[DocJake]

Spotted a 97 wrangler, for around $1000 under Kelly. Owner sounded legit, and gave valid email, and VIN. I had a back and forth correspondence with him over some questions. I sprung for carfax and googled his name. His name checked out. Well, in the end, I had a deal, and wanted to come see the car. Then it came... "please put a down payment to hold the car" via Western Union because there's another potential buyer. I refused. Ok, fine, send the payment to an "escrow agent" so there's no risk? I got an "E-bay motors escrow agent" official mail. I refused and contacted E-bay. Fraud, fraud, fraud!

This is a very common scam that's unfortunately easy to fall for. The VIN is real. The owner's name is real. The Carfax is real. Then comes the hook. Never, never, ever, buy an out of state car that you can't kick the tires on. Even then I've been told some people will steal a ride and the info they find inside the car, sell the stolen car acting as the legit owner.

I'm glad I had the sense to smell a rat. Don't fall for it. Not all offers are "too good to be true". Some are perfectly reasonable and "below radar". Just be super cautious and never part with your money until you see a legit ID and title.. and good luck with your new (or used) Jeep!

GJ

[burton160w]

Generally good information for anything you buy that costs a large amount. I had a guy down in Florida offer me a front bumper for my Cougar for $200. Sounded legit and he had been on the car forums for a while. We've talked it over quite a bit, and I stupidly sent a cashiers check.

No front bumper and I was out 2 benjamins

[DocJake]

Desperate times make people desperate. My Uncle paid for an item in a Times Square camera store to the guy behind the counter, and when the salesman never returned he asked the manager who cooly replied, "I'm the only one who works here". Scams abound. Too bad it has to be that way. My next car, I'm paying the extra and going through the dealer for peace of mind.

[1shotATglory]

I'm actually trying to sniff out a rat as we speak. I found a 05 Rubicon on cars.com. I called the phone number that was listed, got a voicemail greeting that said "You know what to do." Real classy...that was my first red flag. I then emailed him and he responded saying that he was up in Alberta, Canada because he works for a company that cleans up oil spills from tankers and pipelines. The vehicle is in a shipping warehouse in MA. Supposedly he had a buyer lined up and was prepared to ship but the buyer could not secure the loan last minute and the deal fell through. His email reeked of "sheisty crook" and I've seen the scams before so naturally I was skeptical and pressed him to give me more info. He gave me a VIN and I, too, ran it through CARFAX which came back clean on the surface. He says that because it is in the shipping facility, the warehouse won't allow anyone in to inspect the car. Another series of red flags.

I was waiting for what I thought the inevitable would be..."send me a down payment first." Instead, he wants to do it through eBay and setup a private auction with me listed as the authorized buyer. He says that way I would pay through eBay and have three days to verify receipt/satisfcation of the vehicle and then eBay would release the funds to him. Otherwise if I am not satisfied eBay would return my money. I questioned eBay (but unfortunately everything has to be done via email so the turnaround time sucks) about the validity of this guy's story to which they responded until he actually lists the item on eBay they can't tell me much and that it looks like its a sale with payment outside of eBay and they strongly reccommend not dealing with this guy. Understandable but they didn't really answer my question...the email sounded like a generic response to a FAQ. So I have since responded to eBay with a more specific series of questions but have not yet received a response.

I'm at the point now where I'm trying to get this guys eBay user ID so I can run a history and/or get him to list the vehicle on eBay so that eBay will talk to me. Until the listing is created and there is an item # they won't get involved other than to say don't pay outside eBay. However, this guy is advocating payment through eBay...go figure.

I'm not giving up yet because as was said before, not all listings are "too good to be true" and it is worth investigating. I'm pushing this guy as far as I can before I ultimately decide that he is up to no good.

