Purchase protection service? 99% chances to be a scam
As you see I try to help people to fight, to discover and to avoid any king of fraud. I help people through this blog, but also through Yahoo Answers. It seems that many people are fooled by swindlers that post fake and fraudulent auctions to sites like Autotrader, Craigslist, Ebay and many more. How do they cheat people? Spoofing legit companies.
So let’s start to discover their methods. First, the fraudsters post bulk actions to the above sites. Some of the auctions sites are free and some are paid. Paid auctions give some credibility to the buyer. After they convinced the buyer that this is a good transaction because the price is very small, like 20%-40% less than the normal price, they ask your details like name, address, phone number, etc. After they have received this information from you they will send a legit fake invoice.
The invoice will come from a good and also big company like Autotrader, Yahoo Finance, eBay and will ask you to pay to through Western Union, Money Gram or wire transfer. You think that is nothing suspicious because in the invoice is told that the company will keep the funds / money until you get the object or the item. Also the company require a reply to that email after the payment is made because the company must ask the seller to start shipping the item. Sounds good no? You are protected by scams and fraud. BUT is wrong, because the e-mail that you received from the company is spoofed. In the email you are asked to send the money to an agent of that company, not to the company itself. After the payment is made, you will reply to that message with the details. The email will arrive straight in the inbox of the swindlers and with fake ids they will pick up the money. At your home, you are 100% convinced that you made a great deal, but in reality the one that make a good deal is the fraudster.
So just remember there is no such thing as Autotrader Purchase Protection Service, Yahoo Protection Service, eBay protection (eBay just offer protection through PayPal, not another method of sending money) or something like that is a scam. If you receive invoices with subject like the one above, I beg you to report to the authorities and don’t send the money. This companies don’t intermediate, guarantee or endorse transactions between seller and buyer.
Be safe.
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Wow! Thank you very much!
I always wanted to write in my blog something like that. Can I take part of your post to my site?
Of course, I will add backlink?
Sincerely, Reader
Yes Timur you can
[...] program through MoneyGram, WesternUnion or anything like that. You can read more about the fake eBay protection service here Share and [...]
And here is the real example how somebody trying to sell :
Hello,
I bought this car from UK from a private seller and i am the second owner, it is still registered there so you don’t have to pay any import taxes or any other fees.Before I complete shipping I will notarize the bill of sale and this bill will be sent along with the car.Here is the vrm and vin if you need to check the car:
VRM- GD07 GCY
VIN- WAUZZZ4F08N021121
Due to the fact that i am located outside UK and we can not deal in person,i`ve contacted Yahoo regarding this issue and they told me that they could offer to me a program that is created especially for international transactions that protects both of us.They agreed to supervise this deal.
You will send the funds to Yahoo and they will keep the money until you receive the vehicle and test it.In this way both buyer and seller are 100% covered during the steps of this transaction.They will hold and insure your money until receipt of the car in good condition. That is how their service is working. As far as the seller concerns, i will be glad to know that Yahoo is in possession of the funds during the delivery period.
You will be given a 15 days inspection period from the day you receive the car at home( i will ship it to your address insured for full value to you ).
If you decide to keep the car, then you will have to authorize Yahoo to release the funds to me, and the transaction is complete.If the vehicle is not as described ( perfect interior,exterior,mechanical condition ), you will be able to send the vehicle back through the same shipping company ( return postage at my expense ), and ask Yahoo to return the money to you.
If you wish to purchase it and agree to these terms i will need you to provide your full name and address. I will then notify Yahoo and they will contact you to explain the entire procedure.You can read more on http://protection.shop-yahoo.co.uk
Thank You
And this is another one. With somehow the same story as the one from Muz.
http://www.yahoo.com.finance-protection-program.com/insurance/autos.html
Remember that sub-addresses always come before the url, not after:
Legitimate: http://something.yahoo.com/
Illegitimate: http://yahoo.com.something/
Be careful please…
so
i have been looking for a car recentl ofcourse on craigslist!
so I’ve probably sent about 6 emails to these people that are selling nice in the century cars for almost half the price!! no number but everything else,, so im thinking alright this sounds okay for now! when i get the emails- and the funny thing is that they dont realize that they are sending the same person the same thing!!! i mean same info, excuse and verything!!!! So i’m wondering if this is a fraud or NOt!? im pretty sure it is but it sounds so real.
but wait there was the recent one that gave me everything, and aswell as their home adress, so i looked it up and found that the house is VACANt!! and they all say———————- I have a contract with Craigslist.org/eBay.com so this deal must go through them. I’m very busy with my divorce process that is why I will be out of town for couple of days, taking care of it, so I can’t meet in person with you. That is also the reason why I have chosen to sell my car over the Internet. According with the eBay you have 5 days from the time you receive the car to inspect it and decide if you want to keep it or not. I know that the best deal it’s to meet you in person, but believe me, i don’t have time to meet every potential buyer during this divorce process, it is very important for me to win it. Also, i can’t trust anybody in this moment to give my phone number, i don’t want somebody to take advantage of being a weakness, just because I’m in the middle of divorce process.
