Overseas car scam.. - Alerts Forum

I've spotted (and lead on a bit to see what the scam is) a number of these from various sources.

Typical hook - something like a 2000 M3 (there was no such car) on someplace like CarsDirect or Ebay - with a price about 1/3rd what the car should go for.

When you start corresponding with the "owner" - you get a message back that they and the car are in some foreign country (so far - UK, Greece and Romania), and they desperately need money so they're selling the car cheap.

If you respond with any interest - they start telling you how they will ship the car to you via Lufthansa or FedEx (who does have vehicle transport) on receipt of (1) export taxes OR (2) deposit. They always claim the shipping cost is included in the price of the car (I got quotes from FedEx on two of the cars - the shipping cost was ore than they were asking for the car :-)

If you ask if a friend of yours in the country they claim the car is in can come inspect it for you - - they basically ignore this and then start pushing for the $$$, claiming you'll see the car in 4 days.

If you really push for inspection - they just disappear.

Ebay seems to spot these fairly quickly and they go away - CarsDirect needed to be told about it - and then they did pull all (and there were several) that were on their site.

In the case of the 2000 M3 - aside from there not ever being a 2000 M3, the photos were lifted from an EBay ad (the scam ad was on CarsDirect) as I suspect the VIN# was. I got a BMW dealer friend to run the VIN through BMW's history - and it was a '97, recently bought by someone via an Ebay auction, and happily residing in New York.

If it sounds too good to be true..

Don