What a scam?

[tony-muscle]

So I am looking at Google Market Place and see this very nice 1969 SCJ for sale for $26,300.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...place_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picksImmediately my scam alarm is on because to start with it is to good to be true. The description describes a pristine car, "I'm Selling this Mustang from family problems!" and "Low price for quick sale!". So now there are many red flags so for fun I decided to do a reverse image lookup. I found an ad for the same car at bringatrailer.com that sold for $124,500, which is a more realistic price on 8/15/2022. Anyway, I thought I would share.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-ford-mustang-mach-1-34/

 

[Steve McMahan]

If only you could get the GPS coordinates for the scammer, I know a guy who knows a guy who might be doing a AF weapons drop training mission. Nuff said.

 

[tony-muscle]

And this is probably another one for a 1963 Impala SS for $12,000! I guess I didn't know there were so many obvious scams in Marketplace.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...place_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks

 

[Sheriff41]

I saw the Mach 1 on the San Antonio CL.

 

[ib4stangs]

Mustangs must be good phishing bait! Check out what was posted today at VMF...

https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/scam-asking-for-a-friend.1212510/#post-10803852

 

[vintageman]

I agree Tony, it's a scam. Too good to be true. I ran across the same ad a few years ago "family problems, priced for a quick sale". I did a check and found it listed in multiple sites with different contact numbers and email addresses. BTW, there is a way to trace the poster via his posting email address and to find out approximate location, I actually do that on occasion for work. But when I checked on the one that I ran across a few years ago, I found that multiple individuals had posted the same ad. Looks like a network of individual trying to scam us brother. I tried to find my old 69 that I should have never sold and got responses from about 12 different individuals stating they had that vin number. My advice, leave this one be.

Tom

 

[Steve McMahan]

Gotta test drop those JDAMs on something

 

[Stanglover]

What has this world become? No-one seems to want to work for an honest living and way too many want everything just given to them and if that doesn't work, they steal it. Shame on them!

 

[tony-muscle]

What has this world become? No-one seems to want to work for an honest living and way too many want everything just given to them and if that doesn't work, they steal it. Shame on them!

All this media platforms allow these scams to reach the masses. You just need that one in a million that falls for it. It shouldn't be that difficult for Facebook to figure this one out automatically. He has the same post in many other cities so why do they allow these ads to be reposted copy and pasted so many times? I also reported it as scam but I doubt that will do anything.

 

[Nam Vet]

Bring a Trailer has been exposed by many buyers as a pig in a pouch website.. As Always.. Remember the buyer beware clause.. You have to do your research on anything before you buy.

 

[Stanglover]

All this media platforms allow these scams to reach the masses. You just need that one in a million that falls for it. It shouldn't be that difficult for Facebook to figure this one out automatically. He has the same post in many other cities so why do they allow these ads to be reposted copy and pasted so many times? I also reported it as scam but I doubt that will do anything.

I really don't think they care as long as Facebook etc. continue to make a fortune off legitimate ads.

 

[mrgmhale]

So I am looking at Google Market Place and see this very nice 1969 SCJ for sale for $26,300.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...place_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picksImmediately my scam alarm is on because to start with it is to good to be true. The description describes a pristine car, "I'm Selling this Mustang from family problems!" and "Low price for quick sale!". So now there are many red flags so for fun I decided to do a reverse image lookup. I found an ad for the same car at bringatrailer.com that sold for $124,500, which is a more realistic price on 8/15/2022. Anyway, I thought I would share.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-ford-mustang-mach-1-34/
View attachment 76311

The scammers are out there. I haver a good friend who got burned for $45k with a Mustang of that same description. 1969, CobraJet 428 Mach 1, etc.,, etc.

Word to those who do not want to get scammed, always insist on meeting with the seller and car in person. Do not fall for the I am out of town nd will not be back for xxx months." Also, insist on using an escrow service OF YOUR CHOOSING, not theirs, and they pay the escrows fee. Demand the opportunity to have your prospective vehicle inspected by an expert, and get a copy of its current title in your hands before putting out any money. If anything smells off, anything at all, do not make the purchase.