Here is how this transaction it will work:
First of all I will be needing the following details from you: your Full Name, your Address, shipping Address and your Phone Number. After I will receive the details from you, I will forward them to eBay.After they will process your info, their staff will send both of us an invoice. The invoice will come to you with the details on how to make a refundable payment. eBay will contact me as soon as you will deposit the money and I will ship the car to you. After you receive the car you will have 5 days to test, verify and do whatever you need to the car. As you can see, you will receive the car BEFORE any money is released to me.
About the shipping fee, it is included in the price, so you will have to pay $2,900 for the car.
If you wish to make the transaction, please send me the necessary info so that we can proceed. I look forward to hear from you.
If, for some reason, you disagree with the car (I assure you that is NOT going to happen since my car is in IMMACULATE condition inside and out) it will be shipped back to me on MY EXPENSE and eBay will send you your money back.”"”"”"”"
——————–
can some one tell me is this real or not???? thanks
this is a scam. don’t send any money because you’ll lose it.
I am very glad I saw this site. I have recently looked at a car with a “too good to be true” price. It sounds very genuine to the point where the errors in English look like natural mistakes. The email I recieved was almost word for word the same as the one MUZ has posted. I even went so far as to run a vehicle check using the reg & vin which proved fine.
If in doubt try looking up the domain on http://www.whois.com it will tell you whether the domain is genuine and should give you information about whether it is in use and who it is registered to.
In the end though the old adage is the best one to use “IF IT LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT PROBABLY IS” so avoid it.
Here is another one:
http://www.yahoo.co.uk.yahoo-secure.co.uk/index.html?SecureShopping&affid=198263
They were trying to sell me Audi A6 (same plates and VIN number as mentioned by Muz).
So they are still using their old story.
The advert of the car they are trying to sell was on the Autotrader website recently.
I am really glad I saw this site. Thanks to it I am not gonna loose £4000.
kath
Like kath and muz i got the audi a6 treatment but got suspicious straight away when he ignored my question about where he had lived in the uk,he clearly didnt know because its a stolen ad.
Another suspicious thing was that the ad had been taken off Auto-Trader but he was still corresponding and trying 2 sell the car?!Cheeky bugger!!He/She also replied to an e-mail of mine within 2 minutes of replying to an e-mail i had sent to Yahoo Secure Shipping via the url he had sent me.The same url in Kath’s section.I mean how dumb is that?
Just a thought..how do we know this site is’nt run by them to find out who knows about their scams?..but its probably just me thinking over-time lol!this was the 1st response i got.
Thank you for your interest in my 2007 Audi A6 .
Probably you are asking yourself what is the reason for the low price.
I lived in the UK until 1 month ago. Due to the economical crisis, the company i was working for went bankrupt and i had to move to Malaga, Spain with my family.
I brought the car with me because i love it and i wanted to keep it.I did not thought that it would be so difficult to drive a right hand drive car here (also the fees to register it here are high for my current budget). This is the main reason for selling. I tried to sell it to a dealer here and they told me that they will not buy it and also to try and sell it back in the UK.
Instead of keeping it in garage (during this economical crisis), I decided to sell it to someone back in the UK for a really attractive price.
I want to sell it in UK due to the fact that it’s an UK version (right handed) and it meets all UK standards.I bought this car from UK and It still has UK registration, so you won’t have to pay any import and insurance fees.The car meets all United Kingdom guidelines so there will be no problem regarding UK Customs policy on receiving the car.The car is in perfect condition, the bodywork is immaculate,no scratches, dents or hidden defects as well as the interior in excellent non-smoking condition , never been implied in any accident and it is as advertised. The car comes with log book, HPI cleared, No finance. You will get from me the keys and all documents to register the car in your name.
The car will be shipped from Malaga by sea. If the car is not how i described it, i will offer a full refund. It will be insured during transportation and will be delivered at your address in maximum 10 days. Final price is GBP 4,000 (the price includes shipping and insurance fees).
I want to take this opportunity to assure you that this deal is 100% legitimate,the financial part of this deal will be managed by a company that has offices in both UK and Spain and in this way both buyer and seller are 100% covered during the steps of this transaction.
Let me know if you need any further details or if you would like to buy my car.
Thank you,
Clayton
The second response was identical 2 muz’s and this was the response i recieved from the BOGUS Yahoo Secure..
Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting us.
