Scam / scum

[Munky King]

I’ve been looking for a 997 daily. Particularly if it’s a 4s for the Minnesota winters.

I came across an advert in Kansas on Craig’s. It was then listed on a ‘cool cars for sale in Kansas’ website, that I don’t think is connected in any way.

Contacted the seller and had some made up story about being a pilot and selling his car through Edmunds as he has a virgin Atlantic job in London.

This is the original response to the advert - different email address from the advert...

Hi, Porsche is still available for $31,500. It has 14,640 miles, clean title, no accidents and no money owing on it, and I recently had it inspected, you can see the History Report and the Inspection Report attached to this email.
I am a pilot and I just got a very good contract with Virgin Atlantic in London and I need the money for an advance on a house, that's why I am in a hurry to sell it.
I have left the car there with a broker, with all the paperwork (title signed by me, keys, service records, etc) so they can handle everything for me. I have empowered them to transfer registration on my behalf, arrange inspection etc.

Let me know if you are interested so I can put you in contact with them and here is a link with more pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3pzMPVvKfn7Ri56EA


Regards,
Joseph Edward Koch

Price had dropped from $40k to $31.5k. I better get there in a hurry....
Amazingly there were inspection reports and car fax reports attached.

This was the second scam letter:

I have the car now at Edmunds Autos in Houston, TX, with the title, signed by me, keys and all the docs, and I have empowered them to transfer ownership on my behalf. You can go there, inspect it and than pick it up yourself Mon to Fri from 9 to 5 CDT.
If you do not have that possibility you can also do it online and have it shipped to you. You will make payment to them, they will secure your payment and ship the vehicle (all shipping charges will be covered by me). You will receive it, inspect it for 3 days and if you accept it, they will pay me and transfer the title to your name, if not, they will pick it up from you and refund your full payment. To go ahead you will need to set up a transaction trough Edmunds on their website: https://www.edmunds.com.en-usa.online/?buy/ using my reference number (MPYABEC33C).

You can see detailed description and both the Autocheck and Inspection Report on my Edmunds listing: https://www.edmunds.com.en-usa.online/cars-for-sale/MPYABEC33C.php?/en-us/?referrer=WP0AB29967S730375

Address: 5833 Westview Dr Ste A, Houston, TX 77055
Phone: (281) 509-9846
Toll Free: 1-800-514-6392

Regards,
Joseph Edward Koch
+44 7441 908326

Obviously Edmunds don’t consign cars and the seller with many ‘airline references in their email address’ couldn’t answer and Pilot or questions about England (interestingly I’m originally from there...)

Normally I would just put this down to pond scum and move on. However, checking the place out on google in Huston TX it seems a similar scam is going on for a Lotus Evora.

Hopefully, posting this will open our communities eyes to this type of scam as well as being searchable on the net.

If you are in doubt, this is Edmunds comment on it:

https://help.edmunds.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006027527-Ongoing-scam-Edmunds-escrow-fraud

This was one of the many email addresses used...
airbus.a380@virginatlanticeuropean.com

[BLACK3.2]

This is a confidence scam that's been gaining in popularity recently. Apparently, it's easy to get email addresses associated with frequent flyer programs, and scammers use them purporting to be pilots to gain the confidence of their marks. The moment I see an email address like that, I just report it as a scam and move on.

Glad you're not out any cash. Thanks for posting. Good to get the word out.

[specialtyoneinc]

Thanks. Craigslist is full of scams.

[Macroni]

Crazy there are so many available cars with the best pricing in years ......why would anyone buy a car that would have any associated risk? We all know there is no real savings in risk.

[alexl911]

I came across the exact same scam in NY... airline pilot claiming to have been relocated to England. I can now spot the same type of ad a mile away having recently scanned CL across the entire U.S. They must be 'enthusiast' as they know exactly the kinds of cars people are searching for and price them enticingly low but ridiculously low to bait us. People must fall for this scam otherwise they wouldn't be investing their time in doing them.

[amg463]

they are all Nigerians doing the same thing they've been doing for years. There's a Lagos-Texas connection and some of the best scammers from Nigeria have spent time in TX.

[bigbearballs]

Just got this from a Tesla Craigslist listing from airbus.a380@virginatlanticeuropean.com...
__________

Hi, the Model S is still available for $36,500. It has 42,482 miles, clean title, no accidents and no money owing on it, and I recently had it inspected, you can see the History Report and the Inspection Report attached to this email.

I am a pilot and I just got a very good contract with Virgin Atlantic in London and I need the money for an advance on a house, that's why I am in a hurry to sell it.

I have left the car there with a broker, with all the paperwork (title signed by me, keys, service records, etc) so they can handle everything for me. I have empowered them to transfer registration on my behalf, arrange inspection etc.*


Let me know if you are interested so I can put you in contact with them and here is a link with more pictures:*https://photos.app.goo.gl/gayQkrD2Gm3X6SEV7



Regards,

Joseph Edward Koch


On Sat, Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 AM, Fred Smart*<fredsmart98765@gmail.com>*wrote:

Do you still have your car? Why are you selling it?





Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[McLovin]

Really, if you read anything like:

"I am a pilot and I just got a very good contract with Virgin Atlantic in London and I need the money for an advance on a house, that's why I am in a hurry to sell it. I have left the car there with a broker . . ."

and don't *immediately* stop reading the ad and move on, you should not be looking for a used car on the interwebs without some help from someone who didn't just fall off the turnip truck.