Scammer warning

Mike Gayner · 10-05-2006, 03:39 PM

Seems there are some scammers making the rounds on New Zealand websites, advertising cars for unbelievably low prices. My old lady is searching for a used convertible in the $20-30,000 bracket and came across a very cheap 911 Carrera, 200 model for $25,500 on trademe.co.nz . An email enquiry was replied to with this:

Quote:

Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry and genuine interest in my car. First of all I must inform you that I'm currently in London,England and also I have to let you know that the Porsche is here with me and it is in a perfect condition. If you are really interested we can work something out. I can ship out the car to you or something like that. What do you say?

Car's condition is outstanding. It has done 25,000 km. My asking price is $25,500 NZ(including shipping).
The car works and looks perfectly; I think it would get to this. The car is New Zealand street legal, it doesn't need any conversion and it meets all regulations.
The car is as new, with no scratches and it was never involved in an accident.The paint looks just as new, the car was always garaged.

When I took the car here, I've tried to register it but I found that the import and registration taxes are very high. I was very disappointed, because I love this car and now I am forced to sell it. I can't sell it here in England or in Europe, because it is NZ street legal. You can see this, if you will check the VIN. The car was registered in NZ before. This is the reason that I want to sell the car in New Zealand because European people don't like it prepared this way. The other offers that I have are also from NZ.

Waiting for your reply!

Thanks,

Maria Manson

This is obviously a scam, but unfortunately there are people stupid and greedy enough to fall for it. Now yesterday she found, on a different website, ( finda.co.nz ) a 2003 BMW Z4 for $18,500. And email enquiry was met with this reply:

Quote:

Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry and genuine interest in my car. First of all I must inform you that I'm currently in Rome, Italy and also I have to let you know that the Bmw Z4 Roadster 2003 is here with me and it is in a perfect condition. If you are really interested we can work something out. I can ship out the car to you or something like that. What do you say?
Car's condition is outstanding. It has done 9,000km. My asking price is $18500 NZ.
The car works and looks perfectly; I think it would get to this. The car is New Zealand street legal, it doesn't need any conversion and it meets all regulations.
The car is as new, with no scratches and it was never involved in an accident. You can check the VIN (WBABT32070LS20567) on www.autocheckextra.co.nz. The paint looks just as new, the car was always garaged.
When I took the car here, I've tried to register it but I found that the import and register taxes are very high. I was very disappointed, because I love this car and now I am forced to sell it. I can't sell it here in Italy or in Europe, because it is NZ street legal. You can see this, if you will check the VIN. The car was registered in NZ before. This is the reason that I want to sell the car in New Zealand because European people don't like it prepared this way. The other offers that I have are also from NZ.
Waiting for your reply!
Thanks,
John.

Notice the similarities? Thought I would share this with you, if it's happening in NZ there's a good chance it's happening over the ditch.

fiery · 10-05-2006, 03:47 PM

Wow.. that is bad and bizarre..

The one thing about buying any car is that you would want to see it before actually purchasing it unless you were buying it from a reputable auction place...

GreenMachine · 10-05-2006, 03:55 PM

Yeah, this one comes up all the time... Usually they say they're overseas with the army and can get cheap shipping etc...

Buyer beware...

Dazza XLT · 10-05-2006, 03:57 PM

Yes, there was a topic on here about a red GT that was advertised, which actually belonged to a member here. That letter is almost word for word the same as the other letter too,.

TotalDriver · 10-05-2006, 04:15 PM

In the words of the late, great Australian - Maurie Fields

"Flamin' Mongrels!"

Thornie · 10-05-2006, 06:23 PM

that same scam has been going on, on ebay for a long time now.

Joes_meat · 10-05-2006, 10:37 PM

There's a series 6 RX7 going for $11K buy it now. I'm thinking there's something very wrong with that...

BABOSS · 11-05-2006, 04:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joes_meat

There's a series 6 RX7 going for $11K buy it now. I'm thinking there's something very wrong with that...

Maybe it's a 1:2 scale drivable model

:

mcflux · 11-05-2006, 01:02 PM

Nigeria... bah!

EF, What else? · 11-05-2006, 01:28 PM

I dont think its just New Zealand sites, my brother was looking at an unbelievably cheap Toyota Supra as well, but came to the conclusion that if its to good to be true, it usually is