Buying Vehicles on The Internet: Buyer Beware!

Notice: Article not written by Daniel Lehrman

This subject is near and dear to me because I personally came close to being a victim of online fraud. I was on an online classic cars classifieds website and found the car of my dreams. It was a 1952 Vette updated with all new Vette parts, including: full interior, top, and some exterior changes. The car was parked in front of a stunning home in Arizona.

Note: I want to correct the author, the Corvette was not introduced until 1953. There was no ‘62 Vette. That should have raised a red flag..Danny

When contacting the owner by email, he told me he had moved to London and because of the time changes, he would prefer speaking by email so to his kids sleeping. This was pretty fishy, but I still wanted to pursue things cautiously to see if it was for real. He said he brought the car with him to London, but would ship it to my doorstep. I told him I was very skeptical, but he told me we’d use www.buyerguardian.com, a respectable auto sales escrow company. By using this company I would not have to pay until I inspected the car hands on.

The seller sent me a link to buyerguardian.com and told me to follow the process. I went to the link and I was getting excited And, after extensive research, buyerguardian.com turned out being a great company to work with, in fact, the staff there is very friendly. However, I started digging deeper and went to buyerguardian.com without clicking on the seller’s link. I then pulled up the seller’s link too and put them side by side. I noticed there were some peculiar differences. The link from the seller’s email had no phone number on the site, but the site I looked up on my own had a phone number. There were several differences.

After spending hours of my time researching, I came to the conclusion with the kind staff at buyerguardian.com, that I was subject to fraud and the seller had copied the buyerguardian.com website to look just like the real one. The bottom line is, things aren’t always what they seem. BuyerGuardian.com is a great company and I almost handed my money over to a fake company thinking it was them. The lesson I learned was to always do your own research. If a seller sends you a link, find the company on Google instead and then call that company to make sure the deal is real. Call the BBB and do a check up.

Just so you can live in the moment with me, the REAL car was made by crcoachworks.com Yes, this legitimate company does have these beautiful Corvettes for sale. However, they are around $80,000 by the time the model is custom designed (well worth it if you can afford it). The seller who tried to scam me was selling his for $7,000. You visit the site and tell me you wouldn’t have jumped on that offer.

They also have other cool old muscle cars such as Shelby Mustangs and Chevy Z-28 Camaros.

If you’re subject to internet fraud, please report the website to www.ic3.gov. This is a online fraud website connected with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National White Collar Crime Center, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance.