Auto Trader Scammer :: [email protected]

from: David Joshua [email protected]
to: Michelle Banks
date:
subject: 2008 VOLVO V50 1.6 TURBO DIESEL, SPORTSWAGON ESTATE
mailed-by: gmail.com
signed-by: gmail.com

Hello,

My car is in very good working, mechanical and cosmetic condition, no accidents.Reg number is bd08yph, 107.000 miles with FSH, HPI clear, Mot til 06/2014 and tax till 06/2014, I have attached pictures including the HPI check. I'm located in Trondheim, Norway as I moved here with my work 1 month ago. I'm selling because I got a new left-hand-drive car from work which is much suitable for driving around here than a rhd car. I can assist with shipping if you are not able to come and pick up. I can support part of the shipping fees as well.I can sell you the car for £2900 including shipping. Let me know if interested.

Regards,
David

Page 2 of his script

It will take approx 4-5 days for the car to arrive. A coworker of mine who bought a car from Germany recommended me a service offered by a British shipping company which can help us.He used them and was very satisfied with their services. Here is how the whole process works. They will act like a thirdparty between us to ensure the whole transaction. This means you pay them, they deliver the car to your address, you get 10 days inspection period and if everything is ok on your part i get paid by them. If anything is not as described then you will get a full refund from them and the car will be picked up from your address. Let me know

Regards,
David

Note: you won't be allowed to see the car, and never will, even after you've paid.

Page 3 of his script

You can check out the shipping company at http://www.transportbidder-london.co.uk . I will entitle the shipping company to act on my behalf during the ownership change. The shipping company will receive the payment for the car and it won't release it to me unless you confirm that everything is ok with the car. You will get a full refund from them if you ask for it within the 10 inspection days.
I will need the name and address where the car is to be shipped in order to start the procedure through the shipping company. You will then receive an invoice from them with all the details needed to move forward.

Regards,
David

The website mentioned doesn't adhere to EU/UK regulations regarding the required content for company websites. Looking deeply into it is pointless - it's a fake.

Nice catch, that's a new script to me.
And good to see the site is already down.

Someone acted quickly.

It wasn't me. I wish it had been.

My own personal advice now has to be for people to avoid buying any vehicle online. The volume of scams is just overwhelming and too widespread for any warning to really have any effect. Parasites normally try to avoid eliminating their host, but hackers and scammers have less scruples and fewer brain cells than most parasites.

Wow, it was a good job I googled this guys email address.

I have been in contact with him regarding a different 'car' supposedly a Honda Civic for sale at an absurdly low price. Exactly the same script word for word as posted above, other than the car details changed, and a different shipping company.

First warning signs was that the shipping company doesn't seem to have traded since 2012, then started to dig around a bit more.

Thanks for your warning!

Welcome to Scamwarners PaulW,

I am also happy you googled the information.

Please post the script with the new shipping company and any information that may be different. Every little bit helps.

I trust you weren't thinking of buying a car you hadn't seen PaulW.

That would be a very big mistake. If you look for the best bargain you're swimming in the part of any vehicle ad site inhabited by the sharks and they're waiting to snap you up, or more importantly your money.

If you're buying off a dealer page and paying in to a personal account, and you haven't already seen the warning signs, that proves you're being scammed.

Dealers don't make private sales off their company sites. The accountant doesn't like it, and HMRC would be up his jumper pretty quickly. More commonly a dealer would sell as a private seller not using the company site.

Private sales off a company website isn't even a myth. It doesn't happen. Your money is going straight to a money mule.

Never ever ever in a million years ever think of buying a car you haven't seen. The scammer hasn't seen it either.

It's not uncommon for up to 200 scam adverts to be posted on just one major vehicle ad website daily, and they are all mouth wateringly tempting.

If you're still not convinced type this phrase including the quotation marks in to Google

"Please Do Not Call or Email Us regarding this vehicle"

..... and you'll get over 10 pages full of scams. That's not a phrase you'll ever realistically see in an advert.

The fraudsters change the wording they use regularly/daily to defeat this type of search. This is just the latest version.

[AlanJones]

The scammer's latest fake shipping company domains http://www.logistiklimited.co.uk & http://www.logistik-limited.co.uk.

You will be given the domain http://www.logistiklimited.co.uk in the email from the "seller" - it has no content, just a redirect to http://www.logistik-limited.co.uk. An attempt by the scammer to avoid the closure of his domains

[AlanJones]

It seems "David Joshua" has quite a few cars over in Norway with him.

Subject: 2008 JAGUAR XF PREMIUM LUXURY
From: David Joshua <[email protected]>
To: <snip>

Hello,

My car is in very good working, mechanical and cosmetic condition, no
accidents.Reg number is pe08pcx, 82.000 miles with FSH, HPI clear, Mot til
03/2014 and tax till 09/2014, I have attached pictures including the HPI
check. I'm located in Trondheim, Norway as I moved here with my work 1
month ago. I'm selling because I got a new left-hand-drive car from work
which is much suitable for driving around here than a rhd car. I can
assist with shipping if you are not able to come and pick up. I can support
part of the shipping fees as well.I can sell you the car for £7700
including shipping. Let me know if interested.

Regards,
David

The above is just one of a number of identical replies all from [email protected] (regardless of the email address you initially enquired to) regarding different cars.

Currently using [email protected] - fake shipping domain harbourhaulage.com ([email protected] ) .

The payment has to be sent to the following Harbour Haulage Limited Financing Center Agent:

Name: Martin Black

Address: Commercial House
2 Rubislaw Terrace
Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
AB10 1XE
United Kingdom


Send the payment according to invoice payment details.
Contact Harbour Haulage Limited by replying to this e-mail with the following payment information:
1. Sender's Name and address

2. Reference Number - 8 digits number found on the payment receipt
3. Scanned receipt of the transfer
4. Amount Sent

Of course the fraudster can collect the money anywhere in the world with his fake ID and the reference number. That address is an accomodation address for lots of (legit) companies, including the real Harbour Haulage, who do not have a website and are in no way involved.