[DocJake]

There is no such thing as an E-Bay "BUYERS AGENT", my friend. E-bay clearly denies ever having had such a division or ever holding monies in "escrow". This scam, which was aimed at me too, is well known and abounds both in Canada and UK. I have heard this "buyers' agent" scam for some time now. You will soon receive a letter from the "buyer's agent" suggesting you send paypal or w. union and give a contact. You can search E-bay yourself for this scam and view their warnings about fraudulent "buyers agents". These are not car owners. These are felons spending time and effort to rip you off. They belong in prison.

Good luck, my friend. Hope you go on to find a nice Jeep.

Glenn

[AUSHii]

Yeah I recently sold a jeep on CL and I got so many Fake and scam offers. Western union was a big one and so was the one where they send their shipping company to pick it up and then you get the money. Also I got one where the guy said he was deaf and we couldn't talk in person or on the phone only via e-mail.

[SBellew]

I have had good luck buying cars from Craigslist, but I always have a signed title before any cash changes hands. I just got a 88 Cherokee off a guy in GA. Had to drive out to get it, but its in my yard now with the title being changed over in AL now.

[joshrad]

Yeah, a few months ago there was a slight problem on here regarding a guy who bought a windshield for a wrangler but the seller never got his money. The buyer claimed he paid the seller on paypal, but the money never went through, thus the creation of our group. Haven't heard anything about this stuff on here lately but thought you should know that if you do you, you can PM me or any other JFI (Jeep Forum Investigator) member or by clicking the link in our sig. We've been trying to keep ****ty deals from happening on JeepForum and trying to save people before they fall for it.

Back on topic, that is a ****ty thing to happen. I'm glad you didn't fall for it.

[1997_Sport]

Yeah, make sure before buying a car on either craigslist or off ebay, that they let you look at the car and drive it before sending any amount of money, whether it be 1c to 1,000,000,000 dollars. This way you know its not a fake, also what is good about a site like this, there are people from all over the united states, so I am sure if the vehicle whether it be a jeep or car there is someone on here that will be willing to drive over and check it out, before you drive for hundreds or thousands of miles before finding out its a scam.

[The_Blacksmith]

I have no problems buying and selling stuff on craigslist. Its so easy to spot a scam from a mile away.

[DocJake]

Scary thing is, a detective I know told me people are increasingly selling cars that are stolen days earlier. The thief apparently prints a high quality counterfeit Title and everything appears legit. What next?

[The_Blacksmith]

titles have raised stamps where I'm from.

[LuckRider]

It is sad that there are so many scams out there. It is actually funny, that is how I ended up getting my Jeep. We saw it on ebay for $11,000. Nothing unusual there. When we called the guy up, he said he only wanted 11 to pay off his loan. That was a little red flag. Well... we made plans to see it, and when the first trip got postponed, another flagged popped up. We also ran a report prior to going to see it, with a lien on it, we were thinking more and more that it was a scam, we buy it, he takes the money, stops making payments, and we loose the Jeep and the cash. My dad has seen it happen many times. Well... after seeing it, he told us it was ours for 11. It was in perfect shape and well under book. We told him we had one condition, we paid not a single cent till the title came back through. It was a surprise, he had the entirety of the loan on his credit card the next day, and 2 weeks later when the title was in our name, we drove over there, paid with a personal check, and went to wait in a 4 hour line at the DMV to register it and drive it home. What we thought was a scam on his part could have turned out very bad, I guess he really trusted us.

Once again, people really need to be careful with all of the scams. DocJake is right, not all deals are too good to be true, but many are. Finding the legit ones are tough.

[pcv57]

This is great information. Thanks to everybody for your stories. I think all of us are looking for good deals and can sometimes get swept up in thinking we found that "great deal". These are reminders to keep your eyes and ears open, do your due diligence, and not be afraid of walking away and losing a vehicle that doesn't "smell" right. There are way too many scams out there and they seem to get more and more elaborate.

[retrorocket]

Good thing about east coast Canada is were so cheap that no one will do a deal unless they see it in person so they can dicker the price down 30%!