Online Car Scams: The Copycat
by CHAD PINSON
Buyers beware! Purchasing a used car online can be a daunting task these days. For every legitimate website that really does provide useful services and processes, there are multiple sites promising similar services that are complete ripoffs. The problem is that many of these ripoff sites are exact copies of the legitimate sites. The idea is to confuse the consumer into feeling secure. If the sight looks legit the company must be legit, right? Wrong. Let��s take a look at the scams prevalent today in the world of online used car buying, and examine how they work. Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
To the individual, imitation does often equal high praise, even if it is annoying to some degree. To websites legitimately selling used cars, and to sites offering services such as fraud protection and escrow, imitation can mean major trouble for consumers. As unethical as it is, it happens all the time. A major problem in the online community is people copying legitimate websites, then using the brand name and site structure of the real website to gain consumer trust and ultimately scam them out of their hard-earned money.
The scam works something like this. The criminal interested in setting up the bogus site will register the IP address under a stolen identity, or perhaps even the identity of a deceased individual. The host that is providing the domain name has no good process for checking the complete validity of the person and their actual identity. The Internet is simply too good of a hiding place for criminals to catch them all. So the domain name is issued and off we go. The criminal then often proceeds to create a site that is identical to a legitimate, well-known business site. Most of the pages, the pictures; all the bells and whistles of the real site are the same.
Beware the Fake Listing
So how do these criminals actually attract traffic to their fake website? Good question, but the answer is fairly simple. For used cars and car escrow services, they do it through fake vehicle listings and follow-up emails. The crook copies the photos, VIN and description of a real used car for sale and creates a false copy of that car for sale at a below-market price. That fake listing is the lure to get you interested. The fake listing is put on major websites like AutoTrader, Ebay, Cars.com, Craigslist and others. Buyers are drawn in by the low price and typically contact the seller via email. Boom- the criminal now has your email address.
As we all know, our personal emails float around like there is no tomorrow. Just last week I received an email letting me know that I had won the British Lottery. ��Sweet!�� I thought- I don��t even remember playing! Obviously it was a scam, but I use that to illustrate that my email address and your email addresses are out there. Way out there. So these scammers send out emails, and lots of them.
For used cars, the crooks typically create a fake escrow or shipping service. When you inquire about that cheap car, the crooks will send you more photos, more detail, whatever you want (remember, they stole all of the information from a real listing). They just want to get you interested enough to use their fake service. The con artist will send you an email with a link to the website of this fake escrow or shipping service. They want you to believe that their fake website is the real thing. If it looks real, you are more likely to send money or provide personal information.
Often, emails from the crooked seller will contain service descriptions, testimonials, screen shots of the fake website, and a link that will take you to the fake website. Many times the link takes the duped consumer straight to a form, with questions asking basic personal information and also questions to determine what services they may be interested in.
The ��Follow Up��
A few minutes or hours later, another email is generated to the consumer. Getting this second email often falsely eases the mind of the recipient, as many less sophisticated ripoff sites just try to get you to the site once and you never hear from them again. These criminals I write about are more advanced, and they know the mind of the consumer.
The second email may be somewhat personalized, using the consumer��s name, and also providing instructions on what to do to secure the services of interest from the survey filled out on the website upon first visit. An example is a site offering an escrow service for online car purchases. The escrow service is one that will act as an intermediary to hold an initial payment on a car until you the consumer actually receives the car you are purchasing. Maybe it is $1000, maybe it is $5000, depending on the car price and the amount requested by the seller. These fake sites often tell the reader in the email that the first transaction made with the website must be through Western Union, Moneygram, or another commonly known method of moving money from your bank account to the site��s escrow account for holding. Even bank wires, which used to be a safe way to transfer money, are now used by these crooks. They illegally access bank accounts through stolen identities. Since, at this point, everything about the site and the method to send money seems legitimate the consumer will not hesitate to send the deposit in good faith.
