SCAM WARNING! Urgent ! PLEASE READ
Discussion
Blown head gasket scam warning. PLEASE spread the word to stop these criminals.
There have been other threads about this but I make no apologies for repeating it. Anybody selling their car can easily be scammed without even realising it, so please spread the warning as widely as possible, preferably via social media. It has happened to me TWICE, and it was only when I almost fell for it a second time that I realised I had been scammed 8 months previously!
The scam works like this. Somebody calls you in response to your advert, very keen to view and buy the car. He turns up with at least one other person and they look around the car, especially under the bonnet. The accomplice distracts the seller by asking to look in the boot or something similar, and meanwhile the other person pours some used engine oil into the cooling system reservoir and possibly over parts of the engine. They might even squirt some oil into the exhaust pipe or disconnect a sensor to make the engine run badly. After a test drive they open the bonnet again and point out the oil all over the engine, then remove the cap from the cooling system to reveal the oil in the water (usually accompanied by well-rehearsed cries of "Oh my God"). If they squirted oil into the exhaust then it is probably emitting clouds of smoke by now, which makes it even easier to convince the seller that the engine has a very serious and expensive problem. They then offer to buy the car for around a third of its value.
This was exactly what happened to me 8 months ago and I fell for it completely! The car had done around 150k miles and I was easily convinced that the cost of the repair would be more than the value of the car (around £1500). One of the guys told me that he had an identical BMW 320D Touring with body damage and that he wanted to buy mine and put his engine into my car, so I didn't need too much persuasion to accept his offer of £500 cash. I came away thinking that I had got away relatively lightly, and it never occured to me that they had deliberately sabotaged my car in order to buy it so cheaply.
But the same thing happened earlier this week, and this time with an £11,000 BMW 640D. I started to be suspicious when the circumstances were so similar to the previous occasion, but even when they showed me the header tank full of oil after the test drive, I still thought I had another head gasket failure. This time he disconnected a fuel injector plug after the test drive, further convincing me that the rough running was another symptom of a major engine problem. But when they gave me the same story about wanting to buy my car to repair their damaged 640D, I became increasingly suspicious. But I still didn't realise that they had deliberately sabotaged my car. They spent a further 45 minutes trying to persuade me to accept their offer of £5000 cash, but eventually I managed to get rid of them. And even then it wasn't until I had really thought about it and Googled "head gasket failure scam" that I realised that I had been the victim of a scam 8 months ago.
So if you are selling your car privately, please be careful. NEVER leave anybody alone with the bonnet raised, even for half a minute. If the car seems to develop a problem during the test drive but the person is still keen to buy it, take his details and tell him you will contact him after getting expert advice. And if you receive a call from this number, 07835 927058, please contact me. I'm looking for more evidence in order to persuade the police to take action against this dangerous fraudster.
There have been other threads about this but I make no apologies for repeating it. Anybody selling their car can easily be scammed without even realising it, so please spread the warning as widely as possible, preferably via social media. It has happened to me TWICE, and it was only when I almost fell for it a second time that I realised I had been scammed 8 months previously!
The scam works like this. Somebody calls you in response to your advert, very keen to view and buy the car. He turns up with at least one other person and they look around the car, especially under the bonnet. The accomplice distracts the seller by asking to look in the boot or something similar, and meanwhile the other person pours some used engine oil into the cooling system reservoir and possibly over parts of the engine. They might even squirt some oil into the exhaust pipe or disconnect a sensor to make the engine run badly. After a test drive they open the bonnet again and point out the oil all over the engine, then remove the cap from the cooling system to reveal the oil in the water (usually accompanied by well-rehearsed cries of "Oh my God"). If they squirted oil into the exhaust then it is probably emitting clouds of smoke by now, which makes it even easier to convince the seller that the engine has a very serious and expensive problem. They then offer to buy the car for around a third of its value.
This was exactly what happened to me 8 months ago and I fell for it completely! The car had done around 150k miles and I was easily convinced that the cost of the repair would be more than the value of the car (around £1500). One of the guys told me that he had an identical BMW 320D Touring with body damage and that he wanted to buy mine and put his engine into my car, so I didn't need too much persuasion to accept his offer of £500 cash. I came away thinking that I had got away relatively lightly, and it never occured to me that they had deliberately sabotaged my car in order to buy it so cheaply.
But the same thing happened earlier this week, and this time with an £11,000 BMW 640D. I started to be suspicious when the circumstances were so similar to the previous occasion, but even when they showed me the header tank full of oil after the test drive, I still thought I had another head gasket failure. This time he disconnected a fuel injector plug after the test drive, further convincing me that the rough running was another symptom of a major engine problem. But when they gave me the same story about wanting to buy my car to repair their damaged 640D, I became increasingly suspicious. But I still didn't realise that they had deliberately sabotaged my car. They spent a further 45 minutes trying to persuade me to accept their offer of £5000 cash, but eventually I managed to get rid of them. And even then it wasn't until I had really thought about it and Googled "head gasket failure scam" that I realised that I had been the victim of a scam 8 months ago.
So if you are selling your car privately, please be careful. NEVER leave anybody alone with the bonnet raised, even for half a minute. If the car seems to develop a problem during the test drive but the person is still keen to buy it, take his details and tell him you will contact him after getting expert advice. And if you receive a call from this number, 07835 927058, please contact me. I'm looking for more evidence in order to persuade the police to take action against this dangerous fraudster.
