A Milton resident wants to alert people about a scam aimed at people buying cars.
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The scammers attempt to get personal information and bank details by impersonating Autotrader, a reliable resource for finding vehicle values.
The resident saw what looked to be the type of car she wanted to get for a friend, started the process and then some suspicious and "rubbish" emails started coming in.
The email was the first warning sign as Autotrader does not get involved in transactions between buyers and sellers and does not send emails
The scammers, in an attempt to reel their victim in, also claim they are part of the Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] and about to be sent overseas on deployment and need to sell their car.
Luckily the Milton resident started to ask questions and withdrew from the process..
"I even rang the RAAF as this person gave us a name. I was told this person is not with the RAAF and they [the RAAF] get lots of calls related to this scam," the resident said.
Promises like "getting the car shipped to you for five days and then being able to return it without cost" also got their alarm bells ringing.
The resident said it was all a ploy to make people give up their phone numbers so the scammers can call you and pressure you to put money into their account.
Autotraders has also been letting people know about the scam.
"Don't respond to any email that appears to come from Autotrader.com [for example, by displaying our logo] and urges you to complete the sale or purchase of a car listed on our site. Such emails are scams," the group warns.
Other signs of fraud are emails that:
Claim the security of a transaction is guaranteed by Autotrader.com.
Imply Autotraders verified information about a particular buyer, seller or listing.
Describe a "preferred" or "pre-approved" buyer or seller program.
"If you receive a suspicious email such as the ones described above, report it to us and to local law enforcement," is the advice from Autotraders.
Meanwhile the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [ACCC] earlier this year put out a warning about car sales scams, including one that uses the Australian Defence Force as some sort of validation.
"A new technique we are seeing is scammers pretending to be defence personnel," the ACCC warned.
" In 97 percent of reports received this year, the scammer claimed to be in the military[(navy, army and air force], or to work for the Department of Defence and said they wanted to sell their vehicle before deployment.
"This sought to create a sense of urgency with buyers and explained the unusually low listing price of the vehicles and why buyers could not inspect them prior to payment.
"Email addresses that do not bear the legitimate defence email format of @defence.gov.au may be an indication of a scam, but even the correct email format does not guarantee the car ad is not a scam, as scammers are able to spoof email addresses.
"It is best to look for all warning signs to avoid being scammed."
