I Smell a Scam Buyer
Discussion
I'm selling my car & just got the below message through the contact email service.
There's just something that seems all very wrong about it from:
-The way it's written.
-Saying that you use a financial service
-The fact that the guy say's he's a Dr (i mean, why not just put your first name)?
-A bit of a comedy yahoo email address that is just not something you'd attribute to a Doctor .
I've redacted all of the details as I obviously & foolishly would like to stay optimistic and I wouldn't want to offend if genuine (but) i'm wondering & assuming this is the start of a scam to try & get me to part with my car & money ....
Has anyone had similar emails such as the one below?
Cheers,
Hello ......
Lead email address: *************@yahoo.com
Lead message:
" Hello, I'm interested in this car. Is it still available ?
I’m a collector and have also one noble in my collection at present and have owned two previous ones also ..
I use my usual ‘Finance Team.’ for all purchases
Best
Dr * ******* "
Yes it will almost certainly be a scam. Regular people communicate in a normal way, most of these scams seem to have really odd ways of asking the most simple thing.
I just sold a car and received endless calls from very similar sounding people all asking an identical list of very specific but very obscure things about it, mostly starting with the exact same opening line "hello i am calling about the Year Make Model Trim Level Engine Size BHP etc... car".
One guy called twice and at first denied he had called before and then admitted it and hung up.
After that every time i heard that similar voice i just told them it was sold.
Thankfully in the end there was one proper buyer who was excellent and bought the car with zero fuss.
I just sold a car and received endless calls from very similar sounding people all asking an identical list of very specific but very obscure things about it, mostly starting with the exact same opening line "hello i am calling about the Year Make Model Trim Level Engine Size BHP etc... car".
One guy called twice and at first denied he had called before and then admitted it and hung up.
After that every time i heard that similar voice i just told them it was sold.
Thankfully in the end there was one proper buyer who was excellent and bought the car with zero fuss.
It could be genuine, some people are proud of the efforts they went through to get that Dr title and will slip it in to any and every possible conversation.
Having said that, if the chap's finance team normally deal with this stuff then he'd almost certainly have someone who also deals with his comms and wouldn't be reaching out directly. I wonder where it's leading, maybe "You'll need to send us £500 to a nominated bank account so that we can verify x, y and z afterwhich we will transfer the full purchase price to you and arrange collection of the vehicle"
Having said that, if the chap's finance team normally deal with this stuff then he'd almost certainly have someone who also deals with his comms and wouldn't be reaching out directly. I wonder where it's leading, maybe "You'll need to send us £500 to a nominated bank account so that we can verify x, y and z afterwhich we will transfer the full purchase price to you and arrange collection of the vehicle"
shtu said:
Looks like a duck.
Walks like a duck.
Quacks like a duck.
It's a warmup for some sort of fake payment service con.
Thats what i was assuming.... Walks like a duck.
Quacks like a duck.
It's a warmup for some sort of fake payment service con.
I've a spare email address that i'll use to contact them. I mean if they want to view & pay bank transfer then ok cool. Otherwise, It's a no go.
alscar said:
I agree that the way in which it’s written does sound a bit odd - I assume you are selling a noble hence the comments to “ reassure “ you ?
Possibly English isn’t their first language ?
Dr could be Swiss or German etc.
But I’d certainly be on my guard.
Yeah I'd assume so , also saying he's a doctor in order for me to think he's professional & to make me feel secure ....Possibly English isn’t their first language ?
Dr could be Swiss or German etc.
But I’d certainly be on my guard.
Anyway we'll see how it goes ...I've replied through a spare email address that i have ...
Funkyworm said:
Yeah I'd assume so , also saying he's a doctor in order for me to think he's professional & to make me feel secure ....
Anyway we'll see how it goes ...I've replied through a spare email address that i have ...
Good luck either way and don’t forget to update us - if nothing else seeing Rotary eat his own head would be worthy of a new thread. Anyway we'll see how it goes ...I've replied through a spare email address that i have ...
Yahoo. com email by a supposedly rich Doctor or PHD super star, who has a finance team, righty ohh.
Dr is to try and gain your confidence, finance team is the start of the financial scam, the owning other cars is to try and gain your confidence, a real person would be quite happy to provide you with an authentic email, you'd probably be able to look them up on a work place website etc, if real and they hadn't stolen someones identity.
The missing reality of a real person and how they'd probably exist somewhere like facebook or work etc, doesn't exist, they'll be buying remotely, someone will collect the car etc etc.
Smellier than a sewer rat.
Dr is to try and gain your confidence, finance team is the start of the financial scam, the owning other cars is to try and gain your confidence, a real person would be quite happy to provide you with an authentic email, you'd probably be able to look them up on a work place website etc, if real and they hadn't stolen someones identity.
The missing reality of a real person and how they'd probably exist somewhere like facebook or work etc, doesn't exist, they'll be buying remotely, someone will collect the car etc etc.
Smellier than a sewer rat.
reads that way but then what is the 'right' way to make an approach from a foreign country?
pertinent as i have seen a bike in SA i really want, but given i'm overseas and would use a friend of a friend for collection and payment, i'm aware of how it comes across to the seller as scammy AF
pertinent as i have seen a bike in SA i really want, but given i'm overseas and would use a friend of a friend for collection and payment, i'm aware of how it comes across to the seller as scammy AF
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