If you do get burned, do not expect law enforcement to do more than take a report. LAPD and FBI both took reports for my friend, then told him because the loss was less than $100k they will not be able to do anything other than take a report, do a cursory scan for the alleged VIN, and then wait to see if anything comes up. It is too low a loss amount for them to be bothered with that kind of distraction.

Even on small items you need to be vigilant. Even I, despite my usual level of caution, got burned by a guy who was allegedly making a custom center console for me for me. I paid for the work and shipping fro San Francisco to Rochester. I was later told the console was done and packaged for shipping, but the ware an additional fee requirement by "Customs." I knew at that moment I had been scammed, as Customs does not have anything to do with domestic shipping. I was as pissed at myself for letting my excitement get the better of me. It was a fairly small amount, just over $500. Not even worth having a police report taken. Part of my Doctorate On Life education

I hate phooking scammers.

 

[tony-muscle]

Paypal has a buyer protection program that you can pay as a buyer. I haven't used it, but I recently sold some disc brakes and the gentleman used it. The disc brakes were new in the box as adverized so no issues there.

 

[Kilgon]

For giggles I replied to the two that tony mentioned. I asked if they were still available and informed them that I was highly interested and wanted to stop by to look. I said I was from the area and was available at any time. To date, no reply from either of them.

 

[basstrix]

Facebook can, and does, sniff out anything that goes against their political agenda. Some of it they censor, some they take down, some they add their own context, some they apply their own brand of "facts" to, and often they punish whomever posted it. They use algorithms to locate the posts they don't like....they could tune their algorithms to find scam posts....SURELY there are red flags that the public can't see which make it obvious...of this I am confident. This tells me that Facebook simply doesn't care.

In addition to the scams are what I call "video poachers"...these folks steal and monetize videos they find and spam up topic-specific groups with their garbage. There are also those who post links and porn videos.....no doubt, clicking these runs a script intended to hack or steal someone's account or data....

FB only patrols what they care about and users security seems low on that list.

 

[cjstaci]

This car scam has been in play for a long time. Just recently, there was a basket case rusted and incomplete Boss 429 on eBay. It sold for over a 100k. I then saw the same car on Craigslist for 19k.
We are at a point where it’s hard to trust anything. As AI becomes more prevalent, things will get worse.

 

[tony-muscle]

Facebook can and does sniff out anything that goes against their political agenda. Some of it they censor, some they take down, some they add their own context, and often they punish whomever posted it. They use algorithms locate the posts they don't like....they could tune their algorithms to find scam posts....SURELY there are red flags they the public can't see which make it obvious...of this I am confident. This tells me the Facebook simply doesn't care.

I agree that they don't care, but if this starts hitting headlines they will care. All they care about is public perception.

 

[basstrix]

This car scam has been in play for a long time. Just recently, there was a basket case rusted and incomplete Boss 429 on eBay. It sold for over a 100k. I then saw the same car on Craigslist for 19k.
We are at a point where it’s hard to trust anything. As AI becomes more prevalent, things will get worse.

Just yesterday or the day before, there was an ad for what was clearly a very straight and in-work restoration listed as a part out. The actual seller (at least that's what he claimed) got on to let people know this was a scam and that he was the seller. A couple days earlier a guy posted notification of a seller he'd been scammed by for a complete grill assembly....I had seen that ad for grill a day or two before. He used zelle, by the way....never use zelle...no protection, as far as I know.

 

[mrgmhale]

For giggles I replied to the two that tony mentioned. I asked if they were still available and informed them that I was highly interested and wanted to stop by to look. I said I was from the area and was available at any time. To date, no reply from either of them.

Perhaps I will jump in and try to spur their interest. Maybe I can get into a bidding war with you. Heh heh. I pay in bitcoin.