Over on the Classifieds section of the Classic Nation website I often see cars that look solid and are being offered at a reasonable price. Every now and then I see some really great deals on project cars. But – it’s rare to stumble on something that looks like a finished car at a project car price. Here is what I saw:
The posting for this car listed some details about the car. $5,000 was the asking price.
I knew the $5K price had to either be a typo, or a scammer. So – I sent an email to the person who listed the car. I had done this once before when, on a popular class car classified website, I saw a $12,000 ’65 Cobra for sale and sent an email. The response I got about the Cobra clearly indicated it was a scammer. For this Mustang, I already expected this to be the case.
This is an unedited email thread between myself and the person who listed this car:
Always be cautious when purchasing items from private parties online and do your research. Hopefully you never have to deal with a scammer like this. If you find yourself in a similar situation, please, please, PLEASE mess with them (and hopefully they become better people because of it).
23 Comments
Charlene Tiffany
Evan- went thru the same thing with a thunderbird, same company to deal with, same thing no phone contact and the person was in the military in Greece….I even got the money out of the bank to send and my nephew said NO that does not sound right, you need to see the car first. I retired from an airline so I fly for free, No could not see it, it was already to ship, same as yours, someone else was gong to purchase and did not. What a scam…..really upsets me…..well glad we both came out ahead on the deal and did not loose any money.
George Larocca
saw a guy buy a charger from canada frim e bat paid 12k the pictuers were of the car whe he finaly receive the car on the us border he couldn’t beleave what he just bought a pure rust bucket the pictures were 10 years old cost him another 10 grand to ge the car back in shape.
Charlene Tiffany
Matthew I did that with my scam stuff and they could do nothing, the email was not a real set up, there was no person they could trace….it was quite a mess….
Stephan Kirsch
Yeah, the bad English is always a dead giveaway.
Niki Mosier
Jerks! yeah always be weary when buying something from someone not local. If I HAVE to have something shipped I use an auto transport company that I choose- not the seller. Good luck- good job realizing he was a scammer- what a jerk.