Think I just got scammed by Smokey Auto sales in Florida?

[Lapkritis]

Originally Posted by reddogmotrsprts

The key words here have been highlighted. I don't believe Skype collects voice or video calls.

They do if you present them with the correct paperwork...

[manbridge 74]

Too good for Boko Haram types. You are dealing with guys like this...

FBI Mobile Site

More....

Internet auto scams: When a good deal isn

[kramer747]

Just started following this. I assume you didn't send any money (besides PPI funds). Correct?

[Craig_D]

Originally Posted by kramer747

Just started following this. I assume you didn't send any money (besides PPI funds). Correct?

You know what happens when you assume, eh? Apparently, monies were sent.

[gostraight]

I just finished reading the whole tread... this sounds like a whole bunch of Craig's list ads I answered over the past few weeks... I had a dude in Portugal that promised me the car , shipped to my address, before I pay. Not sure if this helps , but just last week I answered an ad on cars .com, and the guy sent me a text back from (504) 446-2820 telling me its his wife's car and I should contact her at deb252@att.net. I did and she (or he) turned out being a scammer ......

[archtech]

Man I am sooo sorry to hear about this. A couple months ago I almost got scammed by the same person. He had advertised a metallic brown 930 Turbo for sale. He sent lots of photos including the vin number. I checked the business on the web and also saw that they were in business 2 years. I didn't see the car on the website...just luxury cars. He said that they didn't deal in classic cars but happened to have this one. When I asked to see a copy of the title, he came up with that too. Might have been photoshopped though. I had asked him where the car was and he said it was in the showroom at the dealership. He even said I can get a PPI if I wanted to. I started getting funds together, but then did a virtual drive by. Using Google maps I noticed that there was no showroom building. From the street views I noticed that there was also no showroom....just a dinky office. It was just a parking lot dealership with regular cars on it. That raised some red flags for me. Luckily I had a friend that lived about 1/2 hour away. He went over there to verify the car and confirmed everything I said. He even talked to the lady at the dealership. She said other people have come to find that they had been scammed. She mentioned that there was already an FBI investigation on the situation. After my friend left, the guy called me back regarding setting up a PPI....I asked him where the car was again.... he said it was there.... I told him that there was no car and my friend just left and talked to the lady there. He immediately hung up on me. I called the FBI to file a report but they never got back with me. With the pending investigations I thought this was stopped by now. There's a trail...not sure why they didn't force it down. Man, I am really sorry about this.

[kramer747]

Just VIN, not vin number. It's redundant.

[unclebilly]

I went through a similar horror show a few years ago...

Kurt Keiper from Summit Transport in Pa... The good news is that he was charged and convicted of theft by deception and is currently doing 12.5 -78 years for this.

Search Results - WHP CBS 21

Buyer beware... I am certainly much more vigilant now.

[Derek911]

I have already said this, unless the car is on the moon, someone has to go and see the car and do the deal in person. Either the buyer drives or gets on a plane or has someone represent them. This case we are talking about is a buyer in Texas and a seller in Florida. That is not an unreasonable travel distance. Of course you can't go and see every car just to kick the tires, but if you have come to the decision that this is the car, spend the extra $500 on a plane ticket. Drive 12 hours or two days if necessary. It may not be a scam, but just a car that is misrepresented. Figure in the travel expenses with the cost of the car.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by Derek911

I have already said this, unless the car is on the moon, someone has to go and see the car and do the deal in person. Either the buyer drives or gets on a plane or has someone represent them. This case we are talking about is a buyer in Texas and a seller in Florida. That is not an unreasonable travel distance. Of course you can't go and see every car just to kick the tires, but if you have come to the decision that this is the car, spend the extra $500 on a plane ticket. Drive 12 hours or two days if necessary. It may not be a scam, but just a car that is misrepresented. Figure in the travel expenses with the cost of the car.

Different strokes... Before I got scammed by Kurt, I bought my first 911 sight unseen in Columbus and paid for it long before I picked it up, bought a 2002 Indian Chief sight unseen in Boston and had it transported home by a 3rd party, and bought a Unimog sight unseen in New York and had it transported to Montana by a 3rd party. All of these transactions went fine. Even with my loss on the Kurt Keiper deal, am still ahead of the game financially.

If there is a deal to be had, you have to be ready to pull the trigger.

What did I learn?

