VW Campervan on EBay

Similar to several e bay add scams detailed here ....
An e-bay advert appeared for a VW campervan this weekend -
The listing appeared as a classified add £6000, I emailed the seller asking for details - they came back and said they wanted a quick sale and would accept £4,500, (the e-bay advert was then pulled).
They said it was in Dundee so they would arrange delivery though "Buyer protection" ....

"Due to my location and since view is not an option I have requested personal support and I was approved to use Buyer Protection Program. Here is how the process works:

- you give me your full name and shipping address
- I start the transaction with the eBay,
- they send further payment instructions,
- you have to pay for the item to eBay to secure the funds,
- they confirm me that they received the funds,
- I deliver the motorhome,
- you receive the motorhome,
- they send me the money.

Everything is covered by eBay. I will get paid only after you confirm that you received the motorhome in good order.
Let me know if this is acceptable. Thank you"

- I asked for additional photo's - they were unable to supply, I said I had a friend near Dundee and asked if he could view it on my behalf and complete the transaction with cash if everything was in order (and save the transportation costs), apparently "viewing was not possible due to location", I said I couldn't find any reference to Buyer protection covering vehicles on e-bay and so the conversation has gone on ....

In short Vendor "Sarah" e-mail [email protected] and [email protected] initial web text to my mobile was from "sarahsale42"

"Sarah" said it was a private sale yet was listed as "Classified" neither classified or vehicles sales are covered by EBay buyer protection, she couldn't send additional photos, she would not entertain viewing and/or collection and would not provide a telephone number to call and discuss - Increasingly suspicious - then my brother in law found this site ..... Need I say more?
Kegg
Registered Member
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:34 pm
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Hi Kegg, as you realise, this is another scam. EBay does not have a *Buyer Protection Plan*, what you would have received is a fake website page, saying that your money had been received, and was being held until delivery.

Your money would be gone, and there would be no delivery.

Take care

Hi there this scam is not just on Ebay but Autotrader as well. I was trying to buy a VW T5 last night and had exactly the same emails as you, but she Joanne.Hughes77@hotmail wants the money done by Google transactions. The penny dropped with me quite quickly as a. the van was way to cheap, b. she would deliver from Dundee to Wales for FREE and she said she was being posted to Afghanistan which no real service person would put in an email. a quick search on google brought up this site and saved me from making an expensive mistake. I have informed the police, but doubt they can do anything to protect future purchasers, I have not parted with any money thank goodness. for the time being I just wasting "jonannes time by asking stupid questions" till she works out the autotrader have taken her advert off.

Just to let you all know that this 'lady' is now known as Seargent Major Andrea Lewis ([email protected]) and has also tried to sell this same van through Autotrader (this advert was removed this am.)

We saw the advert yesterday afternoon and decided to contact them...we tried calling first. The line rang for a couple of rings then went to a fax machine sound. So we emailed.Our initial reply from her was as follows -

"I am selling this vehicle because my brigade will deploy for 6 months to Afghanistan. I'm under enormous time pressure cause I need to sell it fast, before April 28th that being the reason for selling it so low. It is in perfect condition inside and out, never involved in accidents. From the beginning I must say that the vehicle has all the paperworks and i got the full service history. I confirm that it have 6 months MOT and 6 months Road Tax. I've never smoked in it, and I want to sell it to a serious person.

It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad £5,500. The vehicle is in Barry Budden Camp - Dundee, Scotland, UK in a military base, and in case it gets sold I will get it delivered. Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Thanks for your interest,

SGM. Andrea Lewis , ( 82th BCT ) "

For us, there were some initial things that didn't seem quite right. The base where it is supposedly stored is not spelt correctly, the wording/grammar is terrible (would a Seargent Major really write like this ?) and at the end it is signed as the 82th BCT and not 82nd. The price and mileage had changed from the advert. To add to this, the email had been sent at 2.09 am.... not many people I know are up answering emails at this time of night.

After asking is we could view the vehicle, we later received an email as follows -

"I've told you, at this moment I am in Dundee, Scotland, UK in a military base, getting ready for Afghanistan (I hope for the last time). I'm doing a special training program each day and I am not allowed to get out of the unit or give calls whenever I want. The delivery will take 2 to 3 days depending on your location and it’s not a problem because I can do it at no cost for you. Because it is a large transaction, we will complete the deal only using an authorized third part like Google Checkout coz I already prearranged the whole process with them, using their Google Safe Pay Solutions (bank-to-bank wire transfer) for vehicles.

The money will be sent to Google Checkout, before you will receive the vehicle. So, you will deposit the payment directly into the Google Checkout agent's bank account in United Kingdom, either online or at most banks and they will hold and secure your money during the entire transaction. I repeat, they will hold and insure your money until receipt of the vehicle in good condition and will release the funds to us only after you decide to keep the vehicle and you register it, into your name. You will have an inspection period of 7 days. In this time you can check, test and inspect the vehicle. If by any reason (the vehicle has any hidden damages or is not like I describe it) you can reject the deal. In this case Google Checkout will refund you totally and they will deliver the vehicle back.

Let me know your shipping details (your full name, full address and home phone number) so I can open a transaction case with Google Checkout and declare you as buyer. They will contact you with further information regarding payment and delivery.

Regards,

SGM. Andrea Lewis ( 82th BCT )"

Again, look at the wording.
When we did a search for info on Safepay and Google checkout we found that any monies transfered would be paid immediately to the other party. So basically this is a scam.

