Fraudulent transactions and scams are on the rise in the car market. As online marketplaces for buying and selling cars have become more prevalent, so have the opportunities for fraudsters to take advantage of unsuspecting buyers and sellers. There is an increasing need to provide safe and secure transactions to protect buyers and sellers in vehicle transactions.
The stories below highlight the need for a solution like AutoSettle.
‘Buyers will overpay’: Scams to avoid when selling a car on Facebook Marketplace (drive.com.au, February 2024)
One of the most popular scams is the PAYID scam. The scam relates to sellers being asked to send money to the ‘buyer’ via PayID to establish a transaction with the promise the money will be sent back with a deposit before the scammer comes and picks up your car. Scammers will also use the phone number linked to your PayID to send a scam text that “money needs to be paid to upgrade your account before the transaction is completed”. Read More
Car Sales Scams You Need to Know About (Youi, October 2023)
There are many ways to buy a car these days, and it seems like just as many ways to get ripped off. Car sales scams are rife, and cost Australians more than $2.8 million in 2022; just a fraction of the $45 million lost to scam buyers and sellers that same year. Private sales of second hand vehicles are full of traps for the unwary – and that goes for buyers and sellers – particularly if you’re negotiating the sale online through a website such as Facebook Marketplace, Autotrader, Carsales, CarsGuide or Gumtree. Read More
Santander issues urgent Facebook scam warning as victims lose £479,964 (rac.co.uk, October 2023)
Research from Santander suggests that almost £500,000 has been lost in 2023, an increase of 93% when compared to 2022. Santander’s data covers January 2023 – September 2023 and compares it with the same time period in 2022. It shows that £479,964 has been reported as lost to Facebook car scams in 2023. In November, Santander fraud investigators found, in just half an hour, 25 ‘sellers’ posting around 4,000 fake adverts on Facebook Marketplace. Read More
Car-buying couple loses $139K to invoice scam (Information Age, September 2023)
A Victorian couple have been scammed out of $139,000 after they tried to buy a Mercedes-Benz – but Mercedes still wants payment. Wendy Angliss and Derrick Thompson lodged legal action against car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific Pty Ltd after an invoice scam totalling $139,000.
The couple from Point Lonsdale in Victoria attempted to pay a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Geelong for a luxury GLE 400d SUV, but later found a scammer had intercepted their emails, provided a doctored invoice and swindled them out of multiple transfers to an incorrect account.
“The altered PDF invoice was identical with the original but the bank account details on it had been changed, presumably using some program like Adobe. There was no way on its face that anyone could tell it had been altered.” Read More
Car buyers beware – online scams are soaring with the average victim losing £1,000 (Sky News, September 23)
Fake ads, bogus pictures of cars and false claims about interest in the vehicle are all part of the fraudsters’ operations, with people aged under 34 most likely to be duped. Among the popular makes being fraudulently touted are Ford, Audi and BMW. Vehicle scams have soared by 74% in the UK in the first half of the year, with victims losing almost £1,000 on average, research suggests. Read More
NAB Warns of new PayID scam targeting Aussies selling items online. (NAB.com, July, 23)
NAB has seen an increasing number of scams related to fake PayID communication in recent weeks, as thousands of Aussies look to ramp up side hustles or become more engaged with their finances to deal with rising cost of living pressures. Australians lost $260,000 to PayID-specific impersonation scams last year, according to Scamwatch, while total scam reports to NAB increased 38% year-on-year. Read More
Mark received a legal threat for refusing to pay $17,000 upfront for a used car. Now his personal details are with scammers (ABC News, February 2023)
After contacting the broker, Mr Bardsley was told the car would be held at a warehouse in Brisbane. But quoting concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and other ongoing illnesses, the broker said in-person viewings were temporarily unavailable, leaving Mr Bardsley with no option. So, he proceeded to create an account on the broker’s website, which required him to provide 100 points of ID and consent to it the broker’s terms and conditions. Read More
Victims lose thousands on Facebook Marketplace scams (A Current Affair, 22)
Meresini Leivere, 28, told A Current Affair, “once I gave my purchase order number and full name, they hung up … and that’s when the alarm bells started going off”. After putting her dream of playing for Fiji in the Rugby Seven’s on hold and returning to Australia as a result of the pandemic, Ms Leivere needed a car and that’s when she turned to Facebook Marketplace. Read More
Car buyers’ nightmare as drivers fall for online scams amid soaring demand for used vehicles (ABC News, April 2021)
The ACCC said Australians had lost more than $288,000 in vehicle scams already in 2021. ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said the figure was more than all the losses reported in 2019 and was on track to out-do last year’s losses. “As second-hand car sales increased during the pandemic, unfortunately so did the vehicle scams,” Ms Rickard said. Read More
Losses to car ad scams climbing (ACCC, April 2021)
In addition to losing money to vehicle scams, around 20 per cent of consumers who reported vehicle scams have lost personal information, after providing their address, phone number and copies of their driver’s license to the scammer. To protect your identity, never provide your personal details to someone you have only met online. Read More