Joel Hendon

Considering Buying An Automobile Online? FBI Issues Warning


Posted: Tuesday, August 16, 2011

by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html

You are free to purchase a car online if you have a confirmed good deal and are confident of the company’s or individual’s honesty, but be careful and take the precautions issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Yesterday, August 15, 2011, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued an alert concerning a certain type of scam being used in fraudulently taking funds from unsuspecting buyers. They tell us that there are variations in the method used but they give an example showing essentially how they pull it off.

The ad with the car is normally run on a legitimate auto sales website, the ad purchased by the scammer is usually an extraordinarily good buy for the make and model car pictured. And when the prospective consumer contacts the seller by email, they receive a reply also by email with a sob story as to their financial problems causing them to have to sell the vehicle for less than it’s real value. Following is a quote which explains the plot offered by the seller:

“In the e-mail, the seller asks the buyer to move the transaction to the website of another online company….for security reasons….and then offers a buyer protection plan in the name of a major Internet company (e.g., eBay). Through the new website, the buyer receives an invoice and is instructed to wire the funds for the vehicle to an account somewhere. In a new twist, sometimes the criminals pose as company representatives in a live chat to answer questions from buyers.” (FBI Scam Alert: August 15, 2011)

Once the buyer wires the funds to the seller, the seller may ask him to submit another receipt to acknowledge the transaction has been made and then discuss the time and place for delivery of the vehicle.

But by the time of the scheduled vehicle delivery, the scammer has the funds and has disappeared.

You may think this is a rare occurrence, however, the FBI’s IC3 reports they received almost 14,000 such complaints from 2008 through 2010 and the lost money from these victims amounted to nearly $44.5 million dollars. So beware. Here is a list of warning signs to watch for if you are planning for buy an auto online.

¦Cars are advertised at too-good-to-be true prices;

¦Sellers want to move transactions from the original website to another site;

¦Sellers claim that a buyer protection program offered by a major Internet company covers an auto transaction conducted outside that company’s website;

¦Sellers refuse to meet in person or allow potential buyers to inspect the car ahead of time;

¦Sellers who say they want to sell the car because they’re in the U.S. military about to be deployed, are moving, the car belonged to someone who recently died, or a similar story;

¦Sellers who ask for funds to be wired ahead of time. (ibid)

These warnings are good advice. No seller should refuse to meet the buyer for any reason before the deal is closed.
Author Biography: Joel Hendon was born near Gadsden Alabama. He attended public schools in Cherokee County, Alabama and after serving a tour of duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, attended Jacksonville State University, majoring in Business Administration. He became a Christian in 1948, and although he followed secular work as a career and retired from Allied Signal Aerospace, he is an avid student of the Holy Bible and related works as well as biblical history. He has an extensive website of conservative religious and political articles.http://hebronics.org/index.html

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