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This CANT be legit!

waloshin

waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
3,560
394
Ad was found on Autotrader. I emailed them and got this reply.

Thank you for your interest in buying my car. Let me tell you a few words about the car.It's a 2006 Mercedes CL500 AMG Sport ,in perfect condition, with no need for additional repairs, no scratches, dings, special marks whatsoever, never been involved in any accidents. The interior looks great (NO SMOKING). It has 32753 km. It has a clear title ready to be signed and notarized on your name.The price is not negotiable $6,500.00 CAD is my last price.I sell the car at this price because I cannot enjoy it due to my job(I work as a dealer on a cruise ship) and I'm a single woman and I have nobody close who can use it. All documents, including owner's manual, clear title and a bill of sale on your name will be provided along with the car.Also about payment and shipping(which is free of charge for you) I will use only eBay vehicle protection program so we can both be protected.I am affiliated at eBay and I have a purchase protection account for $20.000

I will take in consideration only those buyers who are really interested in buying the car, to be sure that I don't waste my time with endless discussions. This way, I shall be assured of the serious intentions. So if you are interested please e-mail me back for more details about the transaction.

If it isnt a scam i sure would buy it if it wasn't stolen!
 
For someone who claims to be a professional, the language seems to be a little off kilter. Then again, it could just be someone for whom English is a second language which could serve to explain the awkwardness of the writing.

Also, judging from eBay's page on the vehicle purchase protection, it seems as though the writer is trying to provide some interesting [false?] assurance. She claims to be affiliated with eBay, but the VPP and eBay appear to be separate entities.

http://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/purchase-protection/

While we're at it, this ad here mentions the same $20k wonderprotection guarantee.

Don't trust it.
 
i don't trust it either.
according to "www.autocheck.com" the VIN # is valid. the truck was made in japan. you can buy more info... but i wouldn't.
 
it's obviously a scam...
a three year old CL for 6500 grand ? not gonna happen

more so i find the "CL500 AMG edition" already a warning signal .. since there was a CL500 and a CL55 AMG in reality
 
Could be part of a divorce settlement, Was reported in the uk papers once about a woman forced by court order to sell her classic mercedes SL worth at the time about 40,000 pounds stg. and split the proceeds with her ex. taking revenge she sold it to a mercedes enthusiast for 50 pounds on condition that it went to a museum.
 
RubbishBBspeed said:
Could be part of a divorce settlement, Was reported in the uk papers once about a woman forced by court order to sell her classic mercedes SL worth at the time about 40,000 pounds stg. and split the proceeds with her ex. taking revenge she sold it to a mercedes enthusiast for 50 pounds on condition that it went to a museum.
Click to expand...

For £50, I'd take the risk. For $6,500, not so much...
 
RubbishBBspeed said:
Could be part of a divorce settlement, Was reported in the uk papers once about a woman forced by court order to sell her classic mercedes SL worth at the time about 40,000 pounds stg. and split the proceeds with her ex. taking revenge she sold it to a mercedes enthusiast for 50 pounds on condition that it went to a museum.
Click to expand...

Mhuahahaha! This is priceless! This is why I intend to stay poor.... so when it ends... the wife gets nothing :D
 
Yeah, go with your instincts. Scammers like this rely on you wanting it to be real so badly that you'll start inventing little stories to explain how it could be true.

The insistence on email contact to "prove seriousness" is going outside eBay's normal process. You will receive forged mail purporting to be eBay guaranteeing the transaction and probably instructing you to wire money to some foreign station. Backstory of a job on a cruise ship justifies it when you are supposed to wire the money to, say, Nigeria.

When evaluating a potential scam, it's often helpful to look for what emotional reaction the pitch is trying to provoke. There's always greed, obviously, but usually accompanied by an appeal to sympathy or, quite commonly, the kind of faux-sophisticated moral relativism by which people rationalize sketchy behavior to themselves. Note how you'd be utterly immune to this pitch if you adopted a saintlike opposition to exploiting somebody else's tough breaks. On the other hand, if you get a sob story, be a rock. When scams work, it's usually because you do the bulk of the work fooling yourself.

Most of all, never let a stranger unduly put his trust in you in a situation like this. At the first sign of someone being more trusting than you would be in his shoes, run, no matter how plausible it seems otherwise. They're called "confidence games" for a reason, and it's not because you confide in them. Psychologically we are uniquely vulnerable to this tactic.
 
takao said:
it's obviously a scam...
a three year old CL for 6500 grand ? not gonna happen

more so i find the "CL500 AMG edition" already a warning signal .. since there was a CL500 and a CL55 AMG in reality
Click to expand...

Not to be nit-picky but an AMG package can be added to 500's to make them CL500 with AMG sport kits.

In other news, you can get some really great deals on 2006 CL's on auto-trader. I don't know how long they'll last if the economy rebounds, but that car's resale value was hit REALLY hard.
 
Definetely a scam. My mate got a similar email. It's incredible how such scammers can manage to fool so many people.
 
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