8:48 am, July 30, 2024
Wheeler Dealers star Mike Brewer says ‘the fight is on’ after his small used car dealership business fell victim to scammers.
Brewer, who also hosts the Car Dealer Used Car Awards, owns One Automotive in Warwickshire, which last month sold a VW Golf over the phone to a buyer who was unable to come and see the car.
In order to complete the sale, Brewer and his team checked the buyer’s card details, and crucially his drivers licence, both of which matched up and seemed legitimate.
The customer then arranged for his own courier to collect the Golf, valued at £10,490 and the sale was completed with the delivery.
However, a short time later, One Automotive was contacted by its card provider, Barclays, who revealed that the buyer – who Brewer named only as ‘Gary’ – was actually a fraud who had stolen someone’s identity to buy the car.
Brewer was then told by Barclays that the money paid to his business would be taken away and reimbursed to the victim of the identity theft.
With the Golf now long gone, it means that the TV star’s business has been left significantly out of pocket, through no fault of its own.
Brewer has now hit out at Barclays in a video posted on social media, in which he said his company has been ‘scammed twice’.
He said: ‘We had a really good month at One Automotive last month, we are very happy with the way it went, but it all got swiped away because we’ve been scammed.
‘We think we’ve been scammed not only once, but possibly twice. Once by a customer who has scammed somebody with their ID to buy a car but a second time, quite possibly, by the card provider.’
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‘We have done everything we could do,’ he added. ‘We did our due diligence. We checked the cards, checked the names and addresses, did everything we possibly could do and somehow we now get a reverse charge so we have lost not only the car but Barclays have just taken back the money as well.
‘We are not at fault and I think is a crime. I think its criminal and they shouldn’t be allowed to do that.
‘I know they’re going to fall on the side of the customer but in this instance they need to think about the small business owner – ie us, because we can’t afford to lose that kind of money.
‘It will really really affect this business. We’ve got employees we need to pay for and we don’t earn a lot of money on these cars so we are really really disappointed with Barclays.
‘We have got Lawgistics, as a company that represents car dealers in situations like this. They’ve heard of it before and hopefully they’re going to represent us and see if we can get our money back at least but it’s a warning to all car dealers out there.
‘If you’re going sell a car and it’s going to be done remotely – which we’re never going to do again – make sure the customer is there in person with ID, with a drivers licence that you can check against them. Google the address, check where they live, check everything because you will get scammed as there are plenty of people out there doing these scams.
‘Unfortunately for us it looks like we’ve lost the car and the money but the fight is on to get it back!’
Car Dealer has contacted both Barclays and Lawgistics for comment.
