Selling a car and contacted by possible bank draft scammers!

Harry Bolton

I have my car up for sale on a well known National car sales website. I had a few calls but on sunday evening a lady called asking to view the car the following day Monday. I wasnt available until wednsday as I was in Germany but I found it slightly odd that she asked no questions about the car whatsoever just asked when she could view the car and was adiment she would buy it.

The following day she text me asking if there was any chance she could "Collect" the car that night so I called her back and explained there wasnt,

She then explained that she crashed her own car at christmas and her insurance company had just paid her €11,500 . She said that her insurance company give her a "Replacement Car Bank Draft" for €11,500 and she wouldnt even be haggling with me on the price as the draft was for €11,500 and all she had to do was fill in my name on the draft.
I questioned her on this as I was of the opinion that the insurance company paid by cheque and had the claimant was the payee on the check but she said no that they give her a "Replacment Car Draft" which allows her to find a replacement car and fill the sellers name on the draft.

Im starting to think this was a scam of some sorts and im wondering is there such a thing as a "Replacement Car Bank Draft" from an insurance company or has anyone else heard of a similar scam to this, perhaps it was a fake draft as She is due to call to view the car tomorrow !!..

ABajaninCork

If you think it's a scam, it probably is!

I'd run a mile....

colm_mcm

Sounds unlikely.

coylemj

Obey the signals from your nose.

What she's claiming is that the insurance company sent a blank draft (effectively a bearer instrument) through the post, total BS.

ironclaw

I'd be of the opinion its a scam. However, airing on the side of 'maybe', you could fairly quickly get the draft checked out. Just suggest you meet at a bank. A genuine seller will turn up and a scammer will disappear fairly sharpish. I'd meet at a bank anyway if any large amount of money, cash or cheque, was changing hands.

Also if your meeting at a bank meet at the branch the draft was issued i.e. An Ulster Bank Draft, meet at an Ulster Bank. If they can't verify it, walk away.

veetwin

Harry Bolton wrote: »

She said that her insurance company give her a "Replacement Car Bank Draft" for €11,500 and she wouldnt even be haggling with me on the price as the draft was for €11,500 and all she had to do was fill in my name on the draft.
I questioned her on this as I was of the opinion that the insurance company paid by cheque and had the claimant was the payee on the check but she said no that they give her a "Replacment Car Draft" which allows her to find a replacement car and fill the sellers name on the draft.

Im starting to think this was a scam of some sorts and im wondering is there such a thing as a "Replacement Car Bank Draft" from an insurance company or has anyone else heard of a similar scam to this, perhaps it was a fake draft as She is due to call to view the car tomorrow !!..

Yes it is a scam/fake draft/too good to be true(she wants to pay full price and doesn't want to haggle:rolleyes:)

GoodisonPark

DEFINATELY a scam.

I received a cheque from an insurance company when my car was written off last year. The cheque was payable to me and crossed "a/c payee only"

Cash is king

Would you not meet her for the craic or tell her the price has increased just for a reaction!

Atlantic Dawn

The woman is a simpleton scammer and thinks you are a fool.

When your claim is settled with an insurer you are usually issued a cheque, having someone able to transfer it to anyone they want brings a whole money laundering dimension and is not possible.

cplwhisper

Scam... insurance settlement cheque is for a/c payee only ... and cant simple be signed on back to give to TP.. !!! Run for the hills

Harry Bolton

I now know for sure it was a scam !.. I done a simple image search using the picture of my ad and I found to my surprise that my car was advertised on ebay by someone else for £4500 less than I am selling it for !.. The user had a number of vehicles advertised on this site and so I done a simple image search and found each of them advertised on a different well known Irish website with a higher price and different phone number and county . I contacted Ebay and they said they had been made aware of this user selling my vehicle for a much lower price since earlier today ( I also have my car advertised on Ebay ) so they removed the adverts and closed this users account. If she calls me tomorrow to view the car im seriously considering having the Gardai waiting when she arrives to view the car !..

Voodoomelon

Get her to drive a serious distance. When she arrives, tell her to **** off.

visual

Calling the garda is a good idea
Im sure they would be very interested

mfceiling

I would arrange to meet her. When you are ready to "close" the sale just tell her, "now, we'll head to the bank with this cheque and that'll be us good to go"

You may as well waste her time seeing as she's happy to scam you.

