by "dustin_driver" (dustin-driver)
Published 11/19/2017 at 20:08
by "dustin_driver" (dustin-driver)
Published 11/19/2017 at 20:08
No Tags
STARS: 9
I sell a lot of cars on Craigslist (#jaloplife), and I get a lot of scam replies to my ads. Most of the time I can spot them right away, but lately I’ve been getting more sophisticated phishing scam attempts from VIN report websites.
Here’s how it goes down: I post my Craigslist ad and within a day or two I receive a reasonable email from an interested buyer. For example:
Is your VW still available? Would you bargain a bit?
Or:
Hi ,
I like your VW , do you have service records that I can see ?
Fairly reasonable messages, despite the extra spaces and the curious use of the word “bargain” instead of “haggle.” I respond, because I want to sell the car, and I receive a few more reasonable questions about service history and vehicle condition. Then, after about three messages, I get a canned request to buy a vehicle history report:
Hello again,
Fine, that sounds really good to me. I’d be grateful a lot if you could purchase the report and that you obtain it on [REDACTED] because they’re the most reliable in my opinion. They’re a way cheaper than a CarFax and you know how it is, every dollar you save counts. I don’t want to pay for it because if it’s bad then I surely won’t buy your vehicle, but you could always show it to another interested person.
Hope to hear from you soon, Jacob
Here’s another one, from another person, referring to a different VIN report site:
Hello again,
I’d be grateful if you could purchase the report and that you pull it from [REDACTED] because they’re the most accurate to me at the moment. They’re a way cheaper than a CarFax and you know how it is, every dollar you save counts. I don’t want to pay for it because if it’s bad then I surely won’t buy your vehicle, but you could always show it to another customer who wants to check it out.
Hope to hear from you soon, Todd
Two different messages, one from Jacob Hensley and another from Todd Kelley. Obviously both from the same phishing scam, but point to two different sites. I won’t link to them here because, well, they’re scams. Beware these fake requests and don’t get any kind of VIN report from an unknown site. Or maybe at all. If someone wants a history report on your car, they can pay for it.
If you stumble on any of these scams, you can report them to the
Better Business Bureau
or the
FBI
or
Google
.
Good luck out there, Jalops. Stay safe.
"E92M3" (E46M3)
11/20/2017 at 00:04, STARS: 1
They do seem like interested buyers at first. I had a car listed on Cars.com and paid for the Carfax to be visible with the AD. It also wasn’t a car someone on the other side of the country couldn’t find a lot closer. I knew they were bogus because of that, and realized they are just trying to get people to waste money buying reports on their website.
"dustin_driver" (dustin-driver)
11/20/2017 at 14:47, STARS: 0
I reported the sites to both the BBB and Google. I didn’t take the step of reporting them to the FBI because I don’t want that kind of heat on me... wink wink ;)
"C.M." (surfcrab)
04/14/2018 at 19:27, STARS: 0
I I knew this was a scam. People said I’m interested in your 1993 Ford van can you please check VIN number and send me report. Now here’s where I knew they were scamming. I’ve looked at several 1993 Ford vans and I really like yours. Who in the hell is looking at strictly 1993 Ford vans over 30 years later. Now here’s what I do I downloaded a photo of the emblem for the FBI. I immediately send it to them and say stay where you are officers will be converging on you within 10 minutes. I don’t know if it scares them but I’d like to think it keeps them wasting time on worrying if it’s true or not
"Aaron Ivan U" (aaivau)
11/08/2018 at 22:34, STARS: 0
I have not heard of this before and it’s strange that they are pitching car reports this way when anybody can use the free vehicle history reports from a good number of reliable sources. In fact, as a private seller, you should probably start with a free service like VinCheck.info and then it would be up to the buyer to buy from a paid provider. There are good reasons to use this particular site which is essentially a paid service that somebody has paid for. (So there, some online advertisers are paying for the quality vehicle data just to be able to display their banner on the site.) You get pretty much the same information you need to show buyers you’re honest and sincere about the car’s history.