Buying A Vehicle Online? Here’s What To Watch Out For

Purchasing goods online can save effort, time and more importantly give you a wider choice of products to choose from, with competitive prices compared to the High Street. 

Unfortunately, whilst most online sellers are completely genuine and harmless, there are an increasing number of fraudsters out there who are using online shopping scams to take advantage of vulnerable victims, leaving them out of pocket, all whilst hiding their identify behind a screen.  

Police have warned if you are in the process of looking to buy a vehicle online, you need to keep an eye out for the latest scam that is targeting innocent shoppers. 

Here’s how it works: 

The fraudsters have been listing several vehicles and machinery for sale online, including ones used by the agricultural industry, on various selling platforms. 

After being in contact with the fraudster and expressing an interest in the vehicle, the victim soon receives what they believe to be a genuine email, which looks like it has been sent by a trustworthy third–party payment platform, such as PayPal. These emails have been sneakily designed to look completely genuine, encouraging the victim to pay for the vehicle upfront straight away by bank transfer rather than through a secure, protected payment method via the website. 

Falling victim, they then pay the deposit before meeting the seller to collect their new vehicle, believing there is a ‘cooling off’ time frame to claim a refund if they happen change their mind. 

The victim believes they have the security of their trustworthy third–party payment to fall back on, when in fact, they don’t – their money has gone straight into the hands of a fraudster. 

Here’s some of our advice on what you can do to try and stay safe in situations like this: 

• View The Vehicle In Person – Make sure you always view the vehicle in person. Not only will this allow you to pick up any problems with the vehicle and ask any questions directly that are not answered in the advertisement itself, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing that if things do go wrong, you have the sellers business premises or home address to link back to. Never, ever transfer money to purchase a vehicle you have never seen in person. 

• Payment – Always, always, always avoid paying for the vehicle by bank transfer, as this payment method offers you very little protection if you do happen to become a victim of fraud. You’re in a much safer position if you use a payment service such as PayPal, or credit card. 

• Check The Website – If you’re uncertain if a website is completely legitimate, always look out to see if the website address begins with ‘https://’ (the ‘s’ stands for secure.) It should also show a padlock symbol in the browser window frame, which appears when you attempt to log in or register on a website.  

It is also worth looking at the web address – some can look very similar to the real thing, but are in fact fake. It can be as simple as changing a letter to a number, or a ‘.co.uk ’ to a ‘.com’. e.g. Real: www.ebay.co.uk > Fake: www.eb4y.com. 

• Check The Email – Lots of scam emails can look so identical it’s hard to tell the difference between them, however, when you dig a little deeper you can spot some warning signs.  

 Ask yourself these questions: 

• Is the greeting impersonal? 
• Does the email contain poor spelling, grammar and presentation? 
• Are they trying too hard to be ‘Official?’ 
• Are they trying to rush you? 
• Is the company branding correct?  

• Get Advice – If you’re having doubts, it’s probably too good to be true. Take time to do some research into the seller, company and any feedback from previous buyers, or ask for a second opinion from trusted friends or family. The Citizens Advice Bureau also has a very informative webpage that runs through ways you can check if something might be a scam – https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/scams/check-if-something-might-be-a-scam/. 

Here at Omni Davis Insurance Brokers, we can find the correct insurer for you, from an individual car to a fleet of commercial vehicles. Speak to one of our personal insurance specialists today, we would be delighted to hear from you.  

Tel: 01403 785775

Email: info@omnidavis.co.uk