Fraud on Ebay?????

[97NA_Cobra]

This doesn't quite pass the smell test to me check out this auction
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4596779490&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT


So I emailed him and this is the reply I got back.


Hello,
I know that you have many choices on eBay and I appreciate that you contacted me. The car(2003 Ford
Mustang Cobra, 15500 miles, Kenne Bell 563rwhp, Nittos, VIN: 1fafp48yx3f432383) is in a perfect
cosmetic and engine conditions, and meticulously maintained. No damage, no scratches or dents, no
hidden defects, the engine doesn't smoke, runs and sounds awesome, the engine has never been repaired
or something like that, never been into accidents and it is as advertised. I will be shortly, as I have
many inquiries as you can see: US specs, US plates, US supplied, free title and condition LIKE NEW!.
It's no catch here. The price is real. I am located in Spain, as you can see from my listing i work
here. The car location is Glendora, CA. The full price is $9000 with shipping cost included. A
deposit of 2,000 USD is requiered to buy the car. The transaction will be done through eBay for our own
protection. Your funds will be 100% insured by eBay and I will be sure that I will receive the
payment, this way bouth of us will start the deal with good faith so we can take it to a smooth end.
After the payment is cleared and confirmed by eBay i will ship you the car in no time. You will have 10
days from the time you receive the car to inspect it and decide if you want to keep the car or not.
Once the car arrives if you find it different then i describe it you will be refunded by eBay and you
wont loose anything. If you are interested in buying it please provide me your full name and
address(has to be the same as the delivery address) and also your eBay user name so I can initiate the
deal through eBay.
Waiting to hear from you
Regards,
Henry Cariciu


The part I don't like is the "so I can initiate the deal through ebay." What do you guys think? Scam?

 

[mjzilinski]

I've seen that car for sale before on ebay, maybe the guy just copied the pics.

 

[05 Roush]

That's probably legitimate. Don't forget the 'ole "buy it back" tactic so many sellers have. They'll jack the price up or buy it back. It's that simple.

Oh, and you gotta love the "therefore the car has not had the piss beat out of it..." quote.

Yeah, right.

 

[SQ Stang]

Uhhh yeaaah that's a scam

 

[JMD0346]

Thats some BS. He's way too concerened with making sure nobody gets screwed.

 

[05 Roush]

Anyone can simply ask for a snapshot of the registration documentation to make sure.

 

[97NA_Cobra]

I ran a carfax on it and it came back clean. What I don't understand is that the original seller was listed in Castro Valley, CA. The car is currently in Glendora, CA. But the car has never been registered here.

 

[97NA_Cobra]

Also, check out the bid history, especially all the retractions.

 

[JMD0346]

Ive never heard of strictly performance in GA. I thought they were in TX.

 

[RalphBentRio]

Scam, from a mile away I can tell--that's a scam. I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'll cut you a GREAT deal on if you think for a second that auction is legit.

 

[monsterpost]

There are two things here I'm suspious of. First this seller has no feedback history, very scary. Secondly the miles in the picture show the car has 12,551 miles. Like they say if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Unless you live nearby I'd stay away from this one.

 

[Friendchicken]

You need to ask them if you can come by and inspect the car in person. they will run away from you if it's fake.

Ask a local member to go by and check it out to be sure.

Most these scams will not let you just come by and see the car/documentation in person.. they always ship.

 

[DaBoss302]

I saw a Cobra just like this diff car the guys email to me almost the same as what you just posted .....car priced at 9K. reason it is under 10K is you can sell something under the 10K cap and not have to pay any extra taxes on it.

so hint the 9K.

Deal like this I would have to just drive to touch the car before I made any transaction.

 

[FredK'03Cobra]

I saw a Cobra just like this diff car the guys email to me almost the same as what you just posted .....car priced at 9K. reason it is under 10K is you can sell something under the 10K cap and not have to pay any extra taxes on it.
so hint the 9K.
Deal like this I would have to just drive to touch the car before I made any transaction.