In response to your recent inquiry, we want to inform you that, According to our Yahoo Secure Shopping Terms and Conditions, at the Seller’s request, we agree to act as a third party for exchange of funds between seller and his buyer. We are committed to provide a safe,risk-free trade environment to our customers. In the unlikely event of fraud, the Yahoo Secure Shopping service provides an additional measure of safety and our company refunds payment in full.
If you wish to purchase the above mentioned vehicle, and agree to use our services for this international transaction, you will need to provide the Seller with your full name and address and ask him to contact us with his agreement on starting the transaction using your details ( as Buyer ).
Thank you for your patience and cooperation in this matter. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have further queries or require assistance.
Regards,
Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
Yahoo Inc.
Very believable but 2 belivable!It was telling me exactly what he had..
Seems like fraudsters r just reading from scripts or pasting stuff..maybe a part time job 4 some fool
Hello,
This 2006 BMW X5 3.0d Sport with 58500 mileage has a clear hpi. The general condition is excellent with no cosmetic complaints really worth comment. The car it is in showroom condition, no scratches, no dents, full service history, HPI clear, no outstanding finance, non-smoking, never involved in any accident.
I want to tell you that I’m member in the British Army and for the moment I’m in Hungary!
Price was reduced to 3,000 (URGENT SALE) as I need to sell this car before I will leave with other troops in Iraq .
In order to sell my car, the financial part will be handled by Yahoo Sopping Services. This service was made only for British Army member!
That means that you will have 48 hours available for any inspection of this car. In this way both of us will be 100% covered during the steps of this transaction.
If you’re really interested in buying my car, make sure that you really have the cash available!
I will open a transaction with Yahoo and they will contact and will explain you the steps of this transaction.
At the moment I’m stationed at our British Army base AFB in Budapest,Hungary making final preparations before deploying to Iraq with the British Army Convoy.
The car is already at our Military base from Preston, England in the Logistic Department, crated and ready to go. The Logistic Department will deliver the car to your home. Since the car is in a military base, and you can’t go there to take it, only the Logistics Department can deliver it, because it’s in their custody.
Shipping may take anywhere between 5-7 business days depending on the destination.All documents you need for ownership, loog book , manuals and bill of sale will be provided along with the vehicle.
For the payment I would like to use Yahoo as a third party. They will keep your money into a protection account until you get the vehicle and will release it to me after inspection period is over and you agree to keep the car. So, this is not a blind transaction, you can see the car before committing to buy and to eliminate any concerns you will have 7 days to inspect it. If you decide not to keep it Yahoo will refund you the money, no questions asked, and shipping back will be my concern. I think this is more than fair for both of us.
I’ll start the official procedure, and Yahoo will contact you about this. If you are interested in buying it just mail me back with:
- Your Full Name – Required by Yahoo (You’ll receive important guidelines + instructions from them.)
- Your Shipping Address – Required by the Logistics Department (They will contact you by email with delivery/pickup instructions 1 day ahead so you can communicate what time schedule work best for your to receive the car)
Again I want to point out that because I am going to Iraq this sale is my top priority and I am looking after a fast transaction, with no delays. That is why I decided to lower the price, to avoid wasting time with negotiations and find a buyer as soon as possible.
I wish prefer to talk all the transaction details by the phone but right now I`m in a military base, getting ready for Iraq and for this reason I will not have access to the phone for the next 2 weeks.
Army nurse Corporal : NICK JENSEN
For car’s pictures clik on the following links:
http://i39.tinypic.com/20f80er.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/b5js4z.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/ifpc1e.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/2laa78j.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/1owrr4.jpg
Engine Size: 2,993 cc
Type: Estate Power: 218
Mileage: 58500 Seats: 5
Doors: 5 MOT Expiry: Nov 2010
Model Year: 2006 Drive Side: Right-hand drive
Reg. Date: 31 Mar 2006 Road Tax: Nov 2010
Airbag Driver, Airbag Passenger, Airbag Side, Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS), Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Immobiliser, Safety Belt Pretensioners, Rear seat belts, Four Wheel Drive, Alarm
Exterior Features
Catalytic Converter, Alloy Wheels
In-Car Entertainment
Radio, CD Multichanger, Navigation System, Premium Sound System
Interior/Comfort
Air Conditioning, Climate Control, Central Locking, Cruise Control, Leather Seats, Electric Adjustable Seats, Electric Windows, Parking Sensors, Power Steering, Tilt Steering Wheel
Thanks, hope to do business with you soon!
Received the response on the BMW X5, it was advertised on the Auto Trader website at a bargain price of £3000. Thought it may be suspicous so got in touch with so called seller and and got the above response. Even pictures of the car with reg number. Googled the Yahoo protection service reference and found all the details of the scam, checked autoo trader site this morning, advert gone! Reported to Auto Trader
Too good to be true, emails came from eghel77@gmail.com
SPAM HIM