By
Alien10
Maybe all are aware of auction and equipment sales scams. On another forum, I've done some research on scam auction sites for big ag equipment and have noticed that it has spread to autos and smaller stuff in the past year or two. One was very sophisticated, including stolen IDs of known persons giving rave reviews of the auction site many going back several years to lend credence to the fake site. The site was in fact less that one month old. The business address was a storage facility with no signage with a couple being just high rise office buildings. The three I've looked into have used this three initials plus "auction.com" format or similar. "XXXauction.com". Ran across a new one 2 weeks ago in Craigslist. Had some nice cars and trucks at auction, but visiting their auction site, the all too familiar red flags were all there and despite claims of 20 years in business the site was set up first week of November 2014.
First big clue and giant red flag is the prices shown. Usually 40% of what the equipment is worth, maybe less.
Red Flags:
Prices are exceptionally low.
Absurd delivery fees ie; 60 cents per mile, or $500 flat fee, anywhere in the US. Moped or Army tank, all the same.
Some buttons on site do not work.
Auction closes shortly.
Terms of payment always requires a wire transfer, no checks, no credit cards, only wire transfers. (Once a wire transfer is sent, there is no recourse, you can't get it back or get a refund).
You get invoiced with remittance bank account numbers to wire your money to.
Photos are stolen from legitimate sellers or auctions. Often past sales and past auctions.
Inability for you or your rep to inspect the machine. Try calling and arranging an inspection, they won't do it for dozens of reasons.
These scammers award "winning bid" to literally everyone who submits a bid. They send an invoice with remittance directions. Once you wire them money you even get a receipt. Then comes days of emails back and forth to set up the so called "shipment" of your equipment. Of course that will fizzle out in a few days. By then your money is long gone offshore and you will not get it back or get anything for it.
Just think of how lucrative this scam is. Lets say a high end UTV all decked out shows on an auction closing tomorrow. Nationally, they get 67 bidders all of whom get their "winning bidder invoices" and pay by wire transfer. Lets say average of $14,000 per bidder. That's $938,000 on one fake auction UTV that no one will ever get. Do this in 10 auctions in a week, do the math!!!
I've seen agricultural combines sold this way for around $89,000 to $100,000, How many winning bidders...no one knows. But multiply that by 50 or 60 winning bidders. Get the point?
Don't fall for this stuff, it is created, dies out, then gets recreated every 30 days or so. Don't become a victim.
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