Craigslist, Ebay and other online buying/selling scams.
#198169 by giovanni.b Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:07 pm
HI,

I have recently replied to a car sale ad on Gumtree.com.au and been contacted by people pretending to be the owner of this car. I am just now sure it is a scam. The ad is on this link

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/meringur ... 1043814972

Shortly after I am contacted by a text from a number which I later discovered was from Canada (+12267919193) and I am asked to contact "the husband" on [email protected]. he said he had just moved to Germany and that he wanted to deal througheescrowangel.Com.au. I also registered an account on that website. He meets my offer and asks
me twice for my full name and address which I gave. Then I realized it was a scam and posted here. I last received a reply from him two days ago and after providing full name and address I didn't get anymore replies. A couple of hours ago I was still undecided if it was a scam so I asked him that I want to see the car before dealing though the company. Now I don't know what to do? Should I just stop replying if he looks for bank info? Should I worry because I gave name and address? I didn't give any bank info or card numbers so I shouldn't have problems should I? Should I worry about my account registered on escrowangel.com.au? Is it a legitimate website?

Thanks for anyone who could help me.
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#198172 by Mumbles Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:28 pm
Should I just stop replying if he looks for bank info?


Seems he is a scammer with no car for sale, so, yes, stop replying.

Escrow Angel is a real company but if you clicked a link in email from scammer, you may have registered on a fake site. Escrow companies do not have warehouses where they keep cars for sellers that are busy traveling the world. Nobody is coming to your house - the scammer just wants somebody to send some money. Don't buy a car you cannot test drive. Car shipping is not free.

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well ...”

Martin Luther King Jr.
#198174 by giovanni.b Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:31 pm
Thanks I will ignore any other emails from these people. What about them knowing my name and full address? I live with friends who are also my landlords should I inform them someone knows our address? Should I report it somewhere?
#198175 by Mumbles Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:40 pm
No, there is no problem. Don't worry. Get back to shopping for a car.

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well ...”

Martin Luther King Jr.
#198178 by HillBilly Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:59 pm
giovanni.b wrote: What about them knowing my name and full address? I live with friends who are also my landlords should I inform them someone knows our address? Should I report it somewhere?


If you are worried about your name / address being used for illicit purposes, set up an alert here http://www.google.com/alerts for your name / address / other information. Be sure to enclose the specific information in quotes (ergo 120 main street would be "120 Main street") so that the most specific results come back to you.

Truthfully, its not a bad idea to search for your own information on a regular basis anyhow, just to see what is out there...

As Mumbles said, be sure to go to that escrow site by typing the address in your address bar, then verify you did create an account on the real site. Phishing sites are relatively easy to set up, and one letter missing or added in the name can make the difference between the real site or a phishing site.

If you do find out you registered on a different site, please come back and post the information from the fake site here so the site killers can get rid of it.

#198189 by giovanni.b Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:31 pm
Hi, thanks again for your tips. I checked my registration and it is on the real website escrowangel.com.au, also receiving a confirmation email from "[email protected]". Anyway I will try to delete my account from that website anyway, if possible. This is supposed to be my first car and I got excited, I have always bought things on internet with never a problem and I didn't realize it all looked suspicious. It serves to me as a lesson.

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