How does this scam work?

[mattius]

Right im selling my car on autotrader (and here)

So i get an email asking if the car was still for sale, then another asking the final price.

Then i get an email saying they'll take it can they pay via paypal? (no chance, scam me thinks)

Then they say they can pay bank transfer now, i want to believe its genuine, but its screaming scam.

I told them they would have to wait 7 days for funds to clear and they were happy.

But

No detailed questions asked, no viewings, no phone calls just email! scam!

How can they claim money back from a b/t?

[paulqv]

General rule of thumb:

if it is too good to be true, then it is too good to be true!

I wonder if they are simply looking for your bank detials for some reason? If in doubt ask your bank as to how they could do a secure transfer without disclosing details, eg a holding account.

Paul

[mattius]

yeah thats what im thinking, they are willing to wait 7 days for the funds to clear as well, wonder how they can get the money out?

[CJ1987]

ive seen a similar scam work in that you seem to get the money and they take the car then the payment bounces with your bank so they get a free car which gets shipped abroad so no hope of getting it back

[DCL]

Paypal and bank transfers are not cleared funds so, in theory, could bounce. You're correct to wait 7 days. If this is a scam, then the bank account details funding this will most likely be stolen and transactions would be stopped when the owner or bank realise - but this takes time and your car will be long gone by then!.

Edit: The thing to be aware of here is that, if the money has been 'stolen', then it may not be legally yours even if it has cleared. In much the same as as if you had bought a stolen car.

Edited by DCL on Friday 11th May 11:10

Edited by DCL on Friday 11th May 11:11

[bigblock]

The thing to remember about most of these scams is it has nothing to do with your actual car it is all about harvesting your personal information.

They already have your email address and if you agreed to the bank transfer they would then also have your name and bank account details. At this point it is unlikely you will hear anything more from the 'buyer'.

At some point you will receive an authentic looking email from your bank with a
link asking you to log into your online account for some innocent reason. When you click on the fake link you will download a tracking cookie which will record your login information and pass it on to the fraudster. You can probably imagine what happens next.

They would use the same method if you had agreed to the paypal transaction.