Scam or not? (1 Viewer)

[MrsW]

Hi All,

Got a situation - we would like to buy a motorhome, but haven't got much to spend on it - 5 grand tops. Been looking around and found an unbelievable deal - Fiat Ducato Top Driver for 5.3 K. Now they are normally berween 10 and 15 K. Guy say that he lives in Holland, been working in the UK for a year, now cannot afford the tax to use it in Holland, plus it's RHD. But the van is in Holland at the moment.
Here is what he offers
The reg number is X186ADF, you can check it and we can assure you that the van is HPI clear.As i said for us will be a long way , for this time we want to be sure that everything will be ok,that is the reason that we choose pppay, it is an uk company and you can check them.We lost time and money last time when we had a meeting with the buyer from dover and we will not come again just for a word,hope that you understand .
We will pay the pppay taxes who will be about 100 pounds .
After i read about them i understand how they work and i will explain you again :
-i will start the transaction through their system, i will pay the escrow fee
-they will confirm you the transaction and will require a deposit of 50% sent to their bank account
-once they have the confirmation from you that you done the transfer , will inform us to proceed with the meeting
-you will meet us and you will have a couple of days to check the van and the documents
-if you would like the van and you want to keep it , they will require the rest of the money sent to their bank account and will release the funds to me
-if the van is not like we described , you will ask for a refund and the money will be in your bank account in the same day.
Please tell us if you want to go ahead as soon as possible as we have other buyers who are interested and we dont want to waste their time.

So he seems very clever about the transaction and kind of ready to come over with the van at a drop of a hat. I am thinking - he comes over after getting my deposit, there would be something that we don't like about the van (e.g. he 'accidentally' bumps it on the ferry), we tell him we don't like it and he drives away... £2650 richer.

Am I being paranoid?

 

[chatter]

Hi and welcome to Fun

may i point you in the direction of this thread

Broken Link Removed

I think most on here would tell you to walk the other way

 

[ciderman]

just tell him you will go over to see it and if you llike will pay the whole amount there and then positives are you get a holiday and a cheap van negs are you have to fork out for a trip to holland and come back empty handed, but remember if it looks to good then it will be

sounds like a scam

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[chrisgreen]

forget it,its a con:Sad:

 

[callumwa]

Stay very well clear...... never part with cash, till you have seen the van in person, checked it over, checked the docs... etc etc etc.....



If it sounds to good........... you know the rest....

 

[MrsW]

Cheers all. I'll go with advice to go over and see it, see what they'll say.

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[Wildman]

where exactly is it, we have funsters in the netherlands who may be close enough to check it out.

 

[Oplayneo]

Hi, I have been hunting for a motorhomes for a while and found one we want for a hard to believe price, emailed them and got exactly the same thing as posted in this thread. A guy in holland moved back there with a motorhomes he bought here, can't afford to register it and wheel is on the wrong side. Offering to drive over to show it to me for a 50% deposit using pppay.com escrow service. All sound to good to be true and dodgy but worth doing some research into, funny thing is is the exact same person, my email from them below!! I would be interested to know what the scam is, obviously they get the money you put in holding but how? Not used escrow Before so it may be easy to do?

I have sent you all photos that we have with our van , i am sorry but we do not speak good english , just a few words , we are using google translate to communicate .The reg number T753BNN (please check the van to see that is hpi clear and the v5 document you will check it when you will meet us , as we are afraid to send the scan of the v5 document to anyone who will ask on the internet) As i said for us will be a long way , for this time we want to be sure that everything will be ok,that is the reason that we choose pppay, it is an uk company and you can check them.We lost time and money last time when we had a meeting with the buyer from dover and we will not come again just for a word,hope that you understand .
We will pay the pppay taxes who will be about 100 pounds .
After i read about them i understand how they work and i will explain you again :
-i will start the transaction through their system, i will pay the escrow fee
-they will confirm you the transaction and will require a deposit of 50% sent to their bank account
-once they have the confirmation from you that you done the transfer , will inform us to proceed with the meeting
-you will meet us and you will have a couple of days to check the van and the documents
-if you would like the van and you want to keep it , they will require the rest of the money sent to their bank account and will release the funds to me
-if the van is not like we described , you will ask for a refund and the money will be in your bank account in the same day.
Please tell us if you want to go ahead as soon as possible as we have other buyers who are interested and we dont want to waste their time.

Thanks

Hendrik

 

[MrsW]

Hmm , plot thickens
Sent him email

Thanks for the photos, it does look perfect for us.

But I hope you understand that we cannot send any money up front as we haven't seen the car as its not in the UK. There is just no guarantee that our deposit will not be lost - I know about cases with pppay where the account/emails/confirmations were false and the money were in receivers accounts and gone quite quickly.
We understand you position as you don't want to be out of pocket with travel etc. We were planning a trip to Holland in the near future anyway, and if you are not in a great hurry to sell, we would rather come over, have a look at it and pay thewhole amount there and then.

Got a reply

As i said we want a quick sale , for us is not a lost because we have a lot of buyers who are interested and they want to go ahead through an uk company who can be checked .
Thanks for your time ,
Good Luck

So they don't want us to go and see? They say it's in Utrecht.

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[Oplayneo]

Hendrik says he live in Utrecht,The Netherlands. I am happy to ask if you have someone who can go and see it, or may just ask anyway...

