The South African Police (SAPS) has warned potential sellers of used cars on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace to be wary of car deposit scams.
With an increase in online shopping channels and on-demand delivery services, so, too, have scammers taken advantage of these modern technologies to swindle consumers out of their hard-earned money.
Car deposit scams have arisen as one of the most common types of fraud on car-selling platforms today among other grifts such as fake giveaways, counterfeit items, and gift card scams.
A car deposit scam refers to when a purported buyer pays a deposit into a seller’s bank account as a showing of good faith and to “secure” the car before anyone else takes it.
The seller in turn lets down their guard when the evidently trustworthy buyer pitches up for an in-person inspection and test drive, and will even hand over the keys to the car after being promised that the balance of the money will be paid over with haste.
Once out of sight with the car the buyer seemingly disappears off the face of the earth and the rest of the cash is never transferred, leaving the seller with only a small percentage of what they hoped to get for their wheels.
As per Auto Pedigree, other popular modus operandi for car scammers include:
- Test drive and dive – A buyer disappears with a car while on a test drive
- Fake deposit – Buyer provides fake proof of payment for a deposit in order to take a car home, and the money never arrives
- Overcharge repayment – Buyer sends the seller a fake cashier’s cheque or money order showing that they accidentally paid too much for the car and requests a refund
- After-hours comeback – Buyers perform a home visit to look at a car only to scope out the property and its security weaknesses, and return after dark to steal the car and/or rob the owner
- Cold caller – A scammer calls a car seller claiming that they already have several buyers lined up for their car, but that they will need a “finder’s fee” to connect the seller to the buyer, only to disappear after the money is paid
The reason for the prevalence of scamming in the automotive buying and selling space comes down to the ease of faking an identity online, an increase in buying and selling platforms, poor policing in this sector, and an abundance of sellers who are desperate for money.
Source: SAPS
Protecting oneself from scammers
While not all deals have hidden agendas, buyers and sellers of used goods, especially online, should heed the following basic safety tips:
- Avoid communicating with buyers or sellers outside Facebook
- Don’t share your personal information such as banking details
- If you are meeting a buyer or seller in person, arrange to meet in a public and well-lit area or at the nearest police station
- Do more research on the buyer or seller by visiting their private Facebook profile, a ‘red flag’ is raised when his or her profile was only recently created
From a buyer’s perspective, if you suspect that an online advertisement is fraudulent you can also conduct a “reverse image search” on Google.
“Online scammers sometimes use genuine images they obtained from another site to use with their fraudulent advertisement,” said the SAPS.
A reverse image search will reveal the original source of the photo, thus indicating whether or not the advertisement could be a scam.
Furthermore, buyers should be wary of buying items “on the street.”
This refers to when criminals attempt to pressurise unsuspecting victims to meet up in a remote location out of the public eye as it might enable them to get away easier.
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