Hello all,

I just would like everybody to be aware of a scam, that I just experienced on craigslist. It even fooled the police ... Fortunately, I found out before I wired any money ...

Here it goes:
Everything started by finding a nice 1989 Speedster on craigslist for 40k. I know, too good to be true, but times are tough and you'll never know ...

I replied and got an answer back 2 days later from an older Lady (Jessica Walter), who lost her husband last year and has no use of the car anymore. The car is in their summer home at Lake Michigan (Waukesha /Wisconsin) where I could look at it. She also attached a current carfax report, showing the car being in WI all the time with the services performed. The VIN was confirmed by Porsche to be real Speedster.
However, since she is an older Lady she would like to have the money wired to a local lawyer's group trustfund (CNC Lawyer Group) and she would give me the title when I give the lawyer (Bradley Robert Saglick) the thumps up. Since I'm living 4 States away, the whole communication happened through e-mail or phone.

Of course I googled the lawyer group and they have a VERY impressive webpage ( CNC Lawyers - CNC Law Group - California / Wisconsin Law Firm ) , including all their lawyers with resumes etc. I looked up the lawyer on the "State Bar of Wisconsin" and he is in good standing in "green". He even has a "Linked" account and people are recommending him. I called him (Wisconsin phone number 1-262-299-4587), left a message and he called me back. Of course he confirmed ,that Jessica Walter is well known in the town and he even helped her selling her house.
A couple hours later I got a call from "Jessica", who sounded really like an older lady. Her number is also from WI (1-414-376-4439) and she told me how happy she was, that the car goes to a good home.
Then in order to make the deal I got a copy for a sales contract from the lawyer by e-mail to lock the car in. He also sent me the account information for their "trust fund" (TD Bank in Florida). After calling TD my father in law found out, that TD doesn't have an account for the "CNC lawyer group. That got me thinking so I ordered another carfax by myself and found out ,that the Speedster is located and registered in California ...
After more googeling and calling around (Tax records for properties, etc.) we found out ,that the whole thing is a scam for sure.

I know, a lot of people now think " How naive are you" ... but when the excitement kicks in ... and you really need to check out their webpage. They put a lot of criminal energy into it to set everything up.

I have bought a lot of cars in my life before, but now I've learned the following :
- never wire money without having seen the car, even in a "lawyers" account.
ALWAYS look at the car in person
- don't trust attached carfax reports from owner (photo shop is a dangerous thing )
- ask for maintenance records and the last service so you call the shop for confirmation


I know, that the most people selling their cars are honest, but it only takes one to ruin your day ...

 

Good tip. Scammers are getting sophisticated.

 

This is actually quite a sophisticated scam that they have going on. I know that the FBI and other Federal Agencies are investigating these scams daily. A lot of these are initiated by foreigners and once they get the money are shipping it overseas (China). But as you stated, never wire money to anyone (money gram or western union is a common M.O.).

 

Scammers are getting sophisticated. Website and all. Where would you even report a scammers website like that? Thanks for the tip.

 

the webpage looks okay but it doesnt seem like anything that couldn't have been put together in more than 2 or 3 hours. and what kind of website has a recurring stupid logo that makes noises every time you click on a new page?

i would have stopped at 'wire the money.' i wouldn't ever buy a car from a private party without checking it out first.

 

Wow. Glad you weren't taken for a ride! Good job on running your own car fax... even if the seller emails you a copy. Photoshop nowadays is a scammers best friend!

 

Wow. Looks like they are changing it up. Good job on looking into it further.

I was also been involved in one a while back where they send a authentic ebay link for buying said car and has links for paying through the website, which is through some escrow account. Looked totally legit until i asked ebay directly a question about it. Showed the item number didn't exist, etc. Needless to say, they had me forward all the links and info over to them.

Aaron

 

This is very helpful.

Thank you for the information.

 

There are a lot of ways these criminals come up to scam people in craigslist. Just one thing to remember is to NEVER buy something you've never seen face-to-face. Never! If you're going to buy a car from craigslist, check this article first http://www.scamoncraigslist.com/car-...on-craigslist/ before you make any decision.