EBAY AMC CAR SCAM! 

Just a note to those of you who might be looking for a car or parts on ebay.
Every now and than scammers will put up a ficticious auction for a vehicle,
or sometimes rare parts. And the problem is some of these scammers do indeed
have a number of feedbacks, positive ones. Recently a 'auction' for a 1969
Bittersweet AMX was listed in Ebay Motors. The subject read as this:
===========================================
AMC AMX (actual item number was 4573385257)
AMC AMX, 1969, 390, at, loaded, restored, runs great, lots of work done.
Moving, must sell, vehicle is in New Mexico. It has all the
papers(complete) as well as the servicebook. The car is in perfect
condition, no scratches, no special marks, no need for additional repairs
what so ever, a great car ready to be yours. It has no accident or any
engine problem. Would like to get $4500.
===========================================
There is the problem. Needless to say a sucker is born every minute. After
viewing the photo, some believe they will be getting a super deal from
someone down on luck, divorce, moving, lost job, whatever. And since the
auction makes it appear the seller is desperate, you decide to 'ask seller a
question' and email them directly off the auction whatever concerns you have
about the vehicle, or to quickly see if they will 'take the $4500' mentioned
at the bottom of the text. I'm not making this up folks, it has happened
over FIVE TIMES that I can think of with AMCs on Ebay alone. I decided to
email them myself while the auction was still up and got back this:
==========================================
----- Original Message ----- 
From: helendansro@aol.com
To: eddiestakes@planethoustonamx.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 2:12 AM
Subject: Re: Question for item #4573385257 - AMC : AMX


Dear Customer,
The car is located in Albuqueruqe NM. It has all the papers(complete) as
well as the service book.
I want this transaction to be smooth enough as I am caught in the middle
of some very important events and have very few time at my disposal. The car
is in perfect condition, no scratches, no special marks, no need for
additional repairs what so ever. I am the first owner of the car and it has
no accident or any engine problem.
The price is $4,500 including shipping costs anywhere in the continental
US. There are no other costs regarding this transaction. Now, in order to be
able to buy it please let me know if you have any negative feedback and, if
this is the case, for what reason. I apologize for asking for such
information but I need to be sure.
Please also provide me with the following details necessary to take a
decision:
-your full name and addr! ess for shipping
-your ph#
Regarding payment I am aware of the buyer's protection and we will use eBay
Motors secure payments which will hold the payment until the buyer receives
the car. To complete payment the you must have cash available.
If I receive the requested information you will be informed by eBay during
the next 12-24 hours.
Thank you
Helen Dansro
==========================================
There was six bidders at the time. But everyone on two different AMC online
chat groups was already onto it, or so I thought! Ebay had not caught it
even though they were getting bombarded with concerned AMCers about the
auction. Now take a lok a ANOTHER AMX auction from a few weeks earlier, I
decided to email the "sellers" and got back this, compare it to the above:
==========================================
----- Original Message ----- 
From: douglasscott1@aol.com
To: eddiestakes@planethoustonamx.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 4:01 AM
Subject: Re: Question for item #4570718673 - AMC


Dear Customer,
The car is located in Seattle, WA. It has all the papers(complete) as well
as the servicebook.
I want this transaction to be smooth enough as I am caught in the middle
of some very important events and have very few time at my disposal. The car
is in perfect condition, no scratches, no special marks, no need for
additional repairs what so ever, a great car ready to be yours. It has no
accident or any engine problem.
The price is $7,000 including shipping costs anywhere in the continental
US. There are no other costs regarding this transaction. Now, in order to be
able to buy it please let me know if you have any negative feedback and, if
this is the case, for what reason. I apologize for asking for such
information but I need to be sure.
Please also provide me with the following details necessary to take a
decision:
-your full name and address for shippi! ng
-your ph#
Regarding payment I am aware of the buyer's protection and we will use eBay
Motors secure payments. I require a deposit $4.500 to be send to eBay motors
which will be hold until the buyer receives the car. To complete payment the
you must have cash available.
If I receive the requested information you will be informed by eBay during
the next 12-24 hours.

