has cleared: so a classic advanced fee/shipping scam - except buyer claims to be in Wales...
I have a car advertised on Auto-trader and received the following E-mail. I thought it might be a variation on the scam where someone sends over too much money and asks you to send the excess to their "shipping company?": "Good Morning, Firstly,i am very sorry for the late response. i'm having a little problem with my message box and that is why i could not response on time so i decided to email you through a new account in order to proceed with the purchase of your car. Thanks you very much for getting back to me regards the purchase of your car and am very excited that you still have the car for sale. Regarding the price of the car ,i would be glad to offer you £6,000 which i believe is fair enough for the car if i am right. Really i have read all the details of the car on the web and i am satisfied with every information i read regarding the car.So i will like to know if there is any other details about the car that was not included with the one on the web because i would like to see the car as it's described here on the web.Also i don't really know whether the mileage still remain the same on the web and also how long have you been driving the car?Are you the first owner of the car,and when will its M.O.T expires?Sorry i shouldn't be asking you this but it just that i did not know when you placed the advert if it's current details of the car or not. Pertaining to the payment of the car,i would pay inform of a Bankers Draft which i believe it is one of the fastest method to pay for the car and once the draft has fully cleared in your bank,i can instruct my shipping company to come for the pick up of the car!! I have a shipping company that will come for the pick-up of the car wherever the car is located in UK. Please Note that i agree to take the possession of the car only when the Draft has fully cleared in your bank and the money shows in your account to ensure that it's a genuine deal. So if you are ok with this kindly get back to me as i need to complete the transaction asap.. Marc Orton, Wales"
It looks dubious. Frankly we advise anyone in whatever circumstances not to sell the vehicle to them unless they have met them personally. Secondly, why would anyone get a shipping agent involved if they were also in the UK?
My guess is that this is an overseas scam and the adding of "Wales" was to add further assurance that it was a UK buyer. Normally someone in Wales would add the town. If you take their supposed location out of the argument we have the makings of a classic advance fee fraud:
- note the promise to pay by bankers draft (at least they didn't call it a cashiers check) but this is a common thread
- note the use of a shipper to collect the vehicle
- note they never make a mention of your name or the type or model of the car - in short this could be a classic boiler plate bulk email
- there are some notable errors of English
My feeling is that in some miraculous error, the cheque will be written for around £2500 too much and that rather than get the bank to reissue they will decide to trust you to repay the extra amount when it clears, probably by Western Union.
Furthermore when the cheque arrives it will either be drawn on a foreign bank or will be stolen.
If you decide to proceed with Mr Orton you are advised to pay in his cheque/draft with a great deal of distrust and flag up your doubts to your bank. You should advise them of the circumstances and inform them that if they inform you that it is paid you will require an irrevocable guarantee from them that this is the case and they will not seek to reclaim the money from you at a later date. Until you have this, under no circumstances should you allow the car to be shipped or release any money through any money transfer agent.
Rather than put yourself to all this trouble the best way of dealing with it to write to Mr Orton and say that should he wish to view the car you will be happy to show it to him at a time of his convenience and that an early appointment is advised.
Furthermore that if he attends and brings cash then he can take the car away with him and avoid the shipping costs.
In the meantime you reserve the right to sell it to the first available buyer who offers a good price and comes up with the money.
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