Police are urging people to be on their guard after a man paid for a car and never received the vehicle.
The man from the Colwyn Bay area had seen an advert for a vehicle on the Auto Trader website.
He then contacted the seller who allegedly resides in Spain. The seller suggested that the purchaser should use a website called [email protected]. He paid £7,000 into a Spanish bank account, using an electronic transfer, but the vehicle never arrived, and it turned out to be a bogus website.
Police are issuing the following advice:
Avoid listings that ask for payment before you can see the car. You don’t have to pay to schedule a meeting with the dealer to see the car. Report any seller/ dealer that asks for payment upfront.
Deal only with sellers within your own country. Sellers outside of the country are often scammers. It is more difficult to resolve any issues with foreign sellers. It’s also harder to schedule a time to see the vehicle you want to purchase in person.
Determine if the seller is using a third party to sell their vehicle. Yahoo! Autos never has possession of a vehicle, nor does it have possession of it with any outside agents or dealers as stated by its Terms of Service. If a seller requests any type of transaction dealing with a third party, this is a scam.
Require a picture and, if possible, a face-to-face meeting with the seller. An honest seller will provide as many pictures as you want and will try to schedule a time to meet so you can view the car. Sellers who avoid contact probably have something to hide about the car.
Review the price against the book value. If the car is extremely overpriced or grossly under priced, you might be looking at a scam. Avoid overpriced vehicles. Ask the seller why the vehicle is under priced. The reasons could vary. If the reason doesn’t make sense, the scammer might be trying to get any money he can.
