Scam to take money out of the pockets of classic car sellers
Unfortunately, the still vibrant classic car trade also attracts shady characters and fraudsters. One reader told us about a particularly perfidious scam that works as follows:
Car owner A offers his car, an American make, for sale. Prospective buyer B contacts him by e-mail and shows interest in the car. B asks for further documents, but explains that he cannot come and look at the car because he is abroad.
B is prepared to buy the car sight unseen and brings a transport company (zamoratrans.com) into play. This can only be commissioned by seller A. Prospective buyer B now asks A to include the transfer costs calculated by the transport company in the total price. B will transfer the total price to the transport company (i.e. including transfer costs) and the money will be handed over in cash (by the transport company) on collection. This seems to A to be a sensible procedure and he transfers EUR 800 to the transport company, which incidentally has a reputable-looking website. Interest B has already confirmed that the purchase price has been transferred to the transport company, and A has also received a signed ADAC purchase contract as a PDF.
After the transfer of the transportation costs, neither the interested party nor the transport company could be contacted. All communication has always been by email, but now neither B nor the transport company respond to further inquiries. The money is lost.
Could the attempted fraud have been recognized at an early stage? During the communication, it is noticeable that the fraudsters made a few mistakes, e.g. by suddenly referring to a motorcycle instead of a car in the emails (copy & paste error?). In addition, the language is sometimes very bumpy. The purchase contract was obviously signed several times with the exact same signature (copied in). The transfer had to be made to known banks, but to account holders with changed names and without company details. There was never an opportunity to contact the potential buyer and the transport company by telephone. Above all, however, it must make you suspicious when someone wants to buy an old car unseen and with advance payment.
But it is also understandable that you can fall for this scam, because after all, you only hand over your car for cash and even at the price asked. It sounds uncomplicated and risk-free at first glance. But it's actually a scam.
P.S. The picture above of course has nothing to do with this case of fraud. Incidentally, our reader was not the only one to fall for this scam; there are other cases described on the Internet.
