Car Buyers Duped By Internet Vehicle Scam

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Thu, 11 Jun 2009

Car buyers in the UK are being conned out of millions of pounds each year by criminal gangs operating a 'virtual vehicle' scam.

According to the BBC, criminals are duping buyers by placing adverts on reputable trade websites, such as Auto Trader or E-Bay, for vehicles that don’t belong to them.

Once customers confirm their interest they are then directed to a fake payment website that claims to safeguard their cash while they wait for the car to be delivered.

However, buyers never receive their ordered vehicles and find that their money has been sent directly into the bank accounts of the fraudsters.

Figures from the Metropolitan Police revealed that 200 people in the UK were defrauded in 2008 after responding to bogus car adverts, and that 21,000 fraudulent shipping websites were closed down.

Met officers claimed the internet scam could have earned fraudsters more than £150 million if the sites they shut down had been allowed to continue to operate.

The Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group said leading used car companies were working hard to combat such crime.

Adrian Black, chairman of the organisation, said: "I would like to reassure everyone that the leading players in used car advertising work very closely both with each other and with the police and the Office of Fair Trading to ensure we identify and stop as many of these scams as possible."