The Trading Standards Service (TSS) in the North has warned motorists to be wary after a Northern Ireland couple was defrauded of almost £5,000 in what has been dubbed the Swedish car scam.
The couple are the latest victims of the swindle where typically advertisements appear in local newspapers and car-sale websites for vehicles selling at exceptionally keen prices.
The seller engages in very convincing dialogue with prospective customers solely by text and email, according to the TSS. They claim to be selling their car privately having returned to Sweden after working in Northern Ireland, and no longer wish to own a right hand-drive car.
Promises are made of a safe payment method and delivery through a third party logistics company. The TSS said the fraud was “all very plausible”.
Most recently a Co Down couple paid £4,850 (€5,680) by bank transfer for a 2010 Ford Kuga. “They have lost a sizeable sum of money and have no car to show for it,” said the TSS in a statement.
In early autumn the TSS heard from three other people who were lured into the scam and who lost £13,000 (€15,230) between them. The correspondence by the seller in all these cases was virtually identical except for details of the cars advertised.
“In each case a link was sent to the consumers that opened up a specially created website for the fake logistics company. This highlights how scammers are targeting unsuspecting people by using increasingly sophisticated and manipulative tactics,” said the TSS.
Suspicious
Recently the TSS was able to advise a consumer from
England
before they nearly parted with their money in a similar fraud. The consumer had become increasingly suspicious of the seller and their refusal to allow them to inspect the car because it was in a cargo shipping container.
The TSS discovered that the vehicle storage depot in south Belfast, where it was supposedly stored, did not exist. Furthermore examination showed the website the consumer had been directed to was fake, as was the company represented on it. To help push this "private" sale the seller had even emailed the consumer with copies of a driving licence, bank statement, a utility bill and company details – all of which were false.
The TSS said that no matter how good the bargain may seem, people should never part with money without seeing and dealing with a potential seller face to face and without seeing the car in question. As one victim belatedly advised, “buyers should see the person, touch the metal”.
Bill Malloy of the TSS said buyers should follow the old adage "if something looks too good to be true, it probably is".
“Don’t be rushed into sending off money to someone you do not know, however plausible they might sound and even where an approach is personalised.”
