Tobias Auto Sales New Scam Alert

[silver98c2s]

A fellow Porsche enthusiast alerted me another of these fakes websites. Its smells like the same group as Smokey Auto Sales.

Tobias Auto Sales
Tom Lufkin Jr
469-206-2330

TOBIAS AUTO SALES, INC. in Dallas, Texas

Google earth shows a car trailer with a bunch of wrecked cars.

[Lapkritis]

Contact the webmaster at the bottom of their web page and have it reviewed/pulled.

[trader220]

Interesting that all of the photos of their cars are in different locations. If you're a dealer shooting pic of inventory you'd think the same background location would show up in many of your pictures.

The price on the Nissan GTR is way below even the wholesale market

Maybe I am wrong but I dont think they have Palm Trees in Dallas either and there are palms in the pictures of the GTR

[Dpmulvan]

These scams are everywhere, I just can't believe people still fall for them

[rjm6311]

Another scam website is directly related to Tobias....it is Apollo Truck Sales, supposedly in Kennewick, WA. They listed a restored, numbers matching '63 Super 90 for like $28k. They sent me pictures of a lovely example with a "COA" that was a funky looking Texas title for a '64 Cab registered to Tobias Auto Sales!!! They have a restored '67 912 now that shows a picture of a '68, and a perfect '58 Corvette fuelie for $28k. The "founders" of Tobias and Apollo are the same guys with the same bio.

[Synchro Joe]

When shopping online for a car, if it sounds too good to be true … it is! Some good advice here, taken from some legal bulletins on this these types of scams.

Pity Scam
A scammer, posing as a seller, concocts a sad story about why they need to sell the car quickly, e.g. about to relocated, impending divorce, death of a relative, etc. The story is meant to explain why the car’s asking price is much lower than its current market value, and it puts pressure on you to make a hasty decision to buy. If you fall victim to this scam it’s likely you’ll end up paying for a car that may not exist or may have major mechanical problems.

Location, Location, Location Scam
In this scam you find a vehicle listed for sale locally. After you contact the seller, you are told that the vehicle is actually located somewhere out of the area, but it can be shipped to you for a “fee”. If you fall victim to this scam you’ll never receive the vehicle but the scammer will get away with the “fee” you paid.

A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words Scam
This scam involves a vehicle listed for sale online. The advertisement lists an accurate market value for the car shown. However, the picture shown in the ad shows a much lower price written on the car. The scammer tells you the price of the car is the amount shown in the picture, explaining the price was reduced due to the seller needing to leave the area, the death of a family member, etc. If you fall victim to this scam you’ll pay the reduced rate, but you’ll never receive the vehicle.

Transaction Protection Scam
Here the scammer tries to push you into a transaction protection arrangement or plan. You are asked to send a deposit for the asking price of the vehicle. The protection plan is to ensure that if you don’t buy the vehicle, you will be reimbursed for the entire amount you sent as a deposit. Fake websites that appear to be legitimate are frequently used with this scam, including Google and EBay. If you fall victim to this scam you will find out that there really wasn’t any protection plan and the scammer has disappeared along with your money.

The You Can’t See It Scam
This scam also uses a story telling you why the seller is unable to physically show you the vehicle such as the seller was called out of town unexpectedly or has been called up for military duty, etc. The seller then asks you to send the purchase price in full and tells you the title will be sent to you when the vehicle is shipped. Of course, if you fall victim to this scam, the vehicle is never shipped and your payment is long gone.

You should NEVER purchase a vehicle or send payment for a vehicle without seeing it first. And let's not forget the PayPal account closed, wire transfer only, gmail account stuff we see here so often.

[Dpmulvan]

Their website is down now, somebody must have gotten to them good work!!!

[willobey]

Bogus Kennewick car company scams man out of $28,000 | Crime & court news | Tri-CityHerald.com

[willobey]

I was lucky, my wire was frozen by the Bank at 8:00 AM this morning. My gut told me last night something was wrong and I was damn lucky.
When you look at the article I just posted, these jerks have been reported in April and nobody shoot them down. I found their next bate in Texas a 52' Pickup and I have tried all day to get it of Craigslist. I feel like Don'Quichote fighting windmills

[willobey]

No site is still up

[ozone]

Same number used here:
.1965 Porsche 911 SCAM

[GH85Carrera]

The movie from 1939 said it all.

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

If you see a car for sale that is priced way under market value and you are thinking you are the shark, watch out the bigger shark is luring you into a trap.

Paying full market price is no grantee of an honest deal but the other old addage is accurate, If if sounds too good to be true it most likely is.

[Dpmulvan]

Simple solution is not to wire money! Get on a plane and go look in person.

[Jerome74911S]

I just clicked on the Tobias link. It's gone.

[billh1963]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The movie from 1939 said it all.

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

If you see a car for sale that is priced way under market value and you are thinking you are the shark, watch out the bigger shark is luring you into a trap.

Paying full market price is no grantee of an honest deal but the other old addage is accurate, If if sounds too good to be true it most likely is.

Truer words never spoken

[Miniwerks]

I was able to get their site shut down and now working with law enforcement to close in on these cowards. Also working with their bank exposing the interstate wire fraud. With time and persistence they will get theirs. The 65 911 I responded to looked good on top but had serious chassis and suspension rust issues, missing parts, non-matching blank engine case, sunroof (not shown on COA) so may have had a new front clip. Price was still low but with all of the issues the car was maybe worth $50-75K. Obviously they did not have it. I lost a day of work and cost of a flight but in hindsight should have done even more due diligence. At least I helped a couple of others avoid sending money but I won't be satisfied until this worthless POS is nailed by the Feds.

[Miniwerks]

Just got a tip from another member, they have a new site up again, different provider. Working on getting this one shut down quickly.
Apollo Trailers of Dallas, TX

[Miniwerks]

Carwizard.net was very helpful and removed them from their server immediately.

[msterling]

Originally Posted by Miniwerks

Just got a tip from another member, they have a new site up again, different provider. Working on getting this one shut down quickly.
Apollo Trailers of Dallas, TX

Already gone?
Registrar URL: www.publicdomainregistry.com
Updated Date: 2015-09-22T02:58:25Z
Creation Date: 2015-07-23T12:08:49Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-07-23T12:08:49Z
Registrar: PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com
Registrar IANA ID: 303
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Brian
Registrant Organization: Apollo Trailers LLC
Registrant Street: 3050 Ruder St
Registrant City: Dallas
Registrant State/Province: Texas
Registrant Postal Code: 75212
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4692064330
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: apollotrailers2006@gmail.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Brian
Admin Organization: Apollo Trailers LLC
Admin Street: 3050 Ruder St
Admin City: Dallas
Admin State/Province: Texas
Admin Postal Code: 75212
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4692064330
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: apollotrailers2006@gmail.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Brian
Tech Organization: Apollo Trailers LLC
Tech Street: 3050 Ruder St
Tech City: Dallas
Tech State/Province: Texas
Tech Postal Code: 75212
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.4692064330
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: apollotrailers2006@gmail.com

[Miniwerks]

Yes, already "wiped" off the server. Sorry, couldn't resist the political pun