Conmen increasingly target motorists, could you be next?

Conmen increasingly target motorists, could you be next?

By Linda Harrison

PUBLISHED: 07:41 EST, 1 June 2012 | UPDATED: 07:42 EST, 1 June 2012

Too good to be true: Michelle Wetherell was looking at Honda Civics to buy and thought she had spotted the perfect one

Michelle Wetherell had been looking to upgrade her 11-year-old Honda Civic for some time.

The BT call centre worker from Devon couldn’t afford a new car and was searching for a used one when her husband Ian spotted a newer Honda Civic within their budget on Gumtree.

It seemed perfect. However, Michelle soon grew suspicious.

‘The seller wanted our direct email address as he claimed to be having issues with mailing via Gumtree, so we carried on exchanging emails,’ says Michelle, 38. ‘Since listing the advert, he'd moved to Ireland but was more than happy to come over if we were looking to buy. He said he'd had the car from new since 2008.

‘I don't know what it was, but something told me we should still do an HPI check, even though he’d said it was HPI clear.’

When the HPI search â€" which is used to check a vehicle’s history - came back it revealed the car had had two previous owners before the cur rent one and the last sale of the vehicle was in March - a month earlier.
Michelle rang the seller and asked again how long he'd had the car. Again, he said since 2008.

‘This started alarm bells ringing,’ says Michelle. ‘He emailed clips ‘from Gumtree’ which suggested using an intermediary finance company to protect both buyer and seller, with links.’

When Michelle looked for the company online, nothing came up. She did a search under ‘car selling scams’ and was distraught to read a similar description to their situation.

She says: ‘We were only a few clicks away from setting up an account on the intermediary site and forwarding £4,000, which would have been gone forever.

‘The seller never owned the car, they used photos and adverts from a previous legitimate car sale. I cried when I realised we’d been so close to losing the money.’

Michelle isn’t alone in being targeted by a car scam â€" but not everyone realises they’re being duped before it’s too late.

When Michelle called Action Fraud to report the incident she was told they’d had a call from a man the night before who’d been scammed by what they thought was the same seller. He’d parted with £7,500.

According to CDL Vehicle Information Services, which owns vehicle history check site MyCarCheck.com, the ‘escrow con’ â€" where money is supposedly held by a third party â€" remains the top tactic being used to target motorists buying used cars online.

It warns the latest twist on the scam involves the fraudster claiming the car is being sold by the family of a UK serviceman on active service in Afghanistan. 

Car fraud: Motorists are facing an increasing number of scams, from old-fashioned clocking to new ploys that involve hacking into car computers

Other car scams to watch out for

The ‘paint scratch scam’

Someone scratches your car and leaves a note apologising and promising to send a repair company.

CDL divisional head Roger Powell explains: ‘The cover story is a laptop needs to be plugged into the car’s Engine Control Unit (ECU) to establish the correct paint code. They then claim they don't carry that particular paint and will return later, which they don’t. They now have all the information required to create a copy of the owner's key and can return to steal the vehicle at any time.’

Fake whiplash insurance claims

A scammer instigates a minor crash with your car, such as braking suddenly so you drive into the back of them. After swapping details, they claim for whiplash injuries from your insurance company, pushing up your premium.

Car cloning

Fraudsters steal your number plate or get an identical one made so a car almost identical to yours can carry your plate.

This is sometimes done to avoid parking tickets and speeding fines (the innocent owner gets sent the bill).

Stolen cars are also cloned to disguise their identity, and if you ‘buy’ a cloned vehicle you stand to lose the car and the money paid for it. The AA’s advice for buyers is to ask for a V5C registration document and service history, view and buy from the registered owner’s address, never pay less than 70% of the market value of the vehicle and get a receipt detailing vehicle, price and seller’s details.

Car clocking

Miles are taken off a car’s odometer to increase its perceived value. According to HPI, one in 20 cars it checks records a discrepant mileage, up more than 10% over the past five years.

Check the service history for mileage and that signs of wear and tear in the car match the mileage. You can also get a history check done by HPI for £19.99.

Phill Jones, commercial director of used car website Motors.co.uk, advises: ‘A rough guide to annual mileage should be about 15,000 miles. If the car you are looking to buy is five years old with just 20,000 miles on the clock, you could look into why it is so low.

‘If it's too good to be true - it probably is.’

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