Restored DB4 for 4.5K? Scam, or what?

Hi All,

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I emailed the seller checking if he really did mean 4.5k. The reply I got was:

I am selling this car for =A3 4,500.00 including delivery anywhere in UK.I set at a "very, very low" price to guarantee a sale. The only reason is that I need cash for a family emergency. I have to tell you that I'm currently out of town with some major problems so pick up/ view isn't an option. If you want to buy this vehicle email me back with your full name and address to start the official procedure trough eBay. They will send you a notification with ALL the info regarding delivery, purchase protection and refund policy so please provide your details before more questions. You will find 90% of answers in that notification from eBay!

Although the idea of a restored DB4 for less than 5 grand is appealing, this doesn't feel right to me. Or am I just being a wuss?

Tim

Reply to
Morganaut
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Interestingly, since I replied to the seller saying "Sorry mate, this smells like a scam to me", the item has now been withdrawn. It claimed to be a 1959 DB4 which had been professionally restoed in 2000 and was claimed to be in concours condition. Looks like I was right, then.

Reply to
Morganaut

Perhaps it was a 1959 Dinky model of a DB4 Do you have the original page still in your browser cache? I'd be ever so interested to have a read of it.

Reply to
Roger Hunt

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As a matter of interest, was this item being sold from one of the Scottish Isles? There's been a scammer using ebay recently under various usernames (all apparently "generated names", nothing close to a real persons name or nick-name) and he's listed various obscure highly-sought after items - from american muscle cars to very rare rover v8 derived overhead cam F1 engines! He never replies to any emails asking if collection is possible and the ads always get pulled by ebay! Badger.

Reply to
Badger

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com realised it was Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:47:33 -0700 and decided it was time to write:

It's a scam, no question about it. If something looks to good to be true, it probably is. The scammer being conveniently out of town (so no viewing possible) should be a clue.

See also

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Reply to
Yippee

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That notification from 'Ebay' would likely be a forgery. I've had just that on a 'second chance' offer which stank to high heaven.

If it quacks like a duck it's usually a duck.

PC gives the value of a DB4 FHC as 38, 25, 15K for condition 1 2 and 3 - more for a convertible - so pretty well any dealer in the land would pay a lot more than 4.5k on the spot for such a car - without the delay of an Ebay transaction.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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It's a scam - several people I know and myself have had very similar emails (and they all included the 'out of town' bit). The other parts of the scam is that they're all zero rated sellers, usually business sellers, and they registered the day the auction started (surprise there). Often you find that the auction including the pictures has been borrowed from someone who's just sold or at least advertised such a vehicle.

It's also interesting that they keep sending you back the same email over and over again if you start asking specific questions.

Reply to
Timo Geusch

There's a whole series of scam cars, often classic, appearing on eBay at the moment. Indicators are ...

Always from a zero rated business seller Place name repeats: "Location London, London, UK" Starting price is often =A31900

The photographs and words are very convincing - because they have simply been copied from a past eBay auction. In at least one case they have tried to sell a car which is still up for (real) auction.

Item number 160142084909 is an example.

Ian

Reply to
Ian

That same scammer is also trying to sell a boat in Chester while the original listing still appears under completed items. I've reported it.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

That last isn't always true. A couple of years ago I spotted a series of scams from sellers with very good feedback. The giveaway was the instruction not to use ebay messaging but to call a number or use email. I used messaging to ask one seller if he really had the item for sale and got a "damn my account has been hacked" reply. I tried a few more (different sellers) and got the same response.

Notified ebay and got a reply telling me that if I did that again they would terminate my account for "interfering in auctions". It seems like ebay want to protect the scammers income.

Reply to
Steve Firth

I believe the traditional method is to have two scammers each buy fifty things from each other at a 50p buy-it-now price and give good feedback. Bingo: +50 each for a few quid in fees.

Ian

Reply to
Ian

Wouldn't work. Feedback is only incremented from different sellers. My feedback is 337 but I have 383 individual positive comments (and no negs, before anyone says something!)

Reply to
Chris Bolus

But that would be registered identities, that is not the same as different people.

Reply to
:Jerry:

Ian wrote

(moving sideways slightly ..) If a low feedback score, always worth checking is how long the individual has used ebay - mine is low, I have been signed up for, ooh, er, years, but only occasionally buy anything.

Reply to
Roger Hunt

True, but how many scammers can keep an account open for long enough to bother having 50 different identities just to build feedback on an account they know will get closed as soon as Ebay get tipped off?

In any case, I suspect many scammers aren't all that bright - even though they rely on attracting punters who also are not that bright!

Reply to
Chris Bolus

If that is there aim, very easily, remember that to get that feed back they don't need to do any scamming - that comes later.

Reply to
:Jerry:

The ones I spotted were definitely hijacked accounts, sometimes the positive feedback was in the 1000s. The one common factor was that the accounts had been inactive for several months before the scammer used them.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Same here, I'm not driven to buy every bit of tat on eBay.

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Reply to
Steve Firth

A common factor here seems to be the "Other Classic Cars" category, zero feedback and "Classified Ads" like the one that started this thread.

130141009401 200137013470 170138836040 200138764362 (It'd be entertaining to watch a meeting between the scammer and the former owner of that last one!)
Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Yes - if at all suspicious, look at the length of membership. Few are going to take years to set up a history before scamming.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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