5:04 am, July 1, 2023
Auto Trader says it is taking all possible steps to ensure the safety of buyers and sellers after an unscrupulous car dealer was jailed for selling dodgy vehicles on the platform.
Car Dealer reported on Thursday that Mohammed Sajad ripped off 11 customers by selling unroadworthy ‘death traps’ for a combined £58,000.
The Birmingham-based conman used Auto Trader and a number of other online platforms, including eBay, Facebook and Gumtree, to flog the motors.
He was jailed for close to three years and Auto Trader has now moved to explain the measures it has in place to prevent fraudsters from exploiting buyers.
A spokesman for the retailer told Car Dealer that the firm is ‘committed to ensuring that customers’ buying and selling experiences are as safe and secure as possible’.
They said that measures can be broken down into five main categories: monitoring and moderation; collaboration with authorities; dedicated safety and security site; investment in processes and ongoing reviews, and industry leadership.
Here is what Auto Trader says…
Monitoring and moderation
Our dedicated professional security team works 365 days a year to monitor fraudulent and unlawful activity and take appropriate action.
We also encourage customers to identify misleading adverts by placing a ‘report this advert’ function on every advert.
Where we identify adverts which are unlawful and/or breach our moderation policies, we remove them from our site.
Collaboration with authorities
We regularly assist law enforcement authorities to prevent and detect criminal activity and apprehend offenders.
We take preventative and detective action immediately upon becoming aware of issues, using a number of different technologies to monitor for fraud on our site.
We also alert customers if we identify concerns about customers responding to their advert.
We work with Trading Standards, and where we identify poor or unwanted behaviour or receive complaints from consumers, we have robust processes in place to ensure we are able to take appropriate action.
Dedicated safety and security site
We have invested in a dedicated safety and security site that provides practical advice for each stage of the consumer experience.
The safety and security site is available via the Auto Trader homepage but there’s also a link to it from every vehicle advert where consumers can find the latest buying and selling checklists.
The safety and security site is regularly updated to highlight latest news, information and alerts, and customers can contact our dedicated security team seven days a week to raise questions and concerns.
By signposting our advice at each stage of the customer journey, we remind all customers not to jeopardise their personal safety and help them make informed decisions when buying and selling online.
Anyone wishing to visit Auto Trader’s safety and security site can do so here.
Investment in processes and ongoing reviews
We invest in people, technology and processes to prevent scammers defrauding our dealers and consumers.
In practical terms, this involves optimising security settings on all of our systems, validating phone numbers listed on adverts, protecting private sellers’ personal information and installing a two-factor verification on all customers’ accounts.
We work closely with our security team to identify new areas of risk and augment our systems accordingly.
Industry leadership
We collaborate with other classified advert sites to promote industry best practice.
For example, in 2006 we established the Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group (VSTAG), with the aim of bringing together law enforcement, trading standards and other key classified marketplaces to share best pro-active advice to help consumers buy and sell vehicles safely.
In doing so, we introduced a minimum set of industry standards to which most classified players have signed up.
