Buying guide
Fake escrow and wire-fraud scams in high-end car sales
The FBI has warned for more than a decade about online vehicle ads for cars the seller never had. The IC3 recorded about 26,967 complaints with adjusted losses of $54,032,396 for these sales from May 2014 through December 2017 [1].
How the scam works
- An ad shows a desirable car at an attractive price, often with photos copied from a real listing [1][2].
- The seller gives a story for the price and urgency: a military deployment, a divorce, a relative who died [1].
- The seller moves the deal off the original site and claims a well-known company’s “buyer protection” or an escrow service covers it [1][2].
- You get an invoice from a spoofed site or fake toll-free number and are told to wire money or buy gift cards [1][2].
- The car never arrives, and the seller vanishes or asks for more money [1].
Red flags (from the FBI)
- Too-good-to-be-true prices.
- Moving the transaction to another website.
- “Buyer protection” claimed for a deal done outside the company’s own site.
- Refusing to meet or allow an inspection.
- Hard-luck reasons for selling.
- Asking for wired funds in advance [2].
Safer habits
- Research the seller’s name, email, and phone, and confirm that the company accepts the payment method being requested [1].
- Find any escrow company yourself and type its address; never use a link or phone number the seller sends.
- Confirm wire details by calling a number you found independently.
If you’ve already paid
- Call your bank right away and ask it to recall the wire.
- File a complaint at ic3.gov [3].
- Keep every email, text, invoice, and screenshot.
Sources
- FBI IC3 Public Service Announcement: Fraudulent Online Vehicle Sales (Jan 17, 2018)
- FBI: Buying a Car Online? Read This First
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (report fraud)