Wow thanks guys I just had an email from this lady this morning enquiring about this van! Thanks all

Hi, she has just nearly caught me. She tried to sell me a case 151 mini digger for 3k same set up with ebay buyer protection spiel but alarm bells began to sound when she would not give me a contact number or allow me to pick up/view.Googling her Email address - [email protected] - led me to this web site and a huge sigh of relief that I had not gone any further with the transaction. Lesson learned, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. Buyer Beware. Its thanks to these sites that a lot of people have not been scammed. My sympathy to anyone caught. My disbelief also that this is still going on - some of the posts are years old and they never seem to get stopped!. I think they are also using email address [email protected]

I am so glad I have just come across this site...seems she is still at it! now under the name of Margaret Adamson, and after enquiring on GUMTREE last night, this is the email i recieved (Thought the Van was cheap)

Yes i can confirm that it have 6 months MOT.
I am selling this vehicle because my brigade will deploy for 6 months to Afghanistan. I'm under enormous time pressure cause I need to sell it fast, before July 27th that being the reason for selling it so low. It is in perfect condition inside and out, never involved in accidents. From the beginning I must say that the vehicle has all the paper works and full service history.
I've never smoke inside, and I want to sell it to a serious person.
It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad £5,700. The vehicle is in Barry Budden Camp - Dundee, Scotland, UK in a military base, and in case it gets sold I will get it delivered. Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Thanks for your interest,

Margaret Adamson

The same email as someone above also recieved...just glad I found out now!"

I cant believe it!!!! I so nearly fell for this. I also saw a great looking t4 Campervan in blue on autotrader with 102,000 miles and on at £3,600 (I know... that was enough of a clue that something wasnt right!).
Long story short, I got the same emails as described in previous messages on this thread. The person I was getting messages from was calling themself 'Margaret Adamson' and claimed to be at Barry Budden camp in Dundee etc.
Clearly, this person (group of people?) have been operating for some time now judging by the dates on various threads.
Does anyone know if/how the police can follow this up?

Hello!
Same story about blue vw camper for 3600 and Dundee and so on...Their last email address is: margaretadamson 236@hotmail .co uk

All the best

Jacobe

Now recieved this...change of email address? will the police do anything if reported?...

'Hello. Any news for me? Please contact me at:[email protected] I have some problem with my old email and o cannot acces it. Regards! Margaret'

Hi vman, the reason her email address changed is because someone has reported it to hotmail as being used by a scammer, and hotmail have shut it down.

Unfortunately, scammers usually have several hundred email accounts at once, with a variation to the numbers if they use them, as in your example above.

*She* has probably got email addresses that start at [email protected] up to [email protected], and just carries on with the next one if any are shut down

Reporting to the police is helpful, in as much as it lets them know how widespread the scam may be, but as far as being able to arrest the scammer, not likely.

Take care

John

Now [email protected] with terribly bad grammar is leaving for Afghanistan at the end of July and only wants £3500 for that blue VW T5 reg no SN51 XZX in Dundee which has reduced its mileage to 42000.

Looked for add on Autotrader so I could report it but its already been pulled - maybe my genuinely innocent request for a copy v5 spooked "her"

Yes same with me except the e-mail address is [email protected]
Can't believe these people try these stunts

Hi i have just nearly fell for the same scam i always try 2 dig abit and couldent find any thing but was seconds of sending my info as i really thought she was going 2 afgan this is what i got on first email

Hello,

I can confirm that it have 5 months mot and 5 months road tax left on it.
I am selling this vehicle because my brigade will deploy for 6 months to Afghanistan. I'm under enormous time pressure cause I need to sell it fast, before August 18th that being the reason for selling it so low. It is in perfect condition inside and out, never involved in accidents. From the beginning I must say that the vehicle has all the paper works and full service history.
I've never smoked in it, and I want to sell it to a serious person.

It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad £4,100. The vehicle is in Barry Budden Camp - Dundee, Scotland, UK in a military base, and in case it gets sold I will get it delivered. Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Thanks for your interest,

Julia Stollard ,

i repleyed thinking this was great then i got the second which was this one

Hello,

I've told you, at this moment I am in Dundee, Scotland, UK in a military base, getting ready for Afghanistan (I hope for the last time). I'm doing a special training program each day and I am not allowed to get out of the unit or give calls whenever I want. The delivery will take 2 to 3 days depending on your location and it’s not a problem because I can do it at no cost for you. Because it is a large transaction, we will complete the deal only using an authorized third part like Google Checkout coz I already prearranged the whole process with them, using their Google Safe Pay Solutions (bank-to-bank wire transfer) for vehicles.

The money will be sent to Google Checkout, before you will receive the vehicle. So, you will deposit the payment directly into the Google Checkout agent's bank account in United Kingdom, either online or at most banks and they will hold and secure your money during the entire transaction. I repeat, they will hold and insure your money until receipt of the vehicle in good condition and will release the funds to us only after you decide to keep the vehicle and you register it, into your name. You will have an inspection period of 7 days. In this time you can check, test and inspect the vehicle. If by any reason (the vehicle has any hidden damages or is not like I describe it) you can reject the deal. In this case Google Checkout will refund you totally and they will deliver the vehicle back.

Let me know your shipping details (your full name, full address and home phone number) so I can open a transaction case with Google Checkout and declare you as buyer. They will contact you with further information regarding payment and delivery.

Regards,

Julia Stollard ,

i sent 1 back telling her what time my husband would be back from work and that we would send her the info thinking this is great we dont have to go and get it but thank god i kept looking for info as it came up on this site.................. cheers.

Similar scam going on Gumtree http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/vw-t5-transporter-camper-van-motorhome/107219727

Seller really insistent etc. blah blah blah Need money up front etc Will deliver once paid through Google

Avoid at all cost