Possible car buying scam?

ManxRed · May 7, 2008

OK, I've tried googling this and found similar but not the same, so wonder if any worldly-wise forumites know if this is a scam or not.

I'm selling my (nice and expensive) car online on Auto Trader.

I've had a couple of calls from a guy in Rep of Ireland, who is ringing up on behalf of a friend (who he says doesn't know much about cars so he's doing the talking). He says they want to fly over from Ireland and buy my car provided its in the nick it says it is in the advert.

He wants to give me a deposit now to stop me selling the car before he arranges to fly over. He wants to pay the deposit by paypal (anyone know what I should ask (% of selling price) as a deposit?). He wants to pay for the car using a bankers draft and I've told him I want it to clear before letting him have the car, although on Google I've seen other scams with forged bankers drafts clearing in your account and THEN being taken away afterwards.

He's asked me to email him the Serial number on the V5 and the reg. His email address is a @vodafone.ie so maybe he's a genuine person working for Voda in Ireland.

It seems a very elaborate way to buy a car - he wants to know the nearest airport, train times, ferry ports etc.

Seriously, anyone heard of any scams involving extremely long distance travelling buyers??

cochyn · May 7, 2008

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