2:37 pm, November 22, 2022
Criminals purporting to be legitimate used car dealers are still conning customers out of cash – two months after reports first surfaced of the scam.
Despite the police, the website hosting company and Facebook all being informed – the criminals are still actively scamming used car buyers out of their money.
Adverts for suspiciously cheap cars are still appearing on Facebook with the conmen targeting used car buyers in London and the Home Counties.
The criminals geo-target their Facebook adverts using made up personal accounts to people in these areas as they are less likely to travel to Scotland, where the dealership claims it is based, to check the cars exist first.
Facebook says it cannot investigate the complaints, despite many consumers reporting the adverts as abusive.
A Car Dealer investigation found many adverts were still live on the platform posted by an account under the name of ‘Alice Watkins’.
Car Dealer even caught the scammers out in a video you can watch at the top of this post.
It appears the account creates new daily listings on Facebook’s Marketplace – something that has few checks and can easily be used by criminals.
The cars are advertised for well under the market rate and are designed to get consumers to call Millers Car Sales which then attempts to get customers to pay up front.
Consumers are asked to call the fake dealership on 0131 618 8639.
‘There is a difference between paid-for advertisements and Marketplace listings – from the limited information we have, this looks like a Marketplace listing and not a paid-for advertisement, so it’s important you reflect that this is user generated Marketplace listing and not a paid for ad,’ said a spokesperson for Facebook.
Car Dealer asked Facebook if it could investigate further and the platform said it could not without further details. Screenshots of example adverts, a link to one that has since been removed and reports from consumers shared with Car Dealer were all sent to the company.
Car Dealer was contacted this weekend by two people who were promoted cars from the fake car dealership on Facebook.
Bohdan Czempiel googled the company before paying out any cash and found our report.
He said: ‘I was looking for the address of this “company” and thanks to that I came across your website. These scammers are still operating and advertising on Facebook Marketplace.
‘I reported the scam on Facebook, but I don’t know if it’s effective.’
Stanley Ploch wasn’t as lucky and sent the scammers nearly £3,000 for a Toyota Prius (main image) advertised by the conmen.
Ploch contacted Car Dealer after realising he had fallen for the con and said it was ‘unbelievable’ the police had not been able to stop the scammers.
The conmen ask car buyers to send them the money in advance of picking the car up and say they’ll deliver the car. Using the website to make themselves look legitimate, as well as consumers’ growing acceptance of buying cars remotely, the scammers then steal the money.
Car Dealer has reported the website to the hosting company Namecheap.com which has failed to respond.
Reports to Car Dealer from those who have been scammed suggest the criminals are based abroad and ask for the money to be sent to an off-shore account .
‘Our vigilance was misled by various facts from the scammers,’ Ploch told Car Dealer.
‘We’ve already notified the bank and the next steps are in progress but we feel bad. It seemed very credible to us.’
- Criminals target London buyers with fake cheap used cars
- We called conman car dealer – and here’s what they told us
- BBC unveils dodgy dealer that didn’t pay off car finance
Other reports have been posted on the YouTube video Car Dealer published after we called the scammers ourselves.
Josh Cudo wrote: ‘My friend just got scammed by them, but luckily the bank reversed the payment.
‘He Googled it and checked Companies House and all looked good, but thanks to your article and video if he went to Google them again it would now come up as a scam.
‘He bought a Corsa and they said they would deliver but the price was suspiciously cheap.
‘He transferred them £3,000 then they stopped taking his calls.’
Police Scotland could not comment to Car Dealer on whether it was investigating Millers Car Sales when approached.
Consumer experts said car buyers should think very carefully before paying a deposit for a car they hadn’t seen.
Checking out a business on a variety of platforms and not just trusting their website was also crucial.
Legitimate car dealerships will have reviews on sites like Auto Trader and Google from previous customers and those without them should be treated with extra caution.
