URGENT- Used Car Sale - is it a scam?

[roufma]

Hi All, 

Look forward to some tip from the experienced buddies: am I heading for a scam here??

 

For buying a used car I have been looking into different car portals recently. I found in one of the portal, that someone wanted to sell a 2012 Nissan Tida with 50,000 miles in odometer.  The asking price is only 90,000 THB. Assuming it might be a mistake, I just sent out a quick note (through email) about the availability of the car including if the mentioned price is okay. After 4/5 days, I recieved a mail from a person (named as foreigner) sending me all the details of the car along with a dozen photograph. She confirmed, that she is the first owner, tax/insurance everything is updated till July 17. In her words:

 

I just read your mail regarding the sale of my car Nissan Tiida Hatchback 5door 1.6G AT. I confirm that it is still available to 90000 baht  last price. the vehicle has no mechanical or electronic problem and all its papers are in order. It is not rugged and or stolen, the vehicle is well maintained, its interior is also clean, and it presents the features and photos below:

 (Characteristic of the car)
Nissan Tiida
model G
year 2012
the size of the engine 1598 cc
transmission automatic Transmission
white color
2012 Nissan Tiida Hatchback 1.6 G
55000kms

 The Interior is as clean as the exterior. All filters have been changed during the last drain. There are no bumps or scratches on the body. The wheel is no defects. The seats and the interior plastics are in perfect condition. The tires are recent. The discs and brake pads are new. It is a very urgent sale because I come to take service in the barracks of  Paris in France the car is still my home at Burirum .

 

Before moving, I have entrusted my car to a colleague in Muang Buri Ram that the proxy from the sale and you will meet him to finalize the sale. I don't sell it for money because it's worth more than that. My
colleague will come to you in order to deliver the vehicle with all its papers in orders:

Blue book
 Horse power
Insurance
Certificate of fitness
And a copy of my identity card.
Regarding the deed of sale I had already pre-established and signed the seller part so you will fulfill only the buyer part with my colleague.

 

I felt like this is too good to be true: so I asked her, one of my Thai friend, who happens to work for Police department will check the car and its technical condition. I also explicitly mentioned, I will only pay after DLT certifies and ownership is transferred. However, she agreed to all these conditions and asking me, when might she send the car to get it checked. 

 

I'm still not feeling very comfortable; and smelling a bit fishy. Can anyone pls shed some light on probable scamming scheme? Some tips to avoid becoming a fool would also be highly appreciated. Thanks.  

 

  

[jay1980]

A Thai friend recently asked me a simular question, she replied to an ad for a very cheap honda CRV, this was the e-mail reply

 

HELLO

I just read your mail regarding the sale of my car honda CRV . I

confirm that it is still available to 130000 bath last price. The

vehicle has no mechanical or electronic problem and all its papers are

in order. It is not rugged and or stolen, the vehicle is well

maintained, its interior is also clean, and it presents the features

and photos below:

(Characteristic of the car)

Make: HONDA

Model: CRV

Year: 2008

Kms - mileage: 85000 

Transmission: automatic

-Double Airbags

The Interior is as clean as the exterior. All filters have been

changed during the last drain. There are no bumps or scratches on the

body. The wheel is no defects. The seats and the interior plastics are

in perfect condition. The tires are recent I'm Doc i worked in Thaïlande

for 2 years  and i'm assigned now to another country  Currently I am

abroad  . I'm here in FRANCE  where i have to do 3 years for work in

medecine before come back to Pattaya

 the car is still my home at Pattaya

Before moving, I have entrusted my car to a colleague IN Pattaya

that the proxy from the sale and you will meet him to finalize the

sale. I don't sell it for money because it's worth more than that. My

colleague will come to you in order to deliver the vehicle with all

its papers in orders And a copy of my identity card.

Regarding the deed of sale I had already pre-established and signed

the seller part so you will fulfill only the buyer part with my

colleague.

If you still interested, leave me your contact information as follows.

I will convey my colleague who will contact you to finalize the sale

NAME .............................

FIRSTNAME .......................

PHONE NUMBERS...

DELIVERY ADDRESS OR APPOINTMENT..OR   .public location near you...........

 

Waiting for your coordinate if you are a serious buyer

 

reads like a simular reply, I would bet money 100% scam, no phone number or way to see the car, and also the car priced way below what a car tent would pay the 'seller' for the car.

[roufma]

Thanks Jay..

Your reply just confirms my suspicion. . Much appreciated. .

[taichiplanet]

certainly a scam. One thing that confused me for a while (i am a bit slow sometimes!)  was some cars had a very cheap price but finally worked out that those cars still had loans to be paid out so the price quoted was for taking over the loan.

[gdgbb]

Offering it for B90,000 may be the only way to sell a Nissan Tiida!

