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Several conversations with the guy led me to believe that he was legit. Clean car fax that showed regionally appropriate maintenance. Phone number: (562) 383-6453 has the right area code for the San Juan Capistrano region. I asked him to hold it thru the weekend (as I didn't want to arrange coverage for my work, book a hotel/car and book a flight without some assurances that the car would still be available.) I offered a 500.00 non-refundable deposit as security. He countered 2k refundable. I agreed to this (figuring it was a gamble) but tried to use PayPal or a credit card where I could at least have recourse against fraud. He said that he didn't have Paypal or access to a credit card machine... So I did this:
Duh!! I kept thinking, this couldn't be a scam. "Why would this guy make me fly all the way down here and continue keep in contact if his intention was to scam me out of my deposit"? He's already got my deposit, right?
The worst thing about this scenario was that the scammer still had to keep me going thru the weekend, as the bank holds most of the funds for a few days after a deposit.
So, he kept in touch with us when we flew down. He spoke to us over the phone when we arrived saying "good morning"... it should have been "good morning you have just been scammed". He made excuses as to why the (photoshopped) name on the title did not match the person living at the address listed on the title. By the time he suggested that we meet in a parking lot to finish the transaction, we had already booked a return flight and were en-route to the airport. I wonder what could have happened if we showed up? By the way, look at the name... Bada Thomas may well be "Bad A## Thomas"..... isn't Craigslist fun?!
HOLY **** THATS THE SAME PHONE NUMBER OF THE GUY WHO TEXT ME IN THE PREVIOUS POST I MENTIONED BEING UNSURE OF SCAM. PM ME!
He called himself Scott, and was from AZ. Even made up the name of a shop he uses in AZ where his car is serviced. Had screen shots of CPO paperwork and everything from when he bought.
mbaran: I was first hesitant to post anything on this... because I feel like such a dope. I am glad now that perhaps I've been able to help expose this guy.
sgtpepper: A non-emergency call to the police only gets you to voicemail...
mbaran: I was first hesitant to post anything on this... because I feel like such a dope. I am glad now that perhaps I've been able to help expose this guy.
His phone number doesn't turn up any hits on google either. I know he will just change it, but blast that f'n number across the net as a scam and hope google indexes it. I'd post a CL posting too for people to avoid the number.
His phone number doesn't turn up any hits on google either. I know he will just change it, but blast that f'n number across the net as a scam and hope google indexes it. I'd post a CL posting too for people to avoid the number.
and blast the info on the car he was trying to scam you with. VIN number, etc...
I've been lucky with long distance purchases where I flew out and picked up a car to drive home; both times the people were legit and entirely honorable. My 996 TT came out of LA (Torrance) but was advertised on 6speedonline. My 2000 Z3M Coupe came out of Portland, OR, and I found it on Craigslist. Neither person asked me for a deposit, but I did fly out within a couple of days of responding to their ads. There was nothing sketchy about either of the people I bought from; one was a retired engineer for Intel, and the other was working in a high level position for a games-software company. I spent a whole lot of time talking to both gentlemen on the phone before committing to anything.
Certainly there is some physical risk involved, and it would obviously be safer to go with a friend than to go by yourself, although I went by myself each time.
I did get seriously scammed on another Z3 Coupe (not M) that was shipped to me long distance by a supposed enthusiast. It was billed as babied and pristine, but turned out to be a rusted out hulk with evidence of flood damage, from MA. I ultimately sued the guy, not because I thought I would recover anything, but because I wanted to scare the **** out of him, which I did accomplish at some expense to myself.
Long distance car purchases are scary; I don't think I have the stomach to do any more of them, so I'm not anticipating doing any more vintage car purchases.
12-21-2017, 03:30 PM
I've been on the hunt for a while now and am based in Torrance.