The latest ad site scam script

If you get this reply in respone to an enquiry about buying a vehicle, you're dealing with a scammer.

The price includes delivery to your location. I am letting it go because I've moved to Spain and I cannot use it here, I need a left hand drive car. The vehicle is currently in custody of a shipping company with all the papers necessary to sell, ready to be delivered to its new owner. I will only sell it through eBay Motors because they will handle the payment in a way in which both of us are secure.

The transaction will be fully under eBay's surveillance, I will post the car on eBay and I will give you the URL link to press ''buy it now'' option .

There is no doubt whatsoever.

You aren't being allowed to see it, because the vehicle only exists as the property someone else has put up for sale and the scammer has copied the photos. eBay won't protect your purchase and the link he provides will lead to a page the scammer has set up.

I can pick these fake ads all day long. Make sure you don't.

The next message in the scammer's script.

Hello , I have a contract signed with eBay, for this reason I must deal only trough them. In this way both buyer and seller are 100% covered during the steps of this transaction. eBay will hold and insure your money until you receive and test the vehicle. This is how their service works. As far as the seller concerns, I will be glad to know that eBay is in possession of the funds during the delivery process. You will pay eBay the required amount ( £X,XXX.XX ), and they will secure it until you get the vehicle. You will be given a 5 days inspection period during which you can decide whether you keep it or not. If you are satisfied with it, you will confirm that to eBay so they can unblock the funds and send it to me. If you are determined in buying the vehicle, please send me an email with your full name and full shipping address. I will post the transaction mentioning the vehicle details, the price etc on eBay website and confirm you as the buyer.

After the transaction is processed they will send you the invoice explaining the exact procedure

Hi there, I just want to say a massive thank you to you!!! I saw a car advertised on Auto Trader on Friday and sent an email requesting info and asking to go and view it. I received a reply yesterday with the exact same wording as you scripted.... It is very very believable. However, something niggled at me today so I have been researching online as to how can Ebay Motors sell a car without it being listed on Ebay... I then found your post. I cannot express the relief I feel as I could quite well have been scammed. It makes me feel completely sick. Thank you again.

If you think about it, the "vehicle" is possibly being shipped around the place at a cost of four or five hundred pounds a time. Also each time it s going to be "on loan" to someone for 5 days. "Wow! That's great because I need a car next week to go off to Scotland with my mates and it'll save a hire charge which is great.We can stock up on beer for the trip, and get some ganja too. Then we just send it back."
Isn't there something rather unreal going on here? The owner has just spent £800 shipping a car that wasn't sold back and forth.
As a seller I am worried sick that my car is going to be trashed by a stranger or involved in an accident and then I will in a mess, assuming the driver was even insured for it.
It is absolute baloney and only happens in the imaginary scammer world.

The scammers are operating this fraud on an industrial scale.

Ad sites and/or the authorities need to take it seriously as the public aren't going to keep paying for goods that don't exist so their customers will all be lost to scammers. No business can operate like this. The impotence of the ad sites allied with the laxity of banks and the complete 'head in the sand' attitude of the authorities is merely making this fraud proliferate on a monumental scale, and the UK reaction is woefully inadequate.

The solution to the problem ? - I'm not aware that the authorities in the UK have recognised that a problem exists.