“Stolen Dealer Identity” Baits Car Shoppers

[djkimmel]

Another great example of the 'If it sounds too good to be true' rule.

Online 'Dealers' Are Scamming Customers
Kevin Ransom
Correspondent, Aol Autos

Call it a sad commentary on our modern world, but we've grown accustomed to tales of identity theft. It seems that those unwilling to woodchip their credit card receipts have a decent chance of opening up a Visa bill full of pain. A new twist on this sort of criminal activity is making its way through the used car  market, however, but it doesn't involve stealing identities from individuals. Instead, thieves are impersonating entire dealerships in order to bilk car shoppers out of too-good-to-be-true online sales.

Read entire story on Aol Autos

[djkimmel]

Why ANYONE in this day and age would wire transfer money to anyone through an Internet or phone contact will never cease to amaze me!?! Car sales scams for cars that don't exist have been going on for a while and not just through the Internet.

The 419 scams out of Nigeria, and now other regions, have fooled doctors, lawyers, people from every walk of life. Recently there was news about government agents who had been bilked out of their life savings just because someone dropped a name they recognized!!! Oh! You're friends with him! Sure I'll trust you with my life savings! Amazing!!

I get offers every few months to buy one of my domains, often for high prices. The vast majority of them I never hear from again the moment I mention that I only sell through an online, secure, well-known, longstanding escrow service, accepting no other options.

I just sold one of my new domains that I wasn't really stuck on yet this week because of a contact who immediately said they wanted to go through the escrow service for payment. Now that will usually be a legitimate buyer.

Rule 1: The ancient rule - if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Rule 2: Business is business - if someone is offended because you want to do something the way you should in business - contracts, escrow, etc., they are not in business. They are either a scammer (most likely) or don't know how business is done. Either way, the best action is to move on.

Rule 3: Never want something so bad in business that you will run risks to make it happen. This and not heeding rule 1 are why scammers are successful enough to keep at it so fervently.