GoodisonPark

Id definately make her travel to view the car , whether you involve the Gardai or deal with her yourself is your call.
Personally I think I 'd get more satisfaction in dealing with her myself.
Do let us know how this pans out.

Henry Ford III

She might turn up with 3 large gentlemen friends. Be careful.

dr.fuzzenstein

visual wrote: »

Calling the garda is a good idea
Im sure they would be very interested

That x1000.
If you tell her to get lost, she'll just scam some other poor sod.
Better she gets caught.
And +1 on the heavies. Beware.

Harry Bolton

I had a quiet word with the local Guard who lives a few doors up from me about this situation yesterday morning, He was very interested and told me about a guy whom I actually know well as he played at county level football until a few years ago who purchased an Audi Q7 Jeep last September and when he went to pay his motor tax last month they realised the vehicle was reported stolen, Gardaí seized the vehicle and he’s out of pocket for almost €30,000. My brother in laws father was also stung this way after he purchased a UK reg car in Dublin last October and when he went to pay the VRT the car was seized he is out of pocket for €18,500.

So I decided to not tell her to F**k off but I’d let her come on and have the guards here when she arrived as I think the scale of these scams and the money involved is unbelievable.

She arrived at about half 9 last night, walked around the car and sat in, she had 2 guys with her, a guy in his 50's and a guy in his 30's she was only in her early 20's if even that. When she sat in she asked my name and then wrote it on the “Replacement Car Bank Draft “which I have to say looked real to me.

I then said, "Hold on a minute until I get my brother to take the spare key and the log book here as I forgot it in the house”!..
So they sat in the car and waited as I rang the guards who were only a few minutes getting here.

The guards questioned them in regards the bank draft and the girl started roaring crying, the guards had a list of serial numbers which they compared to the bank draft and they said the draft was part of a stolen batch.

They arrested the 3 of them and a recovery truck came and collected their Jeep an hour or so later.

I have to go to the Garda barracks later tonight to make a statement but that’s all the information I have at the minute, I don’t know if the Guards are taking action against them regarding the other cars that they had advertised on EBay along with my car or not but the local garda has told me that they are all reported stolen as well.

thegreatiam

wow, good job.

Brave decision. glad it went well for you. need more like you imho

Supergurrier

You got more balls than most OP, well done

pete4130

That is a good result. Sounds like the girl was probably told she'd never get caught and was a front for the whole scam. Quick thinking and brave decision by you. This genuinely brought a smile to my face! Quite rare you hear such a good ending like this!

Voodoomelon

Well done, great result! Only one or two small charges will stick no doubt, better than nothing.

visual

Yes well done and nice to see the garda quick reaction.

Absoluvely

Harry Bolton wrote: »

So I decided to not tell her to F**k off but I’d let her come on and have the guards here when she arrived

Surprised she fell for it, considering you told her you'd have the guards there :V


EDIT: Joking

Harry Bolton

Absoluvely wrote: »

Surprised she fell for it, considering you told her you'd have the guards there :V

I obviously didn't tell her I would have the Gaurds waiting!..

Voodoomelon

I'd say it was a nerve racking wait until the Gardai showed up. What was the scammers reaction when they saw the squad car arriving?

Bigcheeze

Are you not concerned they now know where you live ?

fangee

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Are you not concerned they now know where you live ?

Are you trying to scare the Sh*it out of him ?

It's highly unlikely they will think anything other than it was a sting and stay well clear.

Criminals don't often return to the scene of a crime.

anoda_username

Well done, great to hear some good news for a change

gallag

Fantastic sir. Bravo. You have potentially saved some people a lot of heartache. Again, well done.

GoodisonPark

Excellent news.
Have to admire the way you handled it.
Well done.

Dicky Pride

I love when a random motor's thread pops up in the most thanks page.

Well played OP.

ironclaw

fangee wrote: »

It's highly unlikely they will think anything other than it was a sting and stay well clear.

Criminals don't often return to the scene of a crime.

Strongly disagree. You basically took a lot of potential money right out of their pocket. Hopefully it was a small 3 person outfit and not a major crime ring. OP is probably going to have to give a statement and go on the stand as well.

I would never, ever do this even in my own county let alone outside my own house. Criminals have no fear in this country any more. I would have got the Gardai to handle the whole thing and done a sting that way.

Your a very brave person OP and I have the utmost, highest respect for you for doing this.

dr.fuzzenstein

Yep, if that was me I'd be moving to Timbuktu.

