Online car auction scams are becoming more sophisticated.
Gugs Mhlungu spoke to motoring enthusiast, Warren Tucker [SKIP TO 18:28]
If you see your dream car selling at your dream price….it’s probably a scam.
The public is being warned about fraudsters targeting would-be car buyers with online scams.
Tucker explains that someone will go to an auction house and take pictures of the actual vehicles on the floor of the particular auction house.
They will then create a website or they would post these photos onto Facebook Market Place or Gumtree.
The scammers would then price the vehicles at very low prices and then claim that the cars were bank repo vehicles and that the low prices were because the banks wanted to get rid of the vehicles.
When the client engages with the scammers, the scammers will produce invoices with that auction company’s letterhead. They will even go as far as opening a separate bank account in the name of the auction house.
Warren Tucker, motoring enthusiast
Tucker says most of the time people are so desperate to get the vehicle at this low cost, that the scammers then charge an additional fee to their unsuspecting victim to secure the vehicle for them at the auction house.
In most instances, the auction house is more expensive than walking into a car dealership and buying a vehicle. You have less protection buying a car from an auction than you do buying from a car dealership.
Warren Tucker, motoring enthusiast
Tucker adds these scams have been around for a while, but that they are becoming more sophisticated.
The economic situation in the country, Tucker says, has made scammers become more desperate and even more daring.
It’s always preying on the people that really have the least amount of money to lose.
Warren Tucker, motoring enthusiast
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