Right idea, but not quite. It isn't that extra taxes are paid, but the IRS tracks large cash transactions, for potential taxation purposes. Any cash deposit into a bank greater than $9K is reported to the IRS, and IDs are normally checked.
This one is a scam, and simple to see. Bells and whistles should go off as soon as the "I'm out of the country," or the "I'm here, but the car is there," crap starts getting shoveled.

 

[SteveChris]

why even ask, cmon. why would someone sell a like new cobra for 9 when they could sell it just as easy for 2 or 3 times as much
the reason people liek him exist is because other people are too stupid to use the greatest anti-scam device ever..your brain!
live by this!
"IF IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE , IT IS!"
noone wakes up and says.."hey,,i think ill sell something i have for 1/3 what its worth for no damn reason,,im just a nice guy"
and notice he says if there si a problem youre insured,..ebay will refund you.
no they wont. my gf sells and buys little things ALL the time and when there is a problem, ebay stays out of it.. maaaybe ebay motors will take more of a stand but its pointless. there is 0% chance youll see that car. and the VIN being ok means nothing. even i can get you VINs from cobras in CA.

 

[Thrust]

That is a BS ad if I ever saw one. Stricktly perfomance is in Texas, not Atlanta. No one forgets where their car was tuned. :loser:

 

[SteveChris]

and heres another scam i keep seeing. this guy goes to radio shack and picks up resistors.. if you stick a certain resistor in your intakes air meter then itll make the computer think more or less air is coming in. this "supposedly" will add hp. i guess if it fools the ecu into thinking less air is coming in itll add less fuel and lean out a little??
either way, even IF it worked, he sells these for $9 buy it now (and alot have paid that) or usually 2-3 bucks. this is a peice you get at radioshack for pennies!, they sell bags of 100 resistors for a dollar or 2!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/20HP-SPEED-CHIP-FORD-MUSTANG-V6-OR-GT-COBRA-90-01-02_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42604QQitemZ8018746685QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

[97NA_Cobra]

This whole thing has me interested. My gut is that its a scam. I finally got what looks to be a legit response from eBay saying "Congrats the transaction is underway and the vehicle is granted protection" (my words, not from the email). So I forwarded the email to ebay to find out if it was indeed sent from them. We'll see what happens. I've received no message at my eBay account. Another thing is that he supposedly is in Spain right now (go figure uh), and Spain is not covered under PayPals buyer protection, so I couldn't send the deposit via PayPal, it would have to go Western Union (I don't like that at all). Like I said, none of this passes the smell test, but I'm trying to see how far this will go. I'm definately not giving out personal info, nor have I put out any money. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress of this whole thing, it should be fun!

 

[Mean Mr Mustang]

This whole thing has me interested. My gut is that its a scam. I finally got what looks to be a legit response from eBay saying "Congrats the transaction is underway and the vehicle is granted protection" (my words, not from the email). So I forwarded the email to ebay to find out if it was indeed sent from them. We'll see what happens. I've received no message at my eBay account. Another thing is that he supposedly is in Spain right now (go figure uh), and Spain is not covered under PayPals buyer protection, so I couldn't send the deposit via PayPal, it would have to go Western Union (I don't like that at all). Like I said, none of this passes the smell test, but I'm trying to see how far this will go. I'm definately not giving out personal info, nor have I put out any money. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress of this whole thing, it should be fun!

Someone sent me the "eBay will protect you letter" this summer for a KB blower. The guy who was scamming was in England, blower in Texas so go figure. You will receive a reply back from eBay saying that the message wasnt from them.
If you wanna mess with the guy tell him you sent him some money through Western Union and give him a fake transaction number.

 

[97NA_Cobra]

That sounds like fun! I thought about reporting it to the FTC, but it's one of those things, these people are ghosts. You should see this eBay letter I received. It's pretty damn convincing. In his last email he said we would resume this on Monday, it was getting late in Spain. :nonono: It's amazing how much effort they put into these scams. I even dropped the line of "sorry for being so suspicious, it comes with my job, I'm a Sheriffs Deputy." He's still on the line though, I think it's time to have a little fun with our scammer!