1. Google the seller's name.
2. Check Rip Off Report.
3. If a deal is too good to be true, it might be.
4. If you do get scammed, make contact with the police lack to be seller ASAP. Don't accept that it is merely a civil manner. Fraud is criminal.

[Derek911]

That is exactly what the scammers are feeding off. "I can't let this deal pass me by" mentality. I'm not saying there are not honest people out there that you can't trust, but you expose yourself to risk. Even simple misunderstandings. I think we get into this feeding frenzy mentality that "I have to get this car before someone else does" and I understand that. But I also am old enough to have learned that if I have to take a risk maybe it is not worth it. Do I save two or three thousand and jump on a car that I can't see, or do I pay a little extra for the peace of mind. Scammer cars are priced so that people "have to jump on it." You fall all over yourself trying to get the money to them as quick as possible so you don't lose the "great deal." This is the backbone of the scam. If a seller won't agree to an immediate down payment to hold the car and give you a day or two to get there and seal the deal in person, walk away. Most of the time all the scammers want is the down payment anyway. You find out you are scammed when you go to pick up the car. It is a windfall for the scammer that gets payed in full up front. I'm an optimistic person and assume that most people are honest, but I also don't like to expose myself to risk or misunderstandings.

[j911brick]

I'm willing to bet the dealer at that address is in on the scam.

[yasir]

Last year I bought a car sight unseen (1000 miles away), but I had the car looked at by a local body shop.

Asked the body shop manager (googled it) spoke with him and asked him if he knew the guy (small town), he did and verified the car as described.

Found a local attorney (googled his office and also went to the national attorney web site and verified him) and did the transaction thru him.

Still I was very apprehensive about the deal not to mention car didn't come out as described.

This was the second time I have bought a car sight unseen and though the transactions went thru OK but on both occcassions cars weren't as described by the owners (one pvt and one mercedes CPO)

I am done with that crap.

I agree the scammers using the "unbeatable/unheard deal" that won't last long mentality and taking people in.

[Derek911]

If you look at that car lot address on Google I wouldn't put it passed him. A bunch of old garbage cars. Used car lot owners like that are the shadiest people on the planet. The PPI mechanic is the one that puzzles me. No ID? No drivers license? No license plates numbers? No video cameras? What shop does work on a car and doesn't write down the plate number? Was it towed there? Tow truck company name? Something!

[CBRacerX]

Originally Posted by jittsl

OK the story gets sicker, the depth of my stupidity gets greater and my faith in humanity drops to an all time low.

After looking at the photos from Autoexotica it is obvious that it is the same car and same photos just with a slightly diffent VIN number (now ends in 3 not 6). So I ring them and ask if they have record of who they sold it to. Their answer is that the car was sold months ago and shipped to FRance. Then I look at the full set of photos and realize that almost all of the second set of photos I asked for have all been lifted from Autoexotica except that the VIN pictures have been photoshopped to the new number and a date stamp for last Thursday has been added to the corner. - I guess I should have been trickier than asking for photos of the undercarriage, the VIN and the little plate on the passenger side door frame.

So still I ask how did they do the inspection. Now you have to imagine I'm busy and pulling a whole lot of things together at the same. I've rung a random garage and simply asked them to confirm that the car exists, that it matches the "title" and that it appears to be in reasonable order - I always imagined that at the price it would require extensive working over no matter what was claimed. I then call Mr Mosley and say take the car to X garage, speak to Robin and she'll do what's required for me. An appropriate amount of time later "Robin" rings me from a phone with an Orlando prefix and says "Yes, the car is here, yes, it matches the documents and although she makes no guarantee it appears to be in good solid condition". Good thinks I, all is well and I send the money and pick it up tommorow. You've probably guessed by now but of course when I ring the real Robin today I'm told the car never showed up and she didn't give it a thought presuming my plans had changed. I now understand the importance of a written report!

It is now obvious to me (but it took me a week) that the car was never in the possession of Mr Mosley and Mr Mosley was probably never in Florida and that I'm a complete idiot.

I don't know how many lessons there are here because I've lost count but I hope those reading this sorry saga are learning as we go.

I PS I will add is that - someone suggested that any requested photos should include a sticky with your name in the photo as proof of currency. Someone else has informed me that it's really easy to photoshop a sticky into photo these days. Given how expertly the vin was alter erred in the photos I received I would believe it.

