purchaser scams
 

OK -Here's the scenario -you list a car for sale, immediately someone contacts you wanting to purchase it for the asking price, no PPI, no additional pics. Says he will wire the money. So, obviously too good to be true. But what is the scam? What happens when I say sure, wire me the money and when my bank says the money is there you can have your shipper come get the car?

If it's a scam... it is probably to get your acct or routing numbers. Likely the fellow is just excited to purchase the vehicle. Tell him he's got dibs until you can sort out a more reasonable form of payment. Reminds me of the "Rich prince from x country, just need you to take some $$ of money off his hands."

Wih the 911 market it might not be.
But, if it says something like I'll send funds via Paypal. Buying for father or family member. Work in oil rig off shore and cannot see in person. Will send rep to pickup. It's a scam.

I went through some of this when I sold my 240Z to a gentleman in Norway. Researched the wire transfer bit, my bank assured me that the routing info that I would give to the buyer could not be used to withdraw funds, only to deposit. And despite the claims from a few people, most people (including my bank) said there is no possible way for wired funds to be "recalled" or reversed. Once they are in your bank, they are yours.

Not saying that this is not a scam, but that using wire transfers is not part of the scam.

Worried about routing and account numbers? Just open a new account just for that purpose and then xfer the funds out right away after it clears.

I just did that last week. Sold a 911 to a guy in Slovakia. Opened a savings account. money wired to the new account, cleared 4 days later. Transferred to a different account. Not reversible like PayPal funds. Made me nervous too at first. A lot better than taking a cashiers check or PayPal like I did on the last two international transactions. Only pain is dealing with the shipper.

I had this happen last summer. The same day I posted my SC for a price I didn't expect to get someone from Amsterdam offered me full asking. I ignored it as a scam but he was persistent. In the end he was for real. He wired me the full amount and arranged the shipping. Be cautious but don't assume it's bogus.

I work for a financial. Wires can be reversed, but generally only within a few hours. I recommend a temporary savings account for the funds to go into then move the money to your regular account. It's tough to wire money out of someone else's account, but not impossible. It's quite easy to ACH money out unfortunately. There is more recourse with ACH, but the thieves are getting pretty good at disappearing.

So many scammers. Whether looking to buy or sell. The classics mentioned above. few posts on this forum, asking for personal information etc. scam. This is big time evident when you post want to buy.
Stay cautious my friends

Even "verified funds" can be reversed AFAIK.
Sometimes weeks later.

When the funds originate from a PayPal account opened with a stolen credit card:
Between you and the bank, guess who loses?

I have a account for wire transfers, and I keep $5-20 in it to just keep it open. Then I get the money wired to that account, take it out and transfer to different acct. Have done it more than a dozen times with car and truck sales. Once the money is out of that acct. its yours!

When I put my RX-8 up for sale, I had three people text me within minutes offering to pay me full asking price through PayPal. I told them that my e-mail address for the PayPal account was: onlinescams@fbi.gov.

Is there an automatic 4 day hold on the transfer of funds/availablity of cash when doing a wire transfer? Just make sure the "buyer" doesn't come to pick up the car before you have his money transferred to a different account or $100 bills in your hand.....You could lose his money, and your car !

^^^^ THIS^^^^^^ Do not make the assumption the bank will absorb any risk on your behalf. I don't care what they say in person, if the funding source is discovered to be false or have "zero" balance guess what the next step is? They immediately debit your account for that amount.

There was a factual story recently about this very subject where some person with a supposed verified account and routing number wires (from off shore) a substantial amount for a car / motorcycle. Seller sees $$$ arrived in his account, releases vehicle and title an shipper picks it up. Then something like 2-3 weeks later bank calls seller and says the account where the funding came form appeared to be legit but was not.

Now bank tells seller account is debited for entire amount need to work out how to address that. Vehicle is gone, with the title and seller is effed.....................don't think that won't happen. Last wire transfer I received was from Italy for a bike I sold on Ebay. In the ad I stated wire transfers only for balance and I would hold it for 7 business days before releasing the bike to shipper. In most cases when shipping overseas there is some delay when the deal is complete and when the shipper arrives to pick it up.

At my bank, once the funds have been wired -- they're available.

When I sold my 914-6 vintage race car the buyer asked if he could pay by US Postal money orders. I said yes and when I talked to him on the phone he said that Puerto Rico has limits on how much you can send out of the country each day? He said he could send 10x $1,000 money orders every other day so I checked with my neighbor who is a retired postal inspector and he said they do have rules like that. He said the bank will be able to verify the mo's with the PO when I take them in so all will be safe. That is what I did and after getting the full amount I set up the car in a trailer for shipping with his company from Florida. Other than several trips to the credit union it went well.

I did have a person from Bulgaria, two from Russia and one from Malaysia and all wanted to wire funds but I turned them down.

Sold my last 911 to someone in the UK. Opened an account at a bank just for that transaction. After the wire came in, I got a cashier's check and closed the account.

Just sold my 1983 911 SC for $19K cash today. Do not ever do a wire transfer. Do not give your account numbers per my banker. If a foreigner is wanting to "wire" you funds it is a scam.

Congrats on your sale, but the rest of your post is way off base (having sold plenty of cars via international wire transfer, like many other here). As has been offered here freely several times, if giving out account numbers gives concern, open up a new account for the transaction, cash it out once the wire is final, and close the account.

LeeH: With some banks it's that easy.
Others will put a long hold on deposited funds.

My bank automatically places holds on my new deposits, despite many times the amount held in reserves for years and years.
It is a pain.

I don't believe that is necessarily a bad thing.
Thieves could potentially work both sides of a fraudulent transaction, and leave the bank holding the bill.
Again and again and again.

There was recently a huge international bank heist in the news: BBC News - Cyber bank robbers steal $1bn, says Kaspersky report

Absolutely correct. When people buy houses, they wire a heck of a lot more into a bank account, sure, usually done through escrow co.