Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scammer!!

[Peter R.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Well, despite all the reporting we've done the auction has less than 25 minutes to go and eBay has not pulled it. Looks like my car is going to "sell." And the high-bidder to likely to get burned. Will be interesting to watch the last few minutes.

[Peter R.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

The auction ran to its scheduled conclusion, received 48 bids from 10 bidders, was bid up to $43,925, but the reserve was not met. Given that the listing was allowed to run to its conclusion, this was the best possible outcome. Nobody got burned. But we'll be watching to see if it gets re-listed. Hopefully there is some law enforcement activity in the background that catches the guy first.

[Joe L.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

The auction ran to its scheduled conclusion, received 48 bids from 10 bidders, was bid up to $43,925, but the reserve was not met. Given that the listing was allowed to run to its conclusion, this was the best possible outcome. Nobody got burned. But we'll be watching to see if it gets re-listed. Hopefully there is some law enforcement activity in the background that catches the guy first.

Peter-----


One of the bidders might contact the seller to see if they can do an off-eBay "sale". Or, the "seller" might contact one or more of the bidders and ask them to make an offer for an off-eBay transaction. In fact, either one of these possibilities might be just what the "seller" has planned from the get-go.

The thing I do not understand is this Google Wallet thing. It sounds like this is, basically, a kind of escrow service. So, I do not understand how the "seller" plans to get the money if the buyer is not satisfied and doesn't release it.

[Peter R.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Yes, I don't get the Google Wallet thing, either. And yes, further contacts between the scammer and bidders is quite possible, and I'd even say quite likely. for setting up an off-eBay transaction. So you're right, someone might still get burned.

[Russ C.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Of course the seller can now contact 3-4 of the bidders and offer them the car off E-bay. this way he stands to profit 3-4 times the high bid amount. hopefully one of the "high bidders" has other plans for the guy.

[Dale C.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Look him up on that people finder service (it showed a Denver Address for his number) and drop him a line.

[Michael J.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

OK, so this has been re-listed and is for sale again. This is very odd for a fraud car.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331120982316?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:VRI&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2661

[Peter R.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Yes, it was re-listed after the reserve was not met the first time. The scammer apparently feels like he can continue to list the car fraudulently with impunity. Numerous reports to eBay by me and others have done nothing. A report and a follow-up, both by me, to the Internet Crime Complaint Center has done no good. I announced the scam here on the forum when the car was first listed, so hopefully no NCRS members will be fooled by it. Maybe this time it will "sell." We'll see.

[Michael W.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Peter-

I appreciate that this is your car in the pictures and you're very kindly looking out for others by warning them, but there is no VIN mentioned anywhere in the eBay ad that I can see. Even the license plate has been blanked out. This pretty much means that the scammer is not able to sell your car. In a real stretch, possibly he actually has a red '54 for sale and is just borrowing your pictures (ya right). I do find it strange that he lists a phone number and invites test drives.

There's dozens if not hundreds of these phony ads on eBay everyday. It's virtually every brand of car and every model and amazingly not just the desirable ones in top shape. Must keep the eBay people busy sorting this all out.

[Peter R.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

As mentioned in an earlier post, when my daughter asked the scammer for a picture of the VIN plate, he sent her a picture of it and it clearly shows the VIN plate (and VIN) from my car. I also posted that picture. I'm not concerned that he would actually be able to sell my car.

[Joe L.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

As mentioned in an earlier post, when my daughter asked the scammer for a picture of the VIN plate, he sent her a picture of it and it clearly shows the VIN plate (and VIN) from my car. I also posted that picture. I'm not concerned that he would actually be able to sell my car.

Pete-----


Could this be a clone of your car including a cloned VIN? For example, if one were to have a stolen 1954 Corvette, one would not want to offer it for sale with the original VIN plate since that VIN would be in law enforcement data bases as a stolen vehicle. However, if one knew of the VIN from another 54 Corvette that one was sure was clean (like yours), he could clone that VIN and not have to worry about it coming up stolen. There's no national database which would reveal the existence of duplicate VINs, so the seller wouldn't have to worry about that. It would be a problem if the buyer tried to register the car in your state but the seller could be long-gone before the buyer found that out. Plus, there's only 1 chance in 50 of that even happening.

[Peter R.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Well, I can tell you that the pictures in the eBay listing are not of a clone--they are of my car from when it was for sale by R&H Motor Cars in Solon, OH, in 2011. And the photo of the VIN plate that he sent to my daughter is from the same R&H web site. The pictures of my car that he used are still on the R&H website and easily found, even though they sold the car 3 years ago. So the pictures are readily available for anyone, like this scammer, to use. Does the scammer have an actual '54 that he would hand over to the high bidder? I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible.

[Joe L.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Well, I can tell you that the pictures in the eBay listing are not of a clone--they are of my car from when it was for sale by R&H Motor Cars in Solon, OH, in 2011. And the photo of the VIN plate that he sent to my daughter is from the same R&H web site. The pictures of my car that he used are still on the R&H website and easily found, even though they sold the car 3 years ago. So the pictures are readily available for anyone, like this scammer, to use. Does the scammer have an actual '54 that he would hand over to the high bidder? I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible.

Pete-----


I still can't figure out how he plans to get around the escrow thing and get his money without the buyer getting something satisfactory.

[Gary C.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

Pete,

Have you tried the FBI ? They might be interested since it's an Inter State Commerce transaction and possibly wire fraud. JMTCW,

Gary
....

[Michael W.]

Re: Beware of 1954 Corvette scam listing on eBay -- my car is being "sold" by a scamm

As mentioned in an earlier post, when my daughter asked the scammer for a picture of the VIN plate, he sent her a picture of it and it clearly shows the VIN plate (and VIN) from my car. I also posted that picture. I'm not concerned that he would actually be able to sell my car.

Sorry about that, missed that post.

Why not create a userID and bid 100K or more on the car each and every time it appears on eBay? Either the scammer or eBay will soon take notice.