 

Seriously, any car being sold at 70% (give or take a few points) below market value has to be viewed very suspiciously, particularly a car that is, apparently, in such perfect condition.  It can't be under a finance agreement if the original blue book really is available for examination.

 

No seller will willingly agree to deliver a car to another province just to be viewed, at that asking price, why would they?  It the sale is legitimate, as the previous poster mentioned, any local tent would give the asking price, probably even unseen. 

 

If you agree to have the car delivered for an appraisal by "the seller's proxy" you will probably get a phone call shortly before it is due to appear with the proxy giving you a story about a delivery problem that has arisen that can be overcome with a small payment.   The idea is that you are so keen to secure such a bargain that you will risk paying but, of course, you will then never see the car, hear from the proxy again or see your money again.

 

Try asking the seller which part of Nigeria he is from.

[beleebala]

I inquired about another car, the reply was exactly the same as yours! This guys own many cars. LOL.

[electric]

Op .... just for curiosity, reply to the seller that ...

 

"wow ... what a beaut co-incidence. Your Nissan and proxy guy are apparently in Mueang Buriram. How lucky is that ? I'm in Mueang Buriram also. What address is he, and what is his phone number, so I can arrange to view the car today and meet him ?"

 

Good luck getting anything that resembles a sensible legit reply.

[akirasan]

yep got the same reply about two cars in Issan.  And then when I told him I'd go to the car to check it out he got really angry and said I can only deal with him.  For sure it's a scam.  

The guy was also from France, he mentioned something about being in the army 

[sitesurf]

I recently replied to the same ad, which is still advertised today  - I received the exact same initial reply as stated in the post by "roufma" -  out of curiosity I got as far as arranging to meet and I received these instructions re meet and payment...I didn't take it any further........

 

"HE DELIVERY IS CONFIRMED FOR TOMORROW EVENING AT 02PM  TO THE ADDRESS OF THE APPOINTMENT.

 

BUT YOU MUST KNOW THAT HE DOES NOT WISH TO RECEIVE THE MONEY IN CASH BECAUSE IT IS NOT SAFE FOR HIM. THIS IS WHY I SUGGEST YOU THIS :

 

BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF MY COLLEAGUE, YOU WOULD PREPARE A CHEQUE OF 90.000BAHT , IT IS MEAN THAT YOU WILL GO TO A BANK OR WESTERN UNION LOCATION  TO MAKE A WESTERN UNION OF 90.000BAHT AND AFTER THAT YOU WILL KEEP JEALOUSLY THE RECEIPT THAT THE BANK WILL GIVE TO YOU .

 

ONCE YOU HAVE THE RECEIPT, THERE WILL BE A SECRET INFORMATION WHICH IS THE MONEY TRANSFER CONTROL NUMBER (REFERENCE NUMBER ). THIS IS YOUR SAFETY AND WARRANTY AND THAT IS TO BE CONSIDERED AS THE LIQUIDITY OF THE MONEY.

 

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT UNTIL YOU HAVE THE INFORMATION (REFERENCE NUMBER ), NOBODY CAN TOUCH YOUR MONEY. EXCEPT YOU COMMUNICATE IT TO THE BENEFICIARY, SO WITHOUT GIVING IT TO ME BEFORE I CAN NOT RECEIVE THE MONEY. YOU WILL GIVE THE INFORMATION (REFERENCE NUMBER ) ONLY WHEN THE CAR WILL BE AT YOUR DOOR TOMORROW EVENING. THEN IF EVERYTHING IS OK , YOU WILL CONTACT ME IN ORDER TO GIVE ME HE INFORMATION

(REFERENCE NUMBER ) SO THAT I CAN WITHDRAW THE MONEY.

 

YOU KEEP YOUR RECEIPT WITH THE SECRET INFORMATION (REFERENCE NUMBER ) WITH YOU AND WHEN MY COLLEAGUE WILL COME WITH THE CAR TOMORROW EVENING AT 02PM ,WHEN HE ARRIVED,YOU WILL MAKE THE TEST-DRIVE OF THE CAR DURING 1 HOUR AND TAKE A TIME TO CONTROL ALL ITS DOCUMENTS. BUT IF THE CAR IS NOT SUCH AS YOU WANT,YOU CAN RETURN TO THE BANK AND WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY  WITHOUT FEAR BECAUSE YOU ALONE KEPT ALL THE INFORMATIONS (REFERENCE  NUMBER) ABOUT YOUR MONEY.

 

IF YOU AGREE WITH THIS CONDITION LET ME KNOW AND I WILL GIVE YOU MY ADDRESS IN ORDER TO PREPARE YOUR RECEIPT AT THE BANK OR WESTERN UNION LOCATION TOMORROW MORNING, THIS WILL BE FOR ME THE CONFIRMATION THAT YOU HAVE REALLY THE FUNDS (MONEY) AND YOU ARE ALSO A SERIOUS BUYER.