Another thing to note these classifieds are on all websites that do not post emails or personal numbers, caravan club, Friday ads etc...in my research I found the same MH listed at different prices slightly different photos and write ups. First sign was that the price went up in mor recent ads!!!![HI][/HI]

 

[TheBig1]

there is a view that you cant con an honest person, if something looks too good to be true it generally is. you wont get a £15k van for £5 its either wishful thinking or greed clouding your logic

dont even waste your time let alone money and safety travelling to Holland. There is no motorhome for sale and the conmen may switch tactics if they believe you bought cash with you. by all means do an hpi check but this is likely to be on a van sat on some unconnected owners drive. If you cant see it touch it and drive it as well as check documents, forget it as your being conned

 

[MrsW]

??? That's Hendrik Gijs who's trying to sell it. But he deffo doesn't want us there in Utrecht - we are were going to Holland second w/end in Sep anyway for a Gazelle bike(s), but he just said thank you for your time as he's got buyers who are willing to pay upfront. Don't get it if he is an honest seller - surely it's easier if people come and pick it up? And pay you strainght away?

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[TheBig1]

forgot to mention, for those that dont know

escrow is using a third party to lodge the cash with. you the buyer hand over the cash to this third party and the seller gets the cash of them when they pretend to be you and release the funds

these cons tend to be predominantly nigerian nationals with a few eastern europeans now starting to do the same. its the same people who used to send out letters and emails trying to hook a gulible fool by offering them a percentage of money being claimed from fictional bank accounts

a fool and their money are easily parted

 

[Oplayneo]

Cheers for the info on escrow, never heard of it before and wasn't going to use it with out some in depth research which took the best part of 5 mins to work out if was all a bit dodgy (in this situation).

 

[stcyr]

I have yet to meet a Dutch person who does not speak English. Anyway, grammatically, even if translated by Google, it would not be phrased as it is.
It is a CON. :Cool:

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[motor roamin]

These scams have been around years......as many have said DONT part with your money unless you are sitting in it having HPIed it and have the log book in the sellers name that ties in with the HPI......and don't believe the address on the log book is the old one.......another thing now is you want to see a red log book not a blue one as many stolen ones are around.

All the best Rick

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Never buy any vehicle unless you can buy it from the registered owners address that is in the V5 and thats just for starters.

IF IT IS CHEAP IT IS DODGY !! No one gives anything away.

Peter

 

[Hollyberry]

[HI]I have yet to meet a Dutch person who does not speak English.[/HI] Anyway, grammatically, even if translated by Google, it would not be phrased as it is.
It is a CON. :Cool:

Exactly what I was going to say.
The language used in the messages OP received is not from a Dutch person speaking English. Phraseology all wrong.

There are quite a few "scam spotter" sites and if you find the same message / sales pitch from more than one person, you know for sure it's a scam.

I strung one along on Ebay--he was in Spain or Portugal but the motorhome was in Scotland, so I emailed and said how wonderful, my brother would be delighted to view the van for me, he lives in Scotland and is a police inspector. Never heard from the "seller" again..........

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[MrsW]

Thank you all for good advice! That was my first post here and I really appreciate your feedback.

We are back to looking then, and in future we'll be more realistic

 

[MrsW]

Hi, I have been hunting for a motorhomes for a while and found one we want for a hard to believe price, emailed them and got exactly the same thing as posted in this thread. A guy in holland moved back there with a motorhomes he bought here, can't afford to register it and wheel is on the wrong side. Offering to drive over to show it to me for a 50% deposit using pppay.com escrow service. All sound to good to be true and dodgy but worth doing some research into, funny thing is is the exact same person, my email from them below!! I would be interested to know what the scam is, obviously they get the money you put in holding but how? Not used escrow Before so it may be easy to do?

I have sent you all photos that we have with our van , i am sorry but we do not speak good english , just a few words , we are using google translate to communicate .The reg number T753BNN (please check the van to see that is hpi clear and the v5 document you will check it when you will meet us , as we are afraid to send the scan of the v5 document to anyone who will ask on the internet) As i said for us will be a long way , for this time we want to be sure that everything will be ok,that is the reason that we choose pppay, it is an uk company and you can check them.We lost time and money last time when we had a meeting with the buyer from dover and we will not come again just for a word,hope that you understand .
We will pay the pppay taxes who will be about 100 pounds .
After i read about them i understand how they work and i will explain you again :
-i will start the transaction through their system, i will pay the escrow fee
-they will confirm you the transaction and will require a deposit of 50% sent to their bank account
-once they have the confirmation from you that you done the transfer , will inform us to proceed with the meeting
-you will meet us and you will have a couple of days to check the van and the documents
-if you would like the van and you want to keep it , they will require the rest of the money sent to their bank account and will release the funds to me
-if the van is not like we described , you will ask for a refund and the money will be in your bank account in the same day.
Please tell us if you want to go ahead as soon as possible as we have other buyers who are interested and we dont want to waste their time.

Thanks

Hendrik

Hehehe word for word what I received from this Hendrik person!

 

[motor roamin]

Thank you all for good advice! That was my first post here and I really appreciate your feedback.

We are back to looking then, and in future we'll be more realistic

Worth a tenner then :thumb:

All the best Rick

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[Xoxoc]

Just wanted to add that the escrow facility is an established payment method in lots of cases and can be trusted if a REPUTABLE service is used.

I have never used one but if I was to then I would plump for www.escrow.com as it is the preferred service of ebay.

One thing that scammers often do is to setup their own escrow company and then of course you lose because they just keep the money.

PPAY is not coming up as fraudulent on a couple of quick checks but as already stated, the scammers may have discovered a loophole of getting the fund released themselves.

Personally I have never used escrow and can't comment on the facility in general other that it can be quite expensive IIRC

 

[beachcaster]

Never part with money.

It sounds like its too good to be true.

Its easy to be tempted by a bargain.....the conmen know this...and its amazing isnt it ?.... they are always such nice people

barry