Edited by Emver on Saturday 14th September 21:23
If a car load of Eastern Europeans turn up to inspect your car, then it is 99% sure they are going to try and pull this scam on you.
It's a classic distraction scam, one of them will get you to the back of the car by asking about the boot or spare wheel and another will squirt some used engine oil in the header tank.
Think about it rationally, would a car that has been fine all the time you have owned it suddenly start spewing smoke and have a blown head gasket the second they view it?
It's a classic distraction scam, one of them will get you to the back of the car by asking about the boot or spare wheel and another will squirt some used engine oil in the header tank.
Think about it rationally, would a car that has been fine all the time you have owned it suddenly start spewing smoke and have a blown head gasket the second they view it?
There's a massive thread on this already, been running since 2015: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
darrenplayfoot said:
Hi,
Ive just had the same scam happen to me at the weekend, same phone number 07835927058, I’ve got pictures of these scammers and I’ve reported it to the police, when you look the phone number up online there are several people been caught out by these people.
Darren, please could you get in touch with me by sending me a message on here (I tried to contact you but your profile says you don't accept emails). I'd like to share the information we have about these people before I contact the police.Thanks. Ive just had the same scam happen to me at the weekend, same phone number 07835927058, I’ve got pictures of these scammers and I’ve reported it to the police, when you look the phone number up online there are several people been caught out by these people.
MrBen.911 said:
There's a massive thread on this already, been running since 2015: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I was going to say this is a very old scam.Tye Green said:
so, in this thread we have 2 new members who have both been victims of the same scammers...probably some silly click bait ruse to get folk on here to call the number
The OP's been registered on here for 3 years. I don't think its a bad idea to raise awareness of this old scam every now and then. My lads selling his car I'll point him towards the other thread.
I have a feeling I might have been had with something similar a couple years back, except it was a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee I was selling that suddenly sprung a major transmission leak when two guys came to look at it.
I took a few hundred less for it but it was a pretty undesirable car anyway so not much harm done, even if they did squirt some oil under there.
I took a few hundred less for it but it was a pretty undesirable car anyway so not much harm done, even if they did squirt some oil under there.
This happened to me 2 weeks ago, I thought I was pretty on the ball .
Three dodgy East European guys arrived on foot and proceeded to look at the car externally as I was coming out of the house to meet them. All very friendly but like rats all over the car . Quite difficult to keep an eye on them. They asked to see the V5 so I locked the car and went back into the house to get it . A quick glance and “ok we go on test drive “
I drove and all went well till we got to some traffic lights and smoke started to appear from the wheel arch. The penny dropped and I told them I knew what was going on and I was returning home.
On arrival I told them to get out of the car and leave , again they were all over the car and got the bonnet open to show me the “damage” I told them to go immediately.
All this was being recorded on my cctv or so I thought.
Decided to call101 and report , police less than interested ‘ not a crime etc’
As it was late I decided to start cleaning in the morning .
Next day several washes later I thought I got rid of the oil/smell and after a few test runs it seem pretty clear.
A few days later a trader called about the car so before agreeing a time I told them what had happened , they were ok about it and arranged to come to view the car . Arrived and looked all around the car the asked me to open the bonnet to look at the expansion tank etc , still some residual oil visible but they were ok about that .
Asked if I had checked the oil filler for mayonnaise type deposits I said no I hadn’t . I took the cap off and there inside was a handful of the pea shingle from my drive !
They were as shocked as me and obviously said sorry not for us and left.
This time I called the police again and got a crime number etc.
I discussed with my local garage who advised me to contact my insurance at once.
Long story cut short car written off as unable to ascertain engine damage if any.
Reviewing cctv shows one of them tilting the camera , I think they put the stones in after I told them to leave.
Police are actively looking as there have been others locally with similar activities.
Car 2015 VW Touareg V6 D
Location Lymington Hampshire
Three dodgy East European guys arrived on foot and proceeded to look at the car externally as I was coming out of the house to meet them. All very friendly but like rats all over the car . Quite difficult to keep an eye on them. They asked to see the V5 so I locked the car and went back into the house to get it . A quick glance and “ok we go on test drive “
I drove and all went well till we got to some traffic lights and smoke started to appear from the wheel arch. The penny dropped and I told them I knew what was going on and I was returning home.
On arrival I told them to get out of the car and leave , again they were all over the car and got the bonnet open to show me the “damage” I told them to go immediately.
All this was being recorded on my cctv or so I thought.
Decided to call101 and report , police less than interested ‘ not a crime etc’
As it was late I decided to start cleaning in the morning .
Next day several washes later I thought I got rid of the oil/smell and after a few test runs it seem pretty clear.
A few days later a trader called about the car so before agreeing a time I told them what had happened , they were ok about it and arranged to come to view the car . Arrived and looked all around the car the asked me to open the bonnet to look at the expansion tank etc , still some residual oil visible but they were ok about that .
Asked if I had checked the oil filler for mayonnaise type deposits I said no I hadn’t . I took the cap off and there inside was a handful of the pea shingle from my drive !
They were as shocked as me and obviously said sorry not for us and left.
This time I called the police again and got a crime number etc.
I discussed with my local garage who advised me to contact my insurance at once.
Long story cut short car written off as unable to ascertain engine damage if any.
Reviewing cctv shows one of them tilting the camera , I think they put the stones in after I told them to leave.
Police are actively looking as there have been others locally with similar activities.
Car 2015 VW Touareg V6 D
Location Lymington Hampshire
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