BECOKA, has your co-worker received information similar to mine (hes in Poland,etc) from a guy named Jose? I'm trying to see if "Jose" is telling different or the same stories.

 

BECOKA, is the seller asking the money be placed in escrow? If so, the scam flag ought to be up.

 

Same story but not sure of the name. He also received additional pictures through e-mail.

 

Yes, so if the escrow company does not give the seller money until the car is received and reviewed, why would you say it is a scam? I really do want to know.

 

"Yes, so if the escrow company does not give the seller money until the car is received and reviewed, why would you say it is a scam? I really do want to know."

Me too.

 

Perhaps its because this company (or with some scams a friend), then in turn keeps the money and the listing is false? At least this was the common scam of a few years ago, I don't know about this escrow company though, do oyu have a website link for it?

 

the one he gave me was www.escrow.com

 

Check the web link, occasionally it's just text and the link redirects you.

I don't think I'd buy a car that I can't see, touch, and feel (and directly verify title to)... flights cross country are really cheap, and inexpensive insurance against fraud. Do the transaction at a bank, or (better yet) at the DMV, then fly home and ship the car (of have an enjoyable cross-country trip). It adds what, maybe $1000 but keeps you from losing the $12,995....

 

All - I am the coworker of Becoka. I am in San Jose and the car is supposedly in San Jose so I have already asked to see it. Reply from Jose Martinez (the seller) has been slow so yes it could be a scam. I also have a local phone number but he has never picked up, but voicemail works. Data from the seller matches chili's description so he is saying the same stuff to all. I agree, I want to see the car and verify VIN and title. However, I don't mind going through escrow.com. It appears to be a legit escrow service (about the only one on the web)! Ebay and MSNBC both state this as the recommended escrow service. http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/payment-escrow.html

No money is posted yet to escrow.com so for now my exposure is low. Will keep you guys posted on the transaction (or lack of).

 

2 things that would make me walk away:
Buyer is "overseas" or otherwise unreachable.
Online escrow.

You will not be seeing this car is my guess. The seller will either disappear or keep dodging you until you give up or pay up.

 

Glad you haven't exchanged any money. I would tell the seller that if the car cannot be inspected, then no deal.

I would think the seller would have someone local to handle the sale, which is so much easier, and legitimate. Almost everyone of these scams involve using escrow or a wire transfer. Nothing that allows the buyer to track the seller.

 

Just browsed Craigslist for the Bay area, and didn't see it listed. Ad withdrawn? There's a few Mini's for sale in there that had my eyebrows rising.

 

I had a similar "this is too good to be true" moment on craigslist recently in the bay area. I saw this awesome apt for cheap, great pics, parking,etc. Buyer says he's in greece teaching deaf people and wants move in + deposit up front in escrow.com before I even see the apt. Then he wil fly over and show me the apt. If I don't like it then no problem I can walk away. I smelled a rat and went to the apt and asked the managementif they had a unit for rent and they said it's a scam, that people were stopping by all day and asking the same thing. People get very creative with these scams and people get taken al the time. Unfortunately if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't.

 

It may be a scam but I still have not seen anyone explain how the scam works with escrow.com as they seem to be reputable and the other party does not get payment until everything is inspected and delivered.

 

In my case, the guy said that because he wanted to pay the escrow fees, he would set up the escrow accnt and give me the acct information. This was the clincher for me that made me investigate some more. I'm not comfortable enough with escrow either but this sounded like he was in control of the escrow accnt. If you do go through with this, which I wouldn't recommend, make sure you intitate the escrow so that you have control over wether or not the seller gets paid. So you know blue book on a 05 mcs in SF area code with 16000 miles without JCW is in the upper 20's depending on options.

 

I've dealt with folks similar to what you've described. If they're slow to respond, it usually means that they're either reluctant to part with item OR perhaps in reality, don't even have possession of item. I'd really ck. this out before doling out money. I've been an antique dealer for over 25 years and so far, haven't been took....but there's always that first time!!

 

So what ever happened with this? Did the coworker say no?

 

Dude even dealing with this kind of crap is not a good idea. Its like the Nigerian cashier's check scams. A few months back I even found a few MINIs on cardomain.com that were for sale for really low prices like under $10k so I contacted the seller and they gave me the same BS story about how they are out of the country, yada yada yada...

 

Maybe its just a coincidence but I did have a Polish guy a few years ago try to sell me a Volvo 850 with a salvage title.

When I checked the VIN and found out the car was dirty I called to confront him but never got any response

 

Well, my coworker set up his own escrow account and the escrow sent a mail to the seller. The seller ignored this and tried to set up his own and this is where the scam starts.

In the end we think it was a scam as many pointed out from the beginning and he did not pursue this any further.

If you can initiate your own escrow account chances are it is legit. If the seller does it chances are you will get a mail to a copy or bogus escrow web page to steal your money.

 

Thanks for the update! I hate reading these threads and not hearing the end of the story.

Less than $13k for a relatively new JCW MCS? That was the biggest warning flag of all...

 

Might want to report that one to Craigslist.

 

[FONT=Arial]i received this response when inquiring about a mini listed on craigslist in sf bay area . . funny thing is he never answered any of my questions but mentioned using the escrow compnay a couple of times . . . he will pay the shipping. . . from where? . . . sure mike, sure. . .[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Hello,


First thank you for your email regarding my car. Please read carefully my next rows: Due to the large number of frauds, I will not take money orders or any kind of transfers, I will only handle this sale using an escrow company to avoid frauds. And now here is a little something about my car: It is in a perfect condition, the mileage is accurate, no scratches, no damages, no hidden defects, garage kept.I will pay the shipping and insurance charges and I will make all the shipping arrangements from here and as well the title transfer on to your name. As I've already told you the payment will be done through an escrow company which means that the third party keep the money until you receive and inspect the car. You will have 15 days to inspect and test drive the car. If you are interested I will wait for your email to let me know if you want to know more details about the purchase.

Have a nice day,
Mike. [/FONT]

 

Judging by the fractured English, I'm thinking Russia!

 

My sister was tempted to do a similar deal a few years ago for a Toyota Celica. The seller had supposedly moved to England and was trying to sell his car he left behind in the U.S. The red flag was that the price seemed way too good to be true. She didn't end up trying to buy the car, but the reality is that if you find a late-model car at a price significantly lower than the bluebook/market value there's probably either something wrong with it or its a scam. Unfortunately the temptation to get an amazing deal is too much for some people and they end up getting burned.