So I listed my car on carsales.com.au a few days ago, and today I received a message from a potential buyer saying something like I put in the title. Basically he/she doesn't need a rwc, doesn't need an inspection or test drive, and wish to deal today.
Does it sound a bit fishy? I probably should just ignore this type of offer, right?
Yeah that does sound odd. I would be very cautious. Why does the buyer want to buy it so quick?
if its sounds too good…
When I was in London, there was a counter terrorist campaign on the radio about this sort of thing happening… "It's probably nothing, but…"
Basically asking the public to call the police and report anything fishy. One of the examples given was the purchase of a car, in cash, with no inspection or questions asked.
Not that this is anything like that, but it just reminded me of that moment.
Might be after parts. And wants to strip it.
Could very well be legit, but you never know. FYI: http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/moneytra…
Cash in hand and you're all good. But I'm pretty sure the next time the 'buyer' contacts you, he will ask either paypal payment or some other sort of dodgy way of paying.
Not sure if it is the same case here but a similar thing happens a lot when selling cars on Gumtree.
The seller gets an email form a potential buyer that is overseas on a business trip and is very interested in the car and asks if you can put the car on a truck to freight over seas at their cost and they will pay some money now and the rest later once its confirmed on the ship.
Anything like this is a scam. More info about it here
Play along with it for a laugh and to see where it goes. I bet it is one of these scams though. It is very common.
Hope it helps ;)
Play along for sure. If someone turns up, as mentioned before, with cash in hand, then sell it as is. If it starts to turn scam-like, just have some fun messing with them.
If they pay cash Just make sure that you change your rego over Immediately so that if something is a bit fishy at least the are the registered owner
you can only change the rego over if the car has a RWC…however you can fill in a Disposal Notice to say you have disposed of the car and nominate who you sold it to. They don't have to register it, they might just want it for parts…or a ram raid.
Notice of disposal is what I meant. Just make sure the legal ownership hands over to them.
This is a scam. They will want you to pay a deposit via Western Union (or similar) for the car carrier firm to collect your car. When it sounds to good to be true…it usually is.. This is an automated scam - it goes out in the same format to the majority of listers on carsales.com.au
Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago when I sold my last car. I called the guy and he really sounded like he wasn't at all interested in the car - he didn't seem interested in asking any questions about it. He just said he'd buy it. I said fair enough, as long as he pays cash today. He says yes.
Next thing I get a fake email from him claiming to be a "payment has been confirmed" from Western Union, and that to release the funds into my account I just need to pay a $30 transfer fee. I delete the email, he phones five minutes later and I tell him he's wasting his time and he should get a real life.
It seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to just to try and scam someone out of $30, but it only really cost him a couple of phone calls.
and time…
If they come over and pay cash there's no issue.
Just make sure you get details of good ID (licence, passport etc) so you can send vic roads disposal form.
I agree with everyone above. Sounds dodgy but could be legit. If they want to pay via PayPal then I'd pull out. I had one like this some back story as to why the guy wanted to buy sight unseen. Some crap about being in the army and overseas on assignment. Then asked for PayPal details.
Not sure what they do if you give it to them but Carsales contacted me about the potential buyer and said it was a scam.
yeah these kind of scams are very common so stick to cash in hand after a meeting. I have seen people trying to rent a house from overseas when the house number doesn't even exist.
So, what happened?
Think so.