Thank you,
Scott
============================================
Amazing! Needless to say, Ebay yanked both auctions within 24 hours after
they had been put up. HOWEVER, THE DAMAGE HAD BEEN DONE. Why you say if the
auctions had been stopped? Because there were BIDDERS already. And each
bidder had been contacted by the "seller" already, telling them "they would
accept their offer of $4500" and to "paypal" them the funds. So the "seller"
made out with $18,000 for "selling" basically a set of photos. It gets
worse. I did my best Scooby Doo impersanation (I would have gotten away with
it if not for you meddline teens!) and found a Dan Dansro in Albuqueruqe
(sic as in first auction above) and called him. Boy was he pissed, not at
me, but seems a few "buyers" had been calling wondering when they could
either come pick up the car, or have their transport company come pick it
up. This is the actual email I got after I called him:
============================================
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dan Dansro
To: eddiestakes@planethoustonamx.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 11:42 AM
Subject: spoof auction on ebay #4573385257 - AMC : AMX


Eddie,
This action was not a "spoof" it was a felony rip-off. I know of at least
4 folks who told me that they sent $4500 to those internet felons. I know
this as I am the person who lives at the address that the felons used to
scam folks. The felons used my wife's name and address as the location of
the offending Gremlin. I was the person who "shut down" the action. The
felons wanted to sell this picture of the car to as many people as they
could. Smart folks used directory assistance to call and inquire about the
vehicle, I got at least 10 calls (within 3 days) about the vehicle
(explained the scam) and about a week later I got 4 calls asking about
delivery of the vehicle as they stated that they had wired money and thought
they had purchased the car.
No spoof it was/is a felony.

Dan Dansro
============================================

His wife was a victim of ID theft on top of it to boot! Not to mention 4
people getting ripped off for $4500 each. And as I write, yet ANOTHER scam,
this one for item number (#4604425192) which was for a "1969 AMX, 390, 4spd,
garage kept" set of photos, uh, car. This ficticiuos auction started January
12th, 2006, but was shut down quickly by ebay. (see photo with blue AMX
$9000) however......in that short less than a day, already 9 people had bid
and I guarantee you that they had been quickly "contacted" by the "seller"
to see if they were interested in buying the car outright and "the seller
would shut the auction down". Same MO.
So please people, be careful out there, if a deal sounds too good to be true
it usually is. A smart person, ok, maybe not smart but covering his/her
butt, will not just email the "sellers" but somehow get ahold of them by
phone, switchboard.com or yellow pages, operator/1411 find out as much as
you can BEFORE you bid. It won't stop the scammers from popping up with a
auction, phishing the emails before getting shut down, and then having some
poor fool send them the money electronically however. Ebay warns buyers of
"caveat emptor" and if you don't know what that means, pick up a Webster's
or go to www.websters.com and look it up. There are a lot of great bargains
on www.ebay.com from parts, literature and cars from parts cars to concours
level restored. However, just like anyhting in life, please do homework
first and please be careful, whether it is a Nigerian wishing to 'share'
their $55 million with you, or maybe you won another "British Lottery" or
some bank, Chase, Washington Mutual, Paypal, whoever "wants you to update
your account information" by "email" these are called "spoofs" and this is
what ebay (paypal) says about it:
===========================================
Dear Eddie Stakes,

Thank you for contacting PayPal. We appreciate you bringing this
suspicious email to our attention.

Commonly referred to as phishing, these emails are sent by fraudsters in
an attempt to collect sensitive personal or financial information from
the recipients. PayPal takes phishing threats seriously. Our fraud
prevention specialists are working 24/7 to help protect you and enable
the community to stay safe.

After review, we can confirm that the email you received was not sent by
PayPal. Any website which may be linked to this email is not authorized
or used by PayPal.

Our fraud prevention team is working to disable any website linked to
this email. In the meantime, please do not enter any information into
this website. If you have already done so, you should immediately log
into your PayPal account and change your password, as well as your
security questions and answers. We also recommend that you contact your
bank and credit card company immediately.

If you notice any unauthorized activity on your PayPal account, please
report it to us by following the instructions below:

1. Log in to your account only from the PayPal website. Do not use
links provided in any email.

2. Click on the Security Center link at the bottom of the page.

3. Click on the 'Unauthorized Transaction' link under the Report a
Problem column.

4. Follow the instructions on this page in order to access the
appropriate form.

Lastly, we recommend taking a few steps to protect yourself from
identity theft:

> Download the SafetyBar, a toolbar for Outlook and Outlook Express,
which identifies known spoof emails.
> Get eBay Toolbar with Account Guard which warns you when you're on a
potentially fraudulent (spoof) Web site.
> Frequently monitor your account for suspicious activity.

For additional tips please visit the PayPal Security Center at
http://www.paypal.com/security.

Once again, thank you for reporting this suspicious email. Your
vigilance helps us in our efforts to protect the PayPal community. If
you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.
Sincerely,
PayPal
______________________________

Important: PayPal and its representatives will NEVER ask you to reveal
your password. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. If anyone
claiming to work for PayPal asks for your password under any
circumstances, by email or by phone, please refuse and immediately
contact us via our secure webform online.
=================================================
Ironically I don't do paypal, but I average at least 10 Nigerians, Paypals,
'update your account' and other phishing emails daily. To see how I handle
them and shut them down quickly, click on "just stuff" on my website. Good
luck, and happy ebaying.
Eddie Stakes'
Planet Houston AMX
www.planethoustonamx.com