[wayne71]

Hi, I'm fairly inexperienced when it comes to selling cars privately and have just recieved this email via autotrader, it rings alarm bells to me, what do you guys think?

"Thanks for your response..I really have interested and I'm quite satisfied with the condition and price,and I need you to understand that i am willing and ready to purchase it right away, end the advert, consider me as your favorite buyer.I will be paying the PayPal charges 3.4% from my account and will be paying directly into your PayPal account without any delay, and I hope you have a paypal account. If you have one already, just send me the address to send it to, which is the email address you use for it or you can send me a paypal money request, so once i receive the details i will go ahead with the payment through PayPal and then I will contact my shipping company after you get the payment. I will need your home address for it to be Picked Up by the Shipping Agent"

If I get the money in to my account can they recall it?

Cheers

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by wayne71

Hi, I'm fairly inexperienced when it comes to selling cars privately and have just recieved this email via autotrader, it rings alarm bells to me, what do you guys think?

"Thanks for your response..I really have interested and I'm quite satisfied with the condition and price,and I need you to understand that i am willing and ready to purchase it right away, end the advert, consider me as your favorite buyer.I will be paying the PayPal charges 3.4% from my account and will be paying directly into your PayPal account without any delay, and I hope you have a paypal account. If you have one already, just send me the address to send it to, which is the email address you use for it or you can send me a paypal money request, so once i receive the details i will go ahead with the payment through PayPal and then I will contact my shipping company after you get the payment. I will need your home address for it to be Picked Up by the Shipping Agent"

If I get the money in to my account can they recall it?

Cheers

Sounds a bit odd, most of these 'overseas buyers' are nothing but scams, not sure what they can do with your PayPal email, name, and address though? I would ask to speak to them directly over the phone, speak to the 'shipping agent' directly before handing over any details....

[sheps]

You are joking, right?

[davyk31]

Have you heard of scams???

[simonelwell]

fake - see 419eater.com

[alzieboy]

Hi

Had almost the same e-mail when we advertised my Wifes 118D on Piston Heads, I contacted Piston Heads security and they advised that yes it was a scam, although we were more than convinced anyways

[wayne71]

Originally Posted by sheps

You are joking, right?

No mate I'm not joking, as I said I don't have much experience in selling cars (I've sold 2 privatley in 20 years). I just can't see what they can glean from getting a paypal account and address.

[dopper99]

Here's a quick and easy way to check out any scam...

Copy a portion of the text and put it into Google BUT wrap quotes around it:

"like this text"

You'll probably find you are not the only one to have received that exact same scam text.

Here's a portion of text from above in Google:

https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&suge...w=1920&bih=897

You may have to try different portions of your text to get a few results up.

[dopper99]

In fact here is an interesting explanation from one of those results:

"At first I thought this person was going to try and hack my PayPal account but after doing some research I discovered their plan.

The ‘Buyer’ explains that they can’t pick up the car themselves as they work abroad, so they hire a ‘Shipper’ to pick the car up. The ‘Shipper’ charges something in the region of £300, so the ‘Buyer’ transfers the money for the car and the shipping company to your PayPal account – BUT freezes the transaction before you receive the money. The seller (or victim) thinks the money is in their account and pays the ‘Shipper’ the £300 and they take the car away. The ‘Buyer’ then retracts the money from the transaction. So the seller not only looses the car without receiving the sale price but actually has to fork out an extra cost for the fake shipping company.

If you’re suspicious about emails you receive, look out for bad grammar, spelling mistakes or just unusual demands. Copy and paste the email address of the sender into a search engine and see if they come up on any blogs about scams (that’s what I did). Once you’re sure it is a scam, report them to the email provider (Google Mail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail etc.) and the service through which they got in contact with you, in this case AutoTrader, so that they are aware of the scam."

[wayne71]

Interesting, cheers dopper.

[pretendporsche]

Sounds like a scam to me, if i was you i would just hold off and wait for a Uk buyer who is willing to visit you personally and pay cash, or a direct bank transfer.

[AlanQS]

Definitely a scam. The way it's written, the buyer being abroad, the use of a shipping company - 100% scam. There have been so many of these in the last few years.

[acerboo]

he will say there is a problem with paying the shipping/insurance can you pay it and he will reimburse you SCAM!"

[wayne71]

Cheers fellas, feel a bit daft now but I've never heard of this type of thing before.

[acerboo]

no one in his right mind will buy any car without seeing and trying it first. 99% wont offer the asking price either. its also very unusual to get a "buyer" so early on when advertising. just make sure when you have agreed a price with a buyer you have the funds secured in your account before the car leaves your hands. also when you give a receipt put the time of sale on it as any speeding tickets could be your responsibility until you have notified DVLA of the change of ownership.

[wayne71]

Originally Posted by acerboo

no one in his right mind will buy any car without seeing and trying it first. 99% wont offer the asking price either. its also very unusual to get a "buyer" so early on when advertising. just make sure when you have agreed a price with a buyer you have the funds secured in your account before the car leaves your hands. also when you give a receipt put the time of sale on it as any speeding tickets could be your responsibility until you have notified DVLA of the change of ownership.

Thanks for the advice mate.