The proliferation of various payment methods has caused fraudsters to find new ways to deceive. On this occasion we are talking about a method that several sellers of a second-hand car have already suffered.
The scams in the sale Trading articles on the Internet is well known to all of us who use the global network, but as always, criminals are often one step ahead of us and find new ways to achieve their fraudulent goals.
As far as the automobile world is concerned, the most traditional attempt at deception is that of used car sales ads.
When the seller accepts the transaction, they do not receive the deposit but pay it to the scammer and the scammer disappears without a trace
Typically, the scammer uses photos of someone else’s car for sale, and often calls it an unusually cheap price to attract an interested buyer. The scammer will try to get this person to make a booking payment that won’t actually book anything and will end up losing.
At Motor.es we do everything possible to detect these ads and remove them from our selection of more than 100,000 users interested in selling their second-hand car. But we also believe that the best we can do for the user is inform you of possible dangers that you face in the case of wanting to sell your used car online on any platform.
The scam of Bizum, Halcash and other payment applications
As we have told you at the beginning, this time we focus on a type of deception that has become very popular in recent times.
It is the one in which the scammer is interested in buying a car and inform the seller that you want to make a reservation. But it does so through an Internet payment application. The best known is Bizum, but there are others that offer a similar service. And all of them only ask for a phone, which in the application is associated with a bank account.
With these applications, we can send or receive money. And therein lies the trick, because the supposed buyer affirms that he is going to send a reservation of 500 euros or a similar amount, which must be accepted by the seller through the app.
At this point the trust or carelessness of the seller of the car comes into play. When the notification arrives on the mobile phone, he accepts it without realizing it that in reality the alleged buyer is not requesting to pay the down payment, but that the seller sends him the aforementioned down payment.
Thus, when the seller accepts the transaction, he pays the scammer a deposit and the scammer disappears without a trace. Also, it is usually a moderate amount that is only a minor crime of theftso on many occasions the affected party does not even take legal action in the face of a long legal process that will probably have little or no consequences and considers the money lost.
What to do to avoid scams when buying online
Although we, as an intermediary entity that puts buyers in contact with car sellers, make every effort to avoid this type of situation as much as possible, there are certain deceptions that we cannot control.
The Bizum scam is a good example of this, since it is a operation exclusively controlled by the buyer and the seller. Therefore, we ask you to follow these tips if the operation is between individuals:
- Make sure the good faith of the seller and suspicion of bargains
- If you are the seller, make sure you’re getting the money and not a request
And if you make the purchase in a store:
- Verify that it is a trusted website
- The delivery and return conditions you should consult them with each store
If despite everything you have fallen into a scam, go to the State security forces and provide all the information you have to file a complaint. In this way, said authorities will be able to request all the registered information from the company that owns the payment application and thus advance in the investigation of the fraud.
Photos: Freepik