Pretty sophisticated. To boldly impersonate the PPI shop was the icing on this fake cake. I guess caller ID from that conversation could easily be spoofed.

[tdw28210]

Sorry for the OP's financial loss. I too have been looking for another decent 911 and have had my share of scammer interactions. A couple things I have learned:

ALWAYS tell the seller you know someone local who can come by and look at the car. ALWAYS. In fact, I have posted on the marketplace forum asking Pelicans in other parts of the country to go look at a car - and without fail, someone has always offered, even in scary old NYC.

In all cases the seller NEVER replied with a physical address for my local "friend" to go look at a car and just stopped communicating. If this happens it is 100% scam.

Learn the how to do Reverse Image Searches.

Almost without fail, all the Craigslist scammer ads that show pictures of 911's have been lifted from an earlier, often legitimate advert by a previous sellers. A reverse image search can tell if that exact or very similar picture has ever been posted on a web page before. If it has been posted before, take caution. There is high likelihood this is a "lifted" picture that a scammer is recycling in order to reel in unsuspecting buyers.

I like to use the Chrome browser to do this, as I find it the easiest method. Simply right click on the image in the suspicious ad and select "Search Google for this image".




If you don't or won't use Chrome, see the link below for other ways to accomplish a reverse image search below.

How]How to do Google Reverse Image Search|Reverse Image Search Google|Reverse Google Image Search? - Video Dailymotion to do Google Reverse Image Search|Reverse Image Search Google|Reverse Google Image Search? - Video Dailymotion


Now, I did this trick on several of Smokey's images in his "inventory". Guess what? His images come back as original. So note this is NOT a foolproof method. 'Ol' Smokey, as has been previously noted, is a waaaaay more sophisticated than your average Craigslist scammer. I consider reverse image search as the "first line of defense", not an unbreachable wall.

This trick did however "smoke" out a scammer that I was interacting with regarding a BMW 2002. He was pushing for a deposit as he was a "US Army soldier shipping out to the Midddle East in a few days" and needed to sell this car quickly. I ran the reverse image search and the results show it was posted previously on a legitimate on a major on-line auction site. Every last image in his Craigslist ad and the subsequent ones he emailed me came back as previously posted images.

After he kept pressing for a deposit , I wrote back to the guy with my fake routing and account number and stated that my bank was Fundamental United bank based in Fukoffifstan.

Bottom line. BE SUPER careful when buying remotely. Use reverse image search as a quick way to fend off scammers and the local "friend" as the next step. If those both check out, then get an absolute dossier on the seller and conisder using a legitimate escrow service.

Stay safe out there.

[jac1976]

If you look at that car lot address on Google I wouldn't put it passed him. A bunch of old garbage cars. Used car lot owners like that are the shadiest people on the planet. The PPI mechanic is the one that puzzles me. No ID? No drivers license? No license plates numbers? No video cameras? What shop does work on a car and doesn't write down the plate number? Was it towed there? Tow truck company name? Something!

The car was never taken in for a PPI.

[megerian]

There is no car, no PPI, and no proof that the guy is actually in Florida.

Seems like the only recourse now is to go through the bank. As others have pointed out, the money went to an account, there is record of that account number, and there has to be an owner of that account.

[unclebilly]

You need to get the local police involved. By local, I mean local to the scammer.

This is fraud, not civil.

I know, this happened to me and the scammer is now doing 12.5 - 78 years in jail for it. Anybody else taken their scammer to task?

http://www.ccnnews8.com/index.php/9072-keiper-motion-denied

Oh, and he has a 100% USHIP rating...

http://www.uship.com/profile/kjkeiper/

[Eli W]

If it were me I would get an attorney and have them send a nasty letter over to the bank threatening a lawsuit. Then file one against the bank if need be.

And Funny enough, I was searching on Carsforsale.com and ran across a 2010 XKR for my wife, it was priced very well and looks to be an excellent car. I emailed the seller for more info had them send me pictures and what not. Then I googled the VIN I have found the car is for sale by a dealer for about 10k more and not by an individual.

Seems like another internet scam. List a vehicle for sale by owner that you do not actually own. Any one of us could walk on to a dealers lot and take a car for an extended test drive, or a PPI to convince your mark that you own the car. Hell you could even arrange a test drive. Get the money and then disappear.