Dercola

ironclaw wrote: »

Strongly disagree. You basically took a lot of potential money right out of their pocket. Hopefully it was a small 3 person outfit and not a major crime ring. OP is probably going to have to give a statement and go on the stand as well.

I would never, ever do this even in my own county let alone outside my own house. Criminals have no fear in this country any more. I would have got the Gardai to handle the whole thing and done a sting that way.

Your a very brave person OP and I have the utmost, highest respect for you for doing this.

Sorry dude, but I have to say I think you are being unnecessarily melodramatic! Its a very brave thing the op done, but I reckon you should stop trying to make it sound like the mafia will out to get him!
It sounds like its a small scale operation, and the gardai already have the personal details of those involved! I would be very surprised if there is any blow back from this at all...

John_Rambo

ironclaw wrote: »

Strongly disagree. You basically took a lot of potential money right out of their pocket. Hopefully it was a small 3 person outfit and not a major crime ring. OP is probably going to have to give a statement and go on the stand as well.

Believe me, they won't want to see or hear of the op again, they won't go near him or is area ever again!! I have had something similar happen in an old house I used to live in. If it's a major crime ring they certainly won't be drawing attention to themselves by trying to settle a score with someone who had the cop to suss them in the first place.

shamwari

OP: respect! :cool:

Buffman

I have to say well done to the OP! Good outcome. You've probably saved some other people from getting scammed down the road.

To all those saying the OP could now be targeted because the criminals know where the house is, I'd hope the scammers would know better. Witness intimidation would be taken very seriously.

A 38-year-old father-of-three has been jailed for eight years for intimidating a key witness in an upcoming criminal law trial.

Brian Collopy, with addresses in St Senan's Street, St Mary's Park, Limerick, and at Ballysimon, Co Limerick, pleaded not guilty to obstructing, perverting or interfering with the course of justice, in June last year.

pajo1981

Amazing thread. OP, well done. Wish there were more like you.

Edit: Remember that knacker getting 8 years for cocking his hand in a gun shape at a witness - also quite beautiful.

dr.fuzzenstein

Buffman wrote: »

I have to say well done to the OP! Good outcome. You've probably saved some other people from getting scammed down the road.

To all those saying the OP could now be targeted because the criminals know where the house is, I'd hope the scammers would know better. Witness intimidation would be taken very seriously.

Brian Collopy, with addresses in St Senan's Street, St Mary's Park, Limerick, and at Ballysimon, Co Limerick, pleaded not guilty to obstructing, perverting or interfering with the course of justice, in June last year.

Ah yes. "Not Guilty". The battlecry of the scumbag.

ironclaw

Buffman wrote: »

To all those saying the OP could now be targeted because the criminals know where the house is, I'd hope the scammers would know better. Witness intimidation would be taken very seriously.

The key to successful intimidation is not getting caught. Something that is extremely easy to do in this country unfortunately.We have a weird and wonderful multi-cultrual criminal element here in Ireland. As a friend on the force said 'utter animals'

I honestly couldn't sleep at night in the OP's position. You basically out did a criminal gang for the tune of €10k. Sorry but thats my reading of the situation.

I utterly admire the OP for their actions. But I would have asked the Gardai to fully engage the sting and had no involvement what so ever.

John_Rambo

ironclaw wrote: »

I honestly couldn't sleep at night in the OP's position. You basically out did a criminal gang for the tune of €10k. Sorry but thats my reading of the situation

But, that's you!

All your doing is worrying the op and making him/her lose sleep!

Seriously, if it's a big operation they won't won't won't want to draw any more attention to themselves. I mentioned before I was in a similar position.

If they are complete amateurs they might try to do something and they WILL fail and be caught (cause they are complete amateurs), but it's highly highly unlikely, more chance of winning Euromillions.

If it's a professional outfit and it's still operational, the OP's address and a 100k radius won't be touched by them!

Seriously Harry Bolton, you did a good job, you saved a lot of people a lot of money and you put a horribly dishonest pack out of action. There won't be recriminations.

Harry Bolton

ironclaw wrote: »

I honestly couldn't sleep at night in the OP's position. You basically out did a criminal gang for the tune of €10k. Sorry but thats my reading of the situation.

I should probably point out that these scumbags don’t know where I live as I met them at a filling station about 10mile from where I live but I’m sure if they wanted to they could probably find out where I live easily enough. I give her a random name when she asked me in order to fill in the bank draft so they don’t even actually have my name either at the minute!..

