selling car on craigslist to someone getting a loan

Greetings,

I posted an add for my car on craigslist and a buyer contacted me. He liked the car and said that he will contact his bank to release the money. The next day he calls me and says that the bank needs some documents from me and gives me a name, a phone number 800 721 9654 and a fax number 214 290 9772 and asks me to fax my registration and front and back of the title. The agent at the Bank Of America will then verify the fax and send me a packet to turn in my original title by mail and then they will send me or the buyer a check.

Although the number seems Bank of America's but the fax number is in Texas but the actual team is in Atlanta or Vegas. Once I send the title, they own the vehicle, right? before I get back anything. The buyer seemed like a nice guy but I am a little worried now. Is this a scam?

Thanks,
knr

Hi knr, and welcome to Scamwarners!

What you are describing certainly sounds like a scam to me. A bank would not need documents from YOU to release money to the account holder, especially not the title. You are definitely correct in not wanting to fax your car's title ever.

A google search of that 800 number yields ZERO results on the first page that say Bank of America. Likely the scammer was able to register it as some sort of redirect.

They would probably send you a check, there's no doubt. It then becomes a standard fake check scam since it'll be made out for too much, they'll want you to wire back the difference, and you'll be stuck with the bill (and no car) when the bank eventually figures out it's a fake.

If you want more confirmation, I would look up Bank of America's actual phone number from their website and call them to ask if this is standard procedure. You'll find out that it very likely isn't

So we can help further, please post one or more of his emails to you (taking out any of your personal info of course). If you know how, try to include the headers of the email. If you don't, we'd be more than happy to help you through it.

Thanks Jim.

I went to my local Bank Of America branch and they gave me 800 215 6195 as their Auto Loan help line. I called up this number and was then transfered to 800 721 9654. The lady then confirmed this process and the existence of the original loan agent and the fax number 214 290 9772. Seemingly, every loan agent at BofA has their own fax number. I have also prepared a sale agreement and have mailed it to the buyer. I will release my original title only after the buyer signs and returns it to me.

Hypothetically, let's say I sign over my title to them and they don't make the payment. Are they the legal owners of my car? The car is registered to me and I have the keys.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

I'll post the original email with the headers later today.

Thanks again.

so don't the banks determine the genuineness of the check? is there an easy way to tell if it is a real check?

here's the email header:

Code: Select allFrom <Seller> Fri Sep  3 17:46:22 2010
X-Apparently-To: <Seller>@yahoo.com via 68.142.200.138; Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:47:03 -0700
Return-Path: <bounce-anon-<Seller>[email protected]>
Received-SPF: pass (mta1181.mail.mud.yahoo.com: domain of bounce-anon-<Seller>[email protected] designates 208.82.236.171 as permitted sender)
X-YMailISG: g8Hu6bocZAowIAgsNscdnpPKSBGLAf375ky9748820dTdi8_
 fXTxlXrxOARkNAjiBV3Wu5EV4Ztd9q1v0u4Lp4S.xjJ2q7H3uNSGfALG8f5d
 NFSXEDo0_pmR0SIowkgc_0wD4yq63sm9vD.s_BaEdTBZ.9lfFYTTIdsdSY58
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 U_0nx1YLoaTdopehMzwOrd7.O54nHmY_zO1T2S_sF4lDFzVBt.iB8pm7pPYO
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 xXEDlScnl6lEs_MjqYJ8WNei_pErb3lvKBCKpIGErR8-
X-Originating-IP: [208.82.236.171]
Authentication-Results: mta1181.mail.mud.yahoo.com  from=msn.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig);  from=msn.com; dkim=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 127.0.0.1  (EHLO mxo6p.craigslist.org) (208.82.236.171)
  by mta1181.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:47:03 -0700
Received: from col0-omc4-s9.col0.hotmail.com (col0-omc4-s9.col0.hotmail.com [65.55.34.211])
   by mxi3p.craigslist.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 39592316EC
   for <[email protected]>; Fri,  3 Sep 2010 10:46:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from COL109-W42 ([65.55.34.199]) by col0-omc4-s9.col0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
    Fri, 3 Sep 2010 10:46:23 -0700
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
   boundary="_4899707c-af56-43b9-aefe-1b2f7d61ed8a_"
X-Originating-IP: [24.130.128.35]
From: <Buyer> <<Seller's email didnt have their name>@msn.com>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: I like your car!
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 10:46:22 -0700
Importance: Normal
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 03 Sep 2010 17:46:23.0065 (UTC) FILETIME=[EC83AC90:01CB4B8F]
Content-Length: 2672

What can this tell us?

I imagine the reason you have to send the stuff to BOA is because BOA will have a lien on the title, because they are issuing a loan for the car. It's the same when you purchase a car from the dealer, you as the buyer don't get a clean title--only a copy or the purchase documents--the interaction between the bank and the dealer just happens behind the scenes. The bank wants the title first to ensure that it is a clean title and possibly to run some checks on the car itself--they also want to ensure that buyer is not taking out a loan greater than the value of the car.

In a dealer situation, the bank would issue the payment directly to the dealer. I would talk to the BOA representative about this before proceeding, but it should be a workable situation.

Can you tell me how the whole story ended up?
Right now I'm in exact same situation.
Thank you very much.