 

NB : YOU ARE FREE TO REFUSE TO PURCHASE IF AT THE DELIVERY OF THE CAR YOU  DISCOVER ANY FAILURE. YOU CAN MAKE SURE THE CAR IS CONTROLED BY YOUR MECHANIC BEFORE BUYING, ALL THIS FOR YOUR SATISFATCION

I CAN BE REACHED ME AT + 33 7 56 94 71 31 or +1 702 512 5060.

SEE THE WHEBSITE:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/Pages/WU.aspx"

[lemonjelly]

The same scammer was trying to sell various motorbikes (2 Suzuki Boulevards) on Craigslist with the same story....... someone needs to organize a sting and catch the tosser.

[jumbo]

I posted two bikes for sale not long ago and someone replied

All was good, I just needed to pay for the transport

I said, sure, I will do that

Payment of transport had to be done beforehand into their account

I told them I needed a passport to change ownership in the green book

Never heard from them again...

 

Nigerian scam

[hkt83100]

6 hours ago, sitesurf said:

HE DELIVERY IS CONFIRMED FOR TOMORROW EVENING AT 02PM  TO THE ADDRESS OF THE APPOINTMENT.

 

BUT YOU MUST KNOW THAT...

100% Spam, because nobody with a reasonable mind would use CAPS ONLY.

[Woldenersen]

Nice trick,

 

So thats why he ask the buyers name, to get the cash from western union..

 

I think that he have some friend who work in a bank, he basicly only need senders name and recivers name to find out the MCTN.

 

I bet that he never show up because the seller confirmed the transfer he will grab the money!

[janclaes47]

I can't understand why you all think it's full of scammers out there, do you actually trust your mother?

 

I just sold my house the other week, to a very nice doctor, just waiting for the money to arrive.

 

 

Hello,

Thanks for your responds, I want to assure you that I am going to pay for your property for your price but I have a business proposal on how I'm going to pay you.  

My name is Dr Bryan Parker, I am American citizen serving in Syria. I am a Doctor working  with Doctors without Borders  which is controlled by the British Military on one year humanitarian program in secret hospitals in Syria .www.doctorswithoutborders.org . I contacted you primarily in confidence hoping that you can be a trustworthy person and would also be helpful in this urgent  matter like this. I will be coming to your country in two months time to stay as soon as my contract here is over. I will need the property for myself when I come and that is why I contacted you.  

On the other hand I want to inform you that I have in my possession the sum of $4.2 million US Dollars which was recovered from one of our raids on terrorists here in Syria.   As a military doctor I am, normally we accompany soldiers to war in case of any casualty so it happened that we went for a raid against the Al-qaeda terror group with the soldiers in my unit and we found money and ammunition's in their hideout  because they keep most of their money at home which they use for their evil activities which they normally get through illegal deals on crude oil. We submitted the ammunition's and some money to the government so our team and commander decided to share some of the money within ourselves for the suffering and stress we are undergoing here which we did and I got a share of $4.2 million United States dollars which I packaged in a box. Based on the suffering we undergo here some of us do meet such luck so I see that as my share for my stress here in this evil land filled with suicide bombers.

Right now, everyone of us is moving out his share out of Syria and I have decided to move my share through the United Kingdom Red cross that brought relief material from donors in Europe, but from here the jet will fly to Dubai to get some reliefs from donors there. I contacted a Red Cross woman agent I know among them who is a diplomat to help me move my box into Dubai as a diplomatic cargo and she accepted. I told her the box contains important document and family values, so she does not know the real content of the box is money but she will secured it as a diplomatic cargo in a way that no body will have the sole right to open it except the beneficiary. When the cargo arrives Dubai a diplomat there will be the one in charge to deliver the cargo to you in your country using his immunity as I discussed with her. The airplane that would be used from here is the Red Cross jet which equally has immunity,also diplomats have immunity that covers them again any check.

I cannot move this money to the United states because i will be in your country for about four years, so I need someone I could deal with. If you accept I will make you the beneficiary of the cargo and transfer it to Dubai through that Red cross jet.

Please if you are interested in this transaction i will give to you the complete details you need for us to carry out this transaction successfully. I decided to find someone that is real and not imaginary and that is why i went to this secured website where I can be sure that you are a real person. I believe i can trust you. where I am now i can only communicate through our military communication facilities which is secured so nobody can monitor our discussions. Be rest assured that our deal is safe 100% risk free for you until you receive the cargo from a diplomat.

If you are interested please reply me immediately so that I can explain to you more details on how we are going to carry out the deal successfully. I will give to you 20% of the total  sum if you help me after I have paid for your property, then you keep my own share which I want to use for investment and charity purpose when I come over soon. I hope am being fair on this deal.

