How To Avoid Online Auto Sales Scams

The story may seem familiar: the consumer is looking to buy some sort of big ticket item. A car, truck, or perhaps an RV. Whatever. The Internet and various companies have sprung up over the past couple of decades which facilitates these types of transactions. In fact, companies like Ebay, Craigslist, and a number of smaller auction sites, have not only opened up marketplaces, they have legitimately created a world wide trading zone allowing one to purchase just about anything they might desire.

Now enter the “too good to be true” deal. The saying is a familiar one as well. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Combine this with the facilities available online, and the environment is now created for scam operators to take advantage of buyers simply looking for an exceptional bargain.

The following list outlines just a few of the most glaring conditions one should be aware of when in the market for a big ticket item:

• Extremely Low Pricing: With just a little bit of comparison shopping it is easy to have a firm grasp on current market values for an item. The allure of many scams is the amazingly low price associated with something that should be much more expensive under normal conditions.And that’s the rub. There is always a story which comes along to explain why the price is so low. The reasons vary from needing to make a mortgage payment to emergency medical treatments. If the price seems too low and there is a sob story, buyer beware.
• Lack of Legitimate Contact Information: Since the seller creates the ads on Craigslist.org they decide what contact information is included or not. If the ad does not have a phone number of address of where the vehicle is located, again, beware. One common tactic here is the ad poster will claim to be in the military and/or traveling outside of the country, so contact is impossible.
• Image Ads On Craigslist: Some scammers are so lazy they won’t even take the time to copy and paste or just type in the text copy of an ad. Instead they simply make a screen grab of someone else’s legitimate ad and post the entire image, vehicle photos, text, etc. While not always a dead give away, many folks who’ve gotten cheated report this was how the original ad they responded to was crafted.
• Use of Escrow Services: Theoretically a service which receives payment from a buyer and waits until both parties are satisfied before releasing funds to the seller are a fine way of transacting businesses. Real estate, fine art, and many other legitimate businesses have performed sales this way for centuries. In the online scam, however, the seller will attempt to soothe the buyer’s concerns by indicating they will transact the purchase through such a service. A very popular scam technique is for a buyer to be told by a Craigslist seller they will be using Ebay as their escrow service. This should be an immediate red flag as Ebay absolutely does not provide these type of transaction services.
• Beware of Money Orders: While there are some very legitimate uses of money order services, the amount of legitimate online transactions which use Western Union or Money Gram are dwindling. Paypal, and other similar online payment systems are much safer and usually have the backing of the company to protect against fraud. Money laundering based upon the sale of big ticket items listed on Ebay or Craigslist (items which usually do not exist, by the way) can get even innocent parties in trouble with local, state and federal authorities. If requirements of a purchase state you must send money to an unknown third party in this or any other country, reconsider your purchase.
• Desiring To Get the Amazing Deal: Consumers who are obsessed with getting the too good to be true deals are usually the primary targets for these sorts of online scams. Understand that within certain parameters, things cost what they cost. Certainly there are the occasional good deals, but anything beyond a reasonable “good” should be suspect.

Jessica Bower is a freelance writer who believes in getting the best deals and keeping the web free of scams. She works with My Credit Group to make this possible.