http://www.news-record.com/blog/61601/entry/94123

The Crime Scene


Police warn about online car sales scam

Here's the fraud alert from the Greensboro Police Department:



GREENSBORO, NC (July 7, 2010) – Within the last two weeks reports have been filed from victims who have wired money to unknown persons for the purchase of vehicles advertised for sale on the internet. The vehicles are advertised from states other than North Carolina. The victims indicated that they found used cars listed at prices well below market values. As they arranged the purchases the seller agreed to ship the vehicles to the buyer. The vehicles were never shipped. Victims don’t have a mechanism to recover the wired funds.



The following tips may be used to help recognize these types of scams:



1. The prices are too good to be true. Repossessed or no, it's not likely you will find a late model vehicle at a price well below market value on a legitimate company's website.

2. The dealer only accepts payment by money wire transfer. Never wire money to anyone that you do not know well and trust completely.

3. You are told to wire the money to an individual rather than the company. The scam artist explains this is in order to "avoid taxes”. No legitimate auto dealer will advise you to do business in this manner.

4. The dealer communicates only through on line chat or e-mail, never by phone.



Greensboro Police Detectives are continuing the investigation.



Anyone with information is asked to contact the Criminal Investigation Division at 336-373-2255 or Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000.



Permalink Posted by Dioni L. Wise on Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 3:32 pm