Safety Tips, Recognizing and Avoiding Fraud

You may have heard horror stories about someone getting mugged by person they met in an online forum, chatroom, or classified ad site. You might even know someone who got scammed into wiring money to someone they met on the Internet. It is an unfortunate truth, scammers and fraudsters are everywhere: not just online.

PreOwnedCar.com is no exception. We provide a free service to help owners sell their cars direct to other owners. But we really can't help it if there unscrupulous people out there who will try to use our site for scams and fraud. The least we can do is provide you with some tips to help you recognize fraud and avoid getting scammed.

Use Common Sense

Remember when your Granny used to say, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."? Scammers entice their victims with weasel words, sugar-coating every detail to make it more appealing. Don't fall for that "sweet deal" straight away! Take a moment to relax and have a closer look at what's on offer. Here are a few things that you should do:

Try to find a seller near your area.

Check the address, although we only require State and ZIP code, it is enough to narrow down to a specific, albeit large, area. It also makes sense to find an ad from someone nearby because you can personally go there to see what's on offer.

Contact the seller first.

Although we do not require phone numbers for ads, most sellers provide them. Call them ask for their address and try to confirm that the offer they posted is still valid.

Ask for the VIN and check the vehicle's history.

If the seller did not provide the VIN, ask for it when you call them. If they do not want to give it to you do not bother! This is one of the first indications that the ad you have seen is a scam.

If they do provide you with the VIN, you can use it to check for the vehicle's history. More importantly, you can use it to check if it was reported stolen! NICB has a VINCheck service that provides you with a good start. There are other sites that offer a similar service, but they do it for a fee.

Schedule a personal meeting.

Now, you've found the ad, verified the seller's address, checked the VIN and everything looks good. Time to schedule a meeting. A serious seller or buyer will want to meet with you personally. If for some reason (other than the fact that the item was already sold) the buyer or seller refuses to meet with you, step away from the deal! This is another sign that someone is just trying to scam you.

Buyers and Sellers: Meet at a public place during daytime

Never, ever arrange for a meeting at night! Always meet with them at a public place. Regardless of their reasons, try to arrange a meeting in a public place. If possible try to do it on the weekend.

Buyers and Sellers: Take someone with you when you meet.

Buyers, try to bring a mechanic if possible. Or at least try to bring someone with mechanical know-how. Sellers, never meet with buyers alone. Inform your friends or family that you are meeting with someone.

Buyers: Inspect the vehicle thoroughly.

Make sure that you inspect the vehicle for any signs of physical or mechanical damage. If possible, ask to do a test drive with the owner.

Sellers: Never let the buyer test drive your vehicle alone!

This is just common sense, if the buyer asks for a test drive do it with them. There is no guarantee that your "buyer" will not drive away with your vehicle if you let them drive it alone.

Buyers and Sellers: Be wary of using an escrow service for payment.

It is unfortunate for the legitimate escrow service providers, but there are plenty of "dummy" escrows set up by scammers out there. If you must use one, use a service provider that has a nationwide operation or one that has a solid reputation in your area.

Buyers and Sellers: Never give out financial information!

Never, ever give out your personal and financial information. This includes your SSN, bank account numbers, EBay or PayPal info, credit card details.

Sellers: Be wary of accepting checks or money orders for payment.

Fake checks and money orders are a scammer's favorite. More often than not, fraud is committed using fake checks and money orders. Although there are laws in place to deal with check fraud, they do not necessarily prevent them from happening. It is a sad fact to deal with, but if a bank cashes your check and it turns out to be fake the bank will hold you responsible.

Our advice: take cash if possible or have them wire money into your account.

Buyers: Do not pay the seller in full until ownership has been transferred to you.

This is a common scam. Scammers posing as sellers will ask for a down payment while they promise to do the paperwork for you. When they get your money, they are gone. This is why it is very important to verify the VIN before dealing with a seller.

This is just a partial list of things to look out for. It is by no means complete. Scammers come up with new schemes all the time. Again, we cannot stress it so much: Use common sense!

Who do you call in case someone is trying to scam you or if you've been scammed?

If you've found an ad on our site that you think is a scam attempt, please email us at abuse@preownedcar.com. Make sure you include the full URL for the ad that you wish to report.

If you suspect that someone is trying to scam you through email from our site, forward the entire email to our abuse address.

If you have already fallen victim to a scam from this site, you can alert the authorities in addition to informing us through our abuse address:

  • FTC toll free hotline: 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357)
  • FTC online complaint form (www.ftc.gov)
  • Internet Fraud Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov)
  • Non-emergency number for your local police department.

When reporting abuse, please try to provide as much information as you can on the incident. We will do everything within our means to assist you and the authorities.

Example Email

This is an example email reported to us by one of our users. Note that we have removed the email addresses involved. We have also removed the name of the fraudulent "shipping" company used in this attempt.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Message From S via PreOwnedCar.com
From: email_address_hidden
Date: Wed, December 05, 2007 4:36 pm
To: email_address_hidden

HI,
 
Yes, the price is right.
 
The delivery will be done via FRAUDULENT Shipping Service and it will
take no more than (5-6 days). To see more details about this shipping
service please visit <fraudulent website address removed>. I
have a friend at FRAUDULENT who will manage me a low price shipping
and I assumed that it is from me to pay for shipping it. The bike will
be delivered directly to your address.
 
I will now try to explain to you as clear as I can the entire process.
 
You will make the payment and you will give the details to FRAUDULENT
Shipping Service. You only need to notify the FRAUDULENT that the
payment has been done. FRAUDULENT will verify if the payment is done
in a secure and correct way.
 
After 5-6 days, when you'll receive the bike, you will have 7 days
inspection period before FRAUDULENT will release the funds to me. They
will keep the funds til you check that the bike is exactly like I told
you it'd be.
 
Only after that moment, if you're satisfied, you'll contact FRAUDULENT
and they will forward me the cash.

I hope I made it clear!

Please let me know if you're interested, so that we can move forward
with this deal!
 
If you accept e-mail me back with your full details (full name, full
shipping address, phone number) so I can make all the shipping
arrangements. The bike will be shipped as soon as possible and I will
e-mail you back with the Traking#.
 
Thank you!

This is an example of a escrow scam. In this scam, the "seller" tries to sell you an item but offers you a "secure" and "guaranteed" way to pay for the item. Typically, this involves a fake website for a fake "shipping" or "escrow" company. When you check the website, it looks legit. They may even provide you with a "secure" connection to the site (your browser's "lock" icon indicates HTTPS is being used) to make it look more convincing.

Also note that the fraudster says "bike" when the item in question was a vehicle. This is typical of "template" scams where the fraudster simply uses search and replace to create their scam email.

This scam can also be used the other way, someone posing as a legitimate buyer will offer you a "guaranteed" or "certified" method of payment.

Unless you are absolutely, 100% certain that the escrow service is legit, DO NOT FALL FOR IT! It is best if you avoid any sort of payment scheme that involves a third-party. There are better ways of "guaranteed" payment, ways that are easy to verify for legitimacy.

This is just one of the many scams being used out there. We will continue to update this page if we receive other interesting fraud attempts.

We cannot stress it enough: BE CAREFUL!

Updated: 5 Feb 2008