Campervan sales scam

[mumzilla]

This is a warning of a scam that my friend has fallenfor loosing £3200. She was looking to buy a campervan and nievely thought she had found an absolute bargain. She was very excited and sent me the details- but knowing a little bit about camper vans I knew this was indeed too good to be true, a little digging in the Internet quickly brought up a stream of people who have also fallen for this sophisticated scam- which involves fake ebay and pay pal pages and accounts. The email the seller used was [email protected] and the money she lost was transferred to a Barclays account. My friend immediately contacted her bank once I told her that this was a scam- they said all they could do was contact Barclays- to try and recover the payment. At the moment Barclays have responded by saying they have frozen the account that her money had been paid into- as it contains a very large amount of money. I thought I would post this as there will be a few of us looking to buy caravans/ campervans and it seems that this scam is prevalent in the market. Please beware and if it looks too good to be true don't get carried away. This thread goes from 2012 upto today, and explains how this scam operates

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?37879-Ebay-amp-Gumtree-Vehicle-Car-Scams

[eFestivals]

if it looks too good to be true, it is.

 

[mumzilla]

She is devastated and wonders how she fell for it- but in the excitement of thinking she'd got a bargain decided to go for it. I hope the bank recovers her money- but this sadly looks very unlikely.

[russycarps]

so they paid thousands for a camper van without ever seeing it "in the flesh"?

amazing.

 

[mumzilla]

Yes she did- she knows that she has been a fool! But it appears she is not alone in this. Just thought I would share this as I was shocked at how this works- and wouldn't want others to fall for it. 

[russycarps]

Yes she did- she knows that she has been a fool! But it appears she is not alone in this. Just thought I would share this as I was shocked at how this works- and wouldn't want others to fall for it. 

 

Thanks for sharing, hopefully she gets her cash back, these people are scum.

I guess she now realises why greed is one of the seven deadly sins. Did you know that when she goes to hell she'll reside in the 4th circle, and will have to spend eternity jousting other greedy people with huge sacks of money?

Edited October 30, 2015 by russycarps

[mumzilla]

This is her only money so she won't be jousting for too long!

[ClementsMike]

In the VW Camper world there are constant scam adverts being highlighted. Any vans that are cheap will usually be being sold on behalf of the owner who is in the Forces, or working offshore or is travelling .... at that point potential buyers should be walking away. No campervan is a cheap purchase and buyers should undertake due diligence when buying. Hope your friend gets sorted out though.

[russycarps]

to give people an idea, what sort of price should someone be expecting to pay for an average-condition camper van?

 

[whisty]

to give people an idea, what sort of price should someone be expecting to pay for an average-condition camper van?

 

You can't work off of info like that. You have to price compare against condition etc. Anything offered should be viewed prior to purchase and documents/address checked against ID (passport/DL) of the owner. I've spooted quite a few fakes over the years on ebay and associated vehicle seller sites. They're not too hard to figure out if you price compare and usually there's some kind of It's not mine or I live abroad aspect.  The adage "It's too good to be true" holds quite well in spotting these fakers.

 

[whisty]

One other thing to note. A senior Police officer was on the radio. He got caught out on something he should have known better about (a phone call from his bank)! He transferred quite a lot of money. Thought about it, got worried, phoned his bank to get the payment stopped but had already gone through. On asking how long the process would take to contact the receiving bank was told "could be a couple of hours". He phoned the receiving bank himself and got the account frozen. If you delay that process, chances are your money will be gone. So, phone the other bank yourself, PDQ. 

[eFestivals]

One other thing to note. A senior Police officer was on the radio. He got caught out on something he should have known better about (a phone call from his bank)! He transferred quite a lot of money. Thought about it, got worried, phoned his bank to get the payment stopped but had already gone through. On asking how long the process would take to contact the receiving bank was told "could be a couple of hours". He phoned the receiving bank himself and got the account frozen. If you delay that process, chances are your money will be gone. So, phone the other bank yourself, PDQ. 

a nice story, but if it really happened it only happened cos he used his copper credentials.

There's absolutely no way you could phone up a bank and get an account nothing to do with you frozen.

 

[ivan]

if it looks too good to be true, it is.

 

Some are crafty and do not make them too cheap.  You have to use due diligence at all times.  We had a client came to our office years back after buying a van.  He gave us the log book so we could get the details off it.  The log book did not seem right so we passed it round the office for opinions.  The consensus was that the log book was a fake - when we delicately mentioned it to the client he replied " I thought it did not seem right but the seller assured me it was "  - A few weeks later the Police took the van off him when he had sent the docs to DVLA as it had been nicked a few months back and he lost thousands.  

[ivan]

It can work in reverse tho !

Someone I knew always bought and sold his superbikes privately to cut out the dealer and maximise his profit etc.

He bought a Yamaha R1 but for some reason was never 100 % it was legit.  So he bit the bullet and part exed it a main dealer and thought he would sleep better.  For three years he would get calls and letters from the dealer and then their solicitor saying he had provided a stolen bike and they wanted £4k as the bike was worthless.  They could never prove he knew it was nicked and his argument was the dealer could do far more checks than him so if they had been fooled so had he !

 

[acidstorm523]

If you search Facebook for "Buster Jack" he specialises in exposing van scams..you will find tips for safe buying there too.

[acidstorm523]

https://m.facebook.com/phoneacquire/?source=m_mobile_mirror_interstitial&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F&_rdr#~!/oneeyed.jack.1291/

 

i drive a T5 and they are absolutely terrible for scam adverts

[whisty]

a nice story, but if it really happened it only happened cos he used his copper credentials.

There's absolutely no way you could phone up a bank and get an account nothing to do with you frozen.

 

If you mention Money Laundering together with the word fraud the'll be all over it like a rash.

[acidstorm523]

This is a warning of a scam that my friend has fallenfor loosing £3200. She was looking to buy a campervan and nievely thought she had found an absolute bargain. She was very excited and sent me the details- but knowing a little bit about camper vans I knew this was indeed too good to be true, a little digging in the Internet quickly brought up a stream of people who have also fallen for this sophisticated scam- which involves fake ebay and pay pal pages and accounts. The email the seller used was [email protected] and the money she lost was transferred to a Barclays account. My friend immediately contacted her bank once I told her that this was a scam- they said all they could do was contact Barclays- to try and recover the payment. At the moment Barclays have responded by saying they have frozen the account that her money had been paid into- as it contains a very large amount of money. I thought I would post this as there will be a few of us looking to buy caravans/ campervans and it seems that this scam is prevalent in the market. Please beware and if it looks too good to be true don't get carried away. This thread goes from 2012 upto today, and explains how this scam operates

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?37879-Ebay-amp-Gumtree-Vehicle-Car-Scams

here is another of Buster Jack's groups. I notice he also helps people get their money back. Might be worth contacting him...

 

https://m.facebook.com/oneeyed.jack.1291/#~!/groups/842506972473147

 

 

 

[mumzilla]

Thanks for the links I will pass them on.

[Smeble]

to give people an idea, what sort of price should someone be expecting to pay for an average-condition camper van?

 

if it's a VW camper then far too much!