BEWARE- BE CAREFUL- BUYING A CAR ONLINE

PLEASE read this and pass along to anyone purchasing a car on line.

ONLINE CAR BUYERS BEWARE!!!!

Monday I receive a phone call from a fellow out of Newport Beach who told me he was flying in this Thursday to look at a vintage Ferrari for sale in Austin. He went on to tell me it was a 1966 330 GT 2+2. I told him on a vintage 12 cylinder Pre-Purchase Inspection we typically take the better part of two days and document it with hundreds of digital photos we can send, etc. However, if we found deal breakers early on like a bad motor or crash damage, etc. we stop the inspection and call to discuss before going further. He agreed and I told him we could squeeze him in and I would do the inspection myself but it had to be dropped off Wed afternoon for prelim test drive so motor could be cold for compression and leak test in the morning. He called the seller made arrangements. The seller called me to tell me it would be brought over on a flat bed hauler Wed around 3pm.

I asked the buyer to send me any photos and details along with the chassis no. so I can do some preliminary checks. He sends me a batch of photos that I browse over before I leave the office.

Back in the workshop early Tuesday and slammed with a ton of cars in for service. Being a softy for vintage Ferraris I had decided to squeeze in the 330 this week even though we are overbooked so pretty focused on getting current jobs organized and out the door. I don't get to look further into the car but all the while still curious how I know nothing of this car. I get the chassis number and over lunch looked up on 330 Registry, texted my buddy over at the local dealer to see if he had seen the car as I thought I knew every 330 in town. While ordering a bunch of parts from Ferrari of Houston, the parts mgr. and I look through various data each of us have about the car, etc. Neither had seen it either. I contact Tom Yang who did a PPI back in November. He gives me his thoughts on the car over the phone.
Then I notice in a previous email sent from the buyer there is a jpeg copy of the title. Immediately it looks a bit odd. The Title is brand new dated 03/02/2013 which does correspond to Registry data of unknown purchaser on 02/28/2013 but the entire typed-in vehicle and owner data looks a bit dark as compared to the rest of the jpeg image scan. Its also titled to Austin Box Trucks LLC which seems a bit odd.
About the same time I’m looking at this title, I get a phone call from a guy in PA referred by Competizione of MD to see if I know anything about the car. I tell him I have a PPI scheduled for a gentleman from California. He seems a bit perturbed as he tells me he just talked to the seller who failed to mention a buyer was having a PPI done. We talk a bit and I ask him how much is the seller asking for the car. He tells me $71k. He tells me the seller is a Box Truck Company that took the car in on trade for two new box trucks. $71k? Box Truck trade in? Price seems too good to be true as data I have shows it sold for twice that and Yang had told me he would have bought the car if it was around $110k as he thought it needed an engine build and was missing a lot of little original odds and ends.

I get off the phone and start looking at the title very closely but then get busy with clients in and out of the workshop. I finally get a chance to sit back down to my desk and begin looking at the title again opening it with Professional Adobe Photoshop to look for any signs of doctoring or layering. I compare with a couple original Texas Titles I have in hand and scan them into Photoshop and play with various contrast and brightness to get it close to what I received from buyer. I notice even when matching contrast of the watermarks and bordering, the typing is not as bold on the ones I have on hand and of very slightly different font. Then I notice it is missing the new license plate number as well as the Gross Vehicle weight. Further see the date has dots instead of dashes like the other two i.e. 03.02.2013 versus 03/02/2013 I run the chassis number through Texas DMV and it comes up with a different car and a different title number.
I send the buyer my scanned images of other titles as well as data from the Texas DMV. It seems we both were thinking alike simultaneously as I receive an email from him while sending mine that he had done a title search on the car and it appears to be current in Idaho. He wants to talk immediately thinking maybe the car is wrecked and rebuilt or may be stolen. He then gets my email and now he and I both are thinking the worse, SCAM.
We get on the phone; this is around 5:30pm yesterday. We look at all the correspondence (he sends me copies) he has together. I ask if he had sent a deposit yet and he tells me $2600 last week. I go to the ad on AutoTraderClassics.com and I also visit the website of this box truck company. The address is less than 3 miles from my shop. We both look at the building in Google maps in satellite imaging going to the address for the company. I drive over and find out the building is a City of Austin truck service center…..not Austin Box Truck Company.
I call the guy and tell him the bad news. Was not a phone call that I enjoyed.

This guy got scammed by someone very sophisticated who went to a lot of trouble making it look very legit but by using photos of an eBay sale back in December to make his ad on AutoTraderClassic.com. He talked to not only the buyer but with me to schedule a PPI. I would venture he spent time on Google maps scanning areas where he could come up with an address that had a bird’s eye view of a building with Box trucks in the lot then created a website for the business with a link to the map.
I call Richard this morning at Competizione and tell him to contact his client in PA to relay it was a scam and as he said "You know if it sounds too good to be true it usually is too good to be true". We've all heard that before.

Bottom line, be careful. Do your homework. Call people for references before sending money. This guy got burned bad but could have been worse I suppose.
This is the second time I’ve witnessed this type of scam this year. The other was with a Porsche GT3 for sale on eBay. The potential buyer fortunately knew me and called first to see if it was legit as again it was a too good to be true price. I looked at the car and immediately recognized it as one of my client’s cars. I called him to find out he had it on eBay the month before but sold it to a local Architect (who I know) and he delivered it himself. The Architect still owns the car but the scammer was using previous eBay photos and descriptions etc. and was trying to take a deposit off of eBay for the car sale.
Scam artists are getting cleverer every day and are using technology to make things look totally legit. BE DAMN CAREFUL and pass the word. We all need to watch each other's back.

David Moore
Moorespeed LLC Austin Texas

 

Thanks Alan, but unfortunately about a week shy of saving the guy his deposit. Hopefully he was able to convince the airlines to refund his plane ticket.

Yes, if you take a quick glance on Google Earth it legitimizes the business location and box trucks convincingly.

He filed a police report and I have sent all the details to a connection I have with TDPS. I'm sure they will tell us there is nothing that can be done, but you never know.

 

UPDATE.

Auto Trader Classics saw this post and called me this morning. They told me they are passing on all info to the Feds as they are already working with them on this type of Scam and many other cases. They told me there was a crime ring out of Romania that was hitting "all" the online car, boat, trucks, RV etc sales sites just to name one.

I also talked with my connection with a special task force that is a liaison between Austin PD, Texas DPS and the Feds. He says its a real problem but one of the oldest scams there is going and that these guys are getting very sophisticated. He traced the I.P. to Germany. Phone no. is with SWBell but forwards out of US. The money trail is hard to keep up with as they stay one step ahead being mobile constantly. They are also passing this post on to all divisions within APD and others. He said its very hard to nail these rings.

He told me the guy got off light as an elderly couple only a few weeks ago lost a ton of cash when they flew into town to pickup their new luxury RV that did not exist.

 

you've got to be kidding

 

Yes very similar considering it has the same title number and same angle and same......
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

PM me with your email address

I can put you in direct touch with Daniel Cary Sr. Security Engineer at AutoTrader. They are working with the Feds on this and have for quite some time now. The more info they can get the better chance they have of following the money trail quickly to catch them. From my discussions with him and my friend on the special task force there is a "Mule" in Austin where the money is wired to or was as they may have already pulled up stakes. The more info they get the better chance they have of tracking, following, arresting the Mule to lead them to the next step

thanks D