Beware of Car Sale Scam Artists
On Thursday July 21st I was searching for a used car to buy when I found an advertisement of a 2005 Lexus RX 330 (white in color) on the cheapusedcarsbyowner.com for $2,800. The supposed owner by the name of Sarah Patel who claimed that she lives in Memphis was contacted about information on the car. On Friday July 22nd she responded that she was selling the car belonging to her son who died in Iraq in 2010. Because of that sentiment, I thought that it was a genuine transaction, hence I did not even think about a possible fraud. Sarah Patel asked for my contact information including my name, address and phone numbers which I provided to her. She said that she was forwarding my information to eBay agent to handle the transaction and the eBay will contact me for necessary steps. On Saturday July 23rd, I got an invoice from the supposed eBay agent which came from Italy. The invoice number is 85100255412 and the case ID is 8R20X80J145. The supposed eBay agent and Sarah Patel instructed me to send the amount of $2,800 to Brian Scott by Western Union and not to reveal to Western Union that I was sending the money for a car purchase, otherwise they would charge me more than necessary. They said that instead of paying $150 for sending the money to Italy, it might cost me about $700 if I told them that I was sending the money to an eBay agent. On Monday July 25th, I went to my bank, withdrew $3,000 and sent $2,800 to the eBay through their agent by the name of Brian Scott. Brian Scott's address was supposed to be Via Giovanni Lulli 6, Milan, N/A 20145, Italy. The Western Union Control Number is 1344130675. After sending the money to them, I never heard anything from them anymore. I decided to ask my friend to try inquiring for the same car since it was still on display on the Internet. He did inquire about the car, and the same Sarah Patel responded the next day as usual with the same information contained in her email to me at the first time. At this point, it appears that they might be changing names or try to use other avenues to scam people with the same car. I will gladly submit all the documents that I have regarding this fraudulent transaction in the hope that you will be able to help me recover this amount and help other innocent people out there. Since this is an international transaction, it is a little difficult for my local police to do anything locally immediately. The car is a white 2005 Lexus RX 330 advertised on cheapusedcarsbyowner.com and tagged to eBay. The amount that the seller asked for the car online is $2,800. I used $136 to send the money by Western Union to Brian Scot in Milan Italy as instructed.
Thank you for your kind assistance and audience in this regard.
Thank you. Samuel A. Pius
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