I wait for your urgent response.

Bryan Parker

[KhaoYai]

These scams have been going on for years both in Thailand and other countries - Ebay in the UK is full of them.  Most of the ones I've seen in Thailand are advertised on Craigslist.  They usually 'lift' the car's photos and description from a previous genuine advert.  Most of the scammers are pretty stupid, a couple of years back I was looking at an ad and I'm thinking, those houses in the photo look like UK houses - then I spotted a UK tax disc in the car's windscreen ?. In another photo/ad I also saw a car in the distance with UK number plates on it.  I'm guessing they use genuine UK adverts to lift details from as both the UK and Thailand use right had drive cars.

 

They usually follow the same format, the cars are way below market value and advertised on a free to advertise site, there is no telephone number and when you enquire via email you get a reply that states the owner has left the country and left the car with a friend + variations along the same theme.

 

Some of them are getting smarter though - my daughter saw a VW Tiguan she was interested in on Ebay (UK) last year and asked me to take a look.  The cheap price had my suspicions going as did the fact that the seller had only just become an Ebay member. However, on this occasion there was a telephone number which corresponded to the area code where the vehicle was advertised and its not free to advertise cars on Ebay.  Nevertheless, whatever the case I would not be letting my daughter part with a single penny until she actually saw the car and checked it out.  I called the number in the ad from my mobile and got an answerphone.  I didn't leave a message.  Two days later I got a text message to my mobile saying 'Hi, thank you for showing interest in my car, yes it is still for sale............bla bla bla'. They clearly have pre prepared messages set up and don't know how to deal with someone who hasn't actually made an enquiry.

 

Well just 2 things there, firstly I didn't ask about the car, in fact I didn't say anything.  It was a landline number and I'd said nothing so how did they know I was enquiring about the car?  The number had clearly been set up purely for the purposes of the scam.  Secondly, when I tried to call the mobile the text message came from I got a message saying that number had not been issued.  A little digging revealed that there are companies out there that will 'mask' your phone number making it impossible to contact - they can even make it appear that messages have come from a chosen number......new one on me.

 

Whatever, all these scams have on thing in common - they want you to part with some cash before you've laid eyes on the vehicle.  If you're daft enough to do that, perhaps you deserve to be scammed - if only to teach you a lesson. 

 

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

[rhodie]

Scam still alive. I wonder if they catch anyone?

 

Hello,

I just read your mail regarding the sale of my car HONDA Civic 1.8 FB E. I confirm that it is still available to 120.000 baht  last price. the vehicle has no mechanical or electronic problem and all its papers are in order. It is not rugged and or stolen, the vehicle is well maintained, its interior is also clean, and it presents the features and photos below:

 (Characteristic of the car)
Honda 

Model : Civic E 2014
Engine: 1799cc
Automatic transmission
Color: white

 The Interior is as clean as the exterior. All filters have been changed during the last drain. There are no bumps or scratches on the body. The wheel is no defects. The seats and the interior plastics are in perfect condition. The tires are recent. The discs and brake pads are new. It is a very urgent sale because I come to take service in the barracks of  Paris in France the car is still my home at Phuket.

 Before moving, I have entrusted my car to a colleague IN Muang Buri Ram
that the proxy from the sale and you will meet him to finalize the
sale. I don't sell it for money because it's worth more than that. My
colleague will come to you in order to deliver the vehicle with all
its papers in orders:

Blue book
 Horse power
Insurance
Certificate of fitness
And a copy of my identity card.
Regarding the deed of sale I had already pre-established and signed
the seller part so you will fulfill only the buyer part with my
colleague.

 If you still interested, leave me your contact information as follows.
I will convey my colleague who will contact you to finalize the sale
NAME .............................
FIRSTNAME .......................
PHONE NUMBERS...
DELIVERY ADDRESS OR APPOINTMENT..OR   .public location near you...........

Waiting for your coordinate if you are a serious buyer.

 

[Dario]

Luckily I checked on TVF, one of the group (or is it one single person) advertised on Craigslist BKK a MB320 2002 model for 120'000 Baht only. Also at Muang Buriram. The advertiser wrote that his car is at his home in Buriram, but all the pictures he sent were taken at a car dealer's tent! Same email upset, exactly the same, only different car and he went to Lome in Togo to work for the United Nations...

Buriram is only 115 km away from my home, we go there every SAT and SUN early morning for my daughter's tennis lessons.

[steevjee]

Well well well, this snake still wriggles and is still in Togo, a Honda CRV 2011 for 138k in pristine condition is what hes trying to con innocent ppl with this time. I would happily donate $100 to hire a bounty hunter that could render him/her unable to speak or type ever again.

BE ALERT is the message, if it sounds too good to be true then it's a con 99.9% of the time