Being scammed on Colony Park sale

Hi members, guy claiming to be Steve is trying to buy my wagon at full price by using PayPal. His grammar is a little off in places and he didn't seem to know much about the car, so probably an accomplice just gave him some basic info and my cell number. He says he is a truck driver in Kentucky but I doubt it, and he has an email address that works, but that's easy enough to obtain. Something weird happened during a text exchange that indicates he is doing the scam from Argentina. Just wanted to give heads up to others who may be potential victims of this kind of scam. PayPal does not offer seller protection when selling cars.

 

Sounds like red flags are up all over the place, stay away from this guy.

 

You know I will

 

I'd simply ignore any further emails from the guy and press on.

 

Good of you to share this experience, Sorry your sale isn't going well.

 

I had some moron contact me on my Ranchero by text; he said he was a soldier at Ft. Stewart in Georgia, and could only talk by text because (and as soon as I saw this I knew he was full of s#!t) his "command" denied any access to telephone or Internet. Since my ad specifies 'local sale only,' I shut him down immediately.

 

Please educate me

I felt compelled to chime in. As a guy who lives in the rust belt I often look for vehicles in the southern US. (And have successfully purchased several on line). When possible I try to combine the purchase with a road trip/vacation. I can't tell you how many US sellers think that I'm trying to "scam" them.

Question, If a potential purchaser contacts you and tells you at the get go that he/she is not local and explains that they are looking for a rust free vehicle what's alarming about that? And how does paying with PayPal poss a problem? As I understand it the money is going into your account? Wouldn't the use of PayPal actually be beneficial to both parties?

I have no idea in this instance what this "purchaser" has asked for. But in my case, the vehicle and Title stay in the hands of the seller until said vehicle is picked up. Either in person or via a professional transportation company. If anything I would think that the purchaser is at risk of being scammed. (Car not as pictured/described, Title issues).

Please fill me in...what am I missing?

PS: PayPal is not used widely up here in the great White North. And if I remember correctly I had to link the account to a Visa/Master card or Bank Account. All of which are verified by financial institutions. The result of which certainly would allow the authorities to link me to the transaction should I do something nefarious.

 

This makes sense to me too, having been born in Pennsylvania and knowing what the winter slush has done to various cars. I can imagine myself traveling south for a rust-free car, depending on the circumstances. I think I'd be going with cash-in-hand, but maybe not.

 

Scammer not a member. When i was trying to reply to one of his texts, somehow some piece of data from his end wound up in my text field saying something about a learning program in Argentina, so I think he is using a translation program to communicate with me. This would explain the occasional odd grammar constructions. As for PayPal,a buyer would typically be at more risk, but I checked faqs about accepting PayPal for payment on a car sale, and all the sdvice was to not go that route. If scammer is in cahoots with transporter, car can get picked up and "go missing" and scammer can claim they never got the car. Don't know all the cheating scenarios, but do know this person is trying to get the car without paying for it. Buyer must beware, but seller also. Bottom line, if someone wants my car bad enough, they can meet my condition of seeing it in person before making payment.

 

Did some more research on this scam. Scammer has different ways to try to steal from me. First, he asked for my PayPal account name. I have no funds in it, and gave him name of account, but realize I should not have. He is hoping to hack the account and drain whatever funds are there. Now I have to close that account. No theft of my money, but effort on my part. Alternatively, he could be hacking another legitimate PayPal account to steal money to actually purchase the car. Again, PayPal won't protect a car sale, so if I accepted the stolen funds, I would minus that car AND have to pay back the owner of the hacked account. Instead of a fair trade, I would be in the hole for twice the purchase price of the car. The other scenario is scammer using funds of his own to purchase car, then having the fake transport company pick the car up, pretend that he never received the vehicle, and get a chargeback from PayPal where, once again, I am out double the purchase price of the vehicle. For those members who thought I should go through with this nonsense, you were dead wrong. I am sharing this detailed post for benefit of all members in hopes they won't fall victim to something like this.

 

scammers will usually have a gmail or other account, pay via PayPal and state they are ouot of country,area etc. Total scams;do not waste your time;I usually only answer once with:
"car will only be sold for cash or wire transfer;otherwise do not contact me." usually no answers after that

 

I agree with 1A2 but also with what others have written. Get the money first whether it be cash, check, Paypal, whatever. But turn it into cash before handing over the title and the car.
All people from other countries are not crooks and all people who can't spell or speak plain English are not either. As all people from the USA are not honest.
I've never dealt with anyone buying or selling over the internet so really have no experience. But I sold an RV to an honest man who came to my house to get it. That was in June 2014 and I'm still waiting for the money. I goofed!:banghead3:

 

Scams

To the original poster...trust your gut and protect yourself. I chimed in as I always get a chuckle from the sellers who assume I'm attempting to scam them just because I'm not local. (Hello you posted your vehicle for sale on the internet)...99% of the time after a quick telephone call with the seller things get sorted out. However I have had a couple sellers refuse to deal with me...or reply with some serious profanity.

As stated in my original post PayPal is not widely used up here, in fact I only opened an account to complete ebay transactions and/or to purchase the odd hobby vehicle. Canadian banking regulations are different then those in the US. By law our banks have to make us whole ie: return your funds if you are the victim of a reported crime. As such you have to jump through hoops to open accounts, and they investigate criminal acts and involve law enforcement.

I always try to do the deal in person...I have also hired local inspection companies or asked forum friends to act as intermediaries.

Like all things in life, a little common sense and two way communication will go a long way. Sadly yes there are scam artists out there.

I can certainly understand how collusion between a buyer and a transportation company could be exploited. However I'm at a loss to understand how the seller could be victimised in such a scenario as this is where the use of PayPal or the bank should shield the seller. I would expect that they would work with law enforcement to investigate and prosecute the scam artists. But what do I know...I'm just a simple country boy lookin for rust free iron on the internet

 

Thanks for your thoughts, but I just want to restate that PayPal will not protect me as the seller of a car, and I only started to educate myself about this when my scam buyer wanted to "pay" for the car via PayPal. Canada might have better protections, but anyone would be a sucker to transact with this scammer.