8:43 am, October 3, 2022
Car dealers need to be on their guard to prevent ‘reputational damage’ following a series of scams that have seen genuine dealership businesses cloned.
A spate of fake used car dealerships have been set up by sophisticated criminals who have cloned dormant businesses.
The criminals copy details from Companies House accounts, including addresses and director names, and set up scam websites with the same details.
Car Dealer exposed AD Car Sales as a fake site last week. When we challenged the salesman on the phone about whether their dealership existed they hung up on us, in a video you can watch above.
A few days later, the BBC reported on a near-identical scam for a company called Auto-Promotions.
Both of the fake dealerships advertised cars for half their usual prices and conned consumers into paying deposits over the phone. When they arrived at the locations to pick up their cars they found the dealerships did not exist.
The scams made national newspaper headlines today (Monday), after The Times reported on our investigation and the BBC’s.
Neil Smith, ex-Operations Director of used car supermarket Imperial Cars and now founder of Motorvait Automotive Consultancy, told Car Dealer his old employer was often targeted by similar scams.
‘At Imperial we had our stock cloned and advertised on a fictitious dealerships website three times in the space of a year,’ he told Car Dealer.
‘They used our Fleet address and advertised our stock at 50 per cent of the true value as repo stock. I tracked down the domain to Cyprus and did exactly as you did and phoned the number – exactly the same story.
‘We reported to Action Fraud each time with no joy and we reported to the bank who did shut down the account but within 48 hours the scammers had set-up another business account.’
Smith said he dealt with many confused customers during that time, some who had paid deposits and others who had paid for the fake cars in full.
‘Some actually turned up to collect their cars,’ said Smith, adding his team then had to explain to customers they had been conned.
Nona Bowkis, solicitor for Lawgistics, the motor trade legal firm, said there was little car dealers could do to stop scammers cloning their site.
She said: ‘Without a crystal ball, there is not much dealers can do to stop this happening and so it is about reacting quickly to prevent reputational damage.
‘Dealers should put a notice on their website and social media channels to advise of the scam, plus report to both the police and Trading Standards.
‘In terms of being unfairly sued, the public messaging and reporting will help substantiate the defence that the matter is nothing to do with the innocent dealership.’
- AD Car Sales: How criminals are conning consumers
- Auto-Promotions: Near identical scam reported by BBC
Harry Cairney, whose address was used by scammers who cloned the Auto-Promotions business, said his service and repair site had been visited by hundreds of consumers who had been scammed and arrived to pick up their cars.
One couple had driven to his garage for seven hours with a five-month-old baby looking for their car.
Graeme Sheach, the retired director of the legitimate Auto-Promotions business, told the BBC he was furious his ‘good name and reputation’ had been taken by the criminals.
He even hired ‘ethical hackers’ to try and take the website down but they failed.
Police eventually shut the site down and say ‘enquiries are on-going’ with regards to the AD Car Sales site.
Car Dealer reported the AD Car Sales site to the hosting company NameCheap.com, but it said an internal investigation could find nothing wrong and refused to shut it down.
Since Car Dealer reported on AD Car Sales, we have received a large number of messages from consumers warning of similar fake used car websites currently operating in the UK.
Action Fraud told Car Dealer it advises the public to follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign to keep themselves safe from fraud.
This includes:
- Stop: Taking a moment to stop and think before parting with your money or information could keep you safe.
- Challenge: Could it be fake? It’s okay to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you.
- Protect: If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud online at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.
Jim Holder, editorial director of What Car? said if a ‘deal looks too good to be true, it probably is’ and advised consumers to check out these dealers on other websites.
He added: ‘Research the seller – if they don’t have any reviews from trusted sources then ask why? Likewise, why aren’t they selling their vehicles through reputable outlets such as Auto Trader or Heycar? If they say they are only doing local deals, ask for customer feedback.’
If you have information about a scam car dealership website, get in touch using the email us buttons at the top and bottom of this story.
