My story of a fraudulent car purchase, please be so careful

[spence1]

Good Afternoon, I felt compelled to share this situation to hopefully help someone from falling in to the same trap. I own and race a 1963 etype and own a 64 Coupe etype too. 

I purchased (or so i thought) an etype off eBay classified ad. I went on to the companies web site, all looked very good. Called the land line number that went through to a mobile number, had a good conversation with the chap, although quite a broken conversation (which i understand now is because the calls are being routed over the internet) 

I asked for additional photos, which arrived very quickly.I asked for proof of shipping from USA to UK. These arrived. The title documents came through. The car was a complete restoration project, very, very untidy but looked complete and matching numbers. So with all this we asked for the bank details. UK bank TSB account. We made the payment of £16,0000. We received a phone call later that day to say all money had been received and the the car would be delivered between 7 and 10 days. We even received calls during that period to say all was in hand. the 10th day arrived and then silence. Cut a long story short, UK Customs confirmed the shipping document was fake although very authentic. Reported to fraud department who froze the bank account but of course money was long gone.

Have bought many cars over the phone from different parts of the world. Will not do it again unless I have seen it or a trusted colleague has seen it. Please please be really careful they look so plausible 

Fraud department say they cant update us, we have to trust they are dealing with the situation. 

[Old Peter]

Welcome to the Club, Nik.

 

The story about the fraudsters shows us that there are people who will try to obtain your money.

 

I think that Banks should not release the money in such cases until the car is on the quayside so that the new owner can actually see it.

 

Regards,

 

Peter.

[Raistlin]

A bit too late now, I know, but the services of an escrow provider might have been worthwhile?