A few years ago I joined the Jeremy Clarkson appreciation society and bought a touring caravan. It wasn't pretty and wasn't modern but it's done the job for the last few years and the kids love it.
I'm tentatively looking at buying a newer van and so usually end up trawling through eBay to see what's about.
Recently I've come across a couple of classified ads on the bay for very nice vans at unbelievably low money. All the ads are from different sellers who usually have low feedback score (not percentage, just number of transactions) and all the ads have an email address to contact and a request to leave a telephone number in the description.
This has my bullshit sensor tingling like mad. It's quite clearly a scam of some sort, but what? The ad is classified so no money is changing hands via PayPal etc - are they just harvesting email addresses and phone numbers?
The latest of the ads I've come across is here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-COMPASS-RALLYE-644-TWIN-AXLE-4-BERTH-CARAVAN-/162408381314?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276 There's no way anyone if their right mind would be letting that go for four grand, so what's the catch?
The guy also has a number of other vehicles for sale at stupidly low prices with the same format.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
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I mean, if I'm going to purchase a vehicle off eBay I'm going to take a look at it first, and if I'm going to take a look at it I'm probably going to take cash with me in case I want to buy it, especially if it's as cheap as what he's selling for.
If he insists on bank transfer up front then surely it's going to take a special kind of stupid to transfer the dosh before going to take a look?
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/jessicainvestigates/12087155/I-paid-5190-for-a-car-on-eBay-where-is-it.html
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
You're well within your rights to not part with any cash until you've checked out the caravan though
Twisted Imaginings - A Horror And Gore Themed Blog http://bit.ly/2DF1NYi
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
1. hijack an ebay account that has positive rating
2. flood it with desirable items and low prices (remember that vehicles don't come under eBays protection policy)
3. hope that someone somewhere stupidly pays up front/puts a deposit down
4. shut down the account and do a runner. hijack another account and keep doing the same.
you'll see lots of these accounts with new listings of 30-40 desirable cars that all have the same format in the description.
similar account: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/jenna.hunt/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
here's a facebook page dedicated to exposing this type of scam: https://www.facebook.com/oneeyed.jack.1291/
hope that sheds some light on it
It's an eBay 'Classified Ad' which is a bit different, and the seller puts his contact details in the ad. The transaction is then carried out outside eBay and it's usual protections.
If you buy it through eBay, you'd get your money back. eBay does get a lot of flack on here, but they do protect the buyer, sometimes even excessively to the seller's detriment.
In the case of the car in the telegraph link, it's hard to have too much sympathy with someone who spends £5k without even seeing the car. If you check out other sources, the same car was probably £7-8k so it kind of tells you something's amiss.
If you listen to You and Yours on Radio 4, you'll be astounded at just how many people out there are so gullible.
Twisted Imaginings - A Horror And Gore Themed Blog http://bit.ly/2DF1NYi
Take a look at his email address btt6@redfapp.co.uk and Google it. It comes up with a lot of hits to sites listing it as a scam.
There is also no consistency with an of his pictures. Each car is photographed with a different background.
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