I can completely understand your opinion and I also appreciate your input, It is something I obviously considered but I can honestly say, I certainly won’t be losing any sleep over these scumbag wannabe gangsters possible campaign of revenge!, not one wink of sleep in fact, they certainly didn’t seem very professional to me!.. I seen a few episodes of that Love/Hate programme and I doubt very much Nidge or Darren would have burst into tears at the sight of Gardaí, like this lot did !..

All Joking aside though, Retaliation is not something I’m concerned about, but if they did attempt something like that then so be it, I’ll deal with that if it happens but I’m certainly not worried, afraid or concerned about it in any way to be honest. Although, Again, I do understand and appreciate your opinion on it.

I give my statement to Gardaí last night but there wasn’t much more info they could tell me, The detective and garda I spoke to seem satisfied that they have them for a number vehicle thefts or frauds, but have told me the PSNI in the North of Ireland also have an interest in these idiots,but wouldn’t tell me anything more so I don’t know what exactly "interest" means, I can only assume, but I guess it doesn’t really matter as they are due in the district court on Tuesday morning here.
I personally believe that the guy in his 50's was in authority as quite a few times I noticed the other 2 seemed to await his approval on certain things, such as, when I said I’d have to get my brother to bring the log book and spare key as I forgot them at home, and when I told her that unless she could show me her licence and insurance which covered her to drive any car she wouldn’t be getting a test drive, she had to run this by the older guy in the jeep for what seemed like his approval or decision. I firmly believe this guy is the boss. When the Gardaí arrived he spotted them turning in and started up the jeeps engine and tooted the horn. I was having a conversationwith the other 2 at this time and they instantly made for the jeep, seemed as if tooting the horn was a signal for That’s the Guards, let’s get out of here!..


The fact that these idiots attempted to rob me of my car or technically almost €12,000 as if it was nothing, all in a day’s work, play me for a fool and possibly get a laugh out of it all at the end of it all, annoys and angers me beyond believe tbh, I haven’t slept properly since, even though I have gotten great satisfaction out of seeing them caught and locked up for now at least.

I have been told these guys are up to something similar with electronics as well, which may possibly be mobile phones, so I guess people should be cautious not to accept any Cheque or Bank draft from EBS Bank if selling anything, and certainly not if it has an Insurance Company also named on the cheque or draft, as from my research, none of the top Insurance Companies in Ireland even bank with EBS and clearly this gang some how managed to obtain blank EBS Cheques or Bank Drafts!..

Thanks for all the kind comments and compliments ECT, I personally don’t think it was brave or anything like that, it certainly wasn’t intended to be. It just angered me what these people were prepared to do to me and my family and I couldn’t give them the satisfaction out of thinking they could make a fool out of me. I do hope it helps stop it happening to someone else though.

Apologies for the length of this post btw !..


Harry

Harry

Voodoomelon

Fair play OP, don't let retaliation worry you, they have nothing in the slightest to gain in that regard. You did more than 99% of us would have done and have saved countless more second hand sales as a result.

veetwin

Well done OP although it what everyone should do in your situation. To the panic merchants worrying about losing sleep and nay sayers going on about how brave the OP was - shame on you. It is people like you that allow these cnuts rip off ordinary decent people every day.

ironclaw

Harry Bolton wrote: »

I should probably point out that these scumbags don’t know where I live as I met them at a filling station about 10mile from where I live but I’m sure if they wanted to they could probably find out where I live easily enough. I give her a random name when she asked me in order to fill in the bank draft so they don’t even actually have my name either at the minute!..

Ah ok, thats kinda changes everything! I thought they were in your driveway, in for a cup of tea sort of thing.

Opinion as above retracted!

visual

ironclaw wrote: »

Ah ok, thats kinda changes everything! I thought they were in your driveway, in for a cup of tea sort of thing.

Opinion as above retracted!

The OP done the right thing. I would have done the same even if they where at my house. You have to stand up for yourself and give the yellow coat a rest. Love hate is only a tv show. In reality these little gangs when interviewed by garda will turn on each other and sell their partners in crime out for reduced time with tears in their eyes. From now to their court date they will be trying to convince each other they said nothing.

irishjig69b

Good on ya op :-)

SEAN_DUB

Respect, im sure the guy who got his jeep back would be thanking you right now!!!