buying a car on craigslist seller wants to use ebay service that holds the $ til i get it & am hapy any info

Question

im buying a car from a guy on craigslist he says he moved out of the country and cant reigister his var there so is selling dirt cheap. the carfax and all check out seems ligit. he wants me to pay with some ebay thing-not paypal that will hold the cash, he ships the car, i get it have 72 hrs to inspect test drive etc. if im happy he gets the money if not he gets the car. i never heard of this so im a bit skepticel does any body have any info?

Answer 1

Escrow is a real service. What this guy suggests is not. There are lots of examples of buyers who send money to an "escrow company", only to find out it was all a fake company that the crooks invented, and all the money is lost. Even if you start getting emails from "[e-mail]" don't trust them.

If he isn't willing to use escrow.com then walk away from the deal, no matter how good the price may seem.

Answer 2

Be very careful. I would search for an escrow company on my own before I would complete this deal. Its very easy to get caught up in a scam. On the Craigslist site there is a tab on the left that says "avoid scams and fraud". CHECK IT OUT!!! There are legitimate escrow companies out there but I'll bet this seller won't use one if you find it. Here is a quote from the Craigslist site:
# AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.
Good luck. It sound to good to be true.....

Answer 3

S
C
A
M
!!!!!!

First of all, ebay doesn't offer any sort of "escrow" service. Even if they did, you'd have to buy from ebay to use it. Secondly, anyone can create a fake online escrow service to fool people in to sending the payments. Thirdly, the vin# may be legit but he most likely stole it off someone's ebay auction.

NEVER BUY A CAR WITHOUT TEST DRIVING IT FIRST!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

Meir R,

LISTEN TO ME!

this is a well known SCAM!!

ebay DOES NOT hold money for ANYONE or ANYTHING!

this guy is a gigantic LIAR!!

if you go through with this, you will live to REGRET IT!

PLEASE, i am BEGGING YOU to NOT DO THIS!

i am a regular poster on the TRUST and SAFETY board on ebay. I KNOW what i am talking about here! we see this same thing every day!

and if you think i am SCREAMING at you, you are right!

I AM!

run away from this as FAST AS POSSIBLE!!

Answer 5

SCAM MOST LIKELY BE AWARE.

Avoiding scams and fraud

You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:
DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist.

NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.

FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.



NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)

AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.

. distant buyer offers a high-value (but fake) cashier's check in exchange for your item
you receive an odd email (actual examples sent to sellers below) offering to buy your item site unseen.
cashier's check is offered for your sale item, as a deposit for an apartment, or just about anything else.
value of cashier's check often far exceeds your item - buyer asks you to wire the balance via money transfer service
banks will often cash these fake checks AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE WHEN THE CHECK FAILS TO CLEAR
scam often involves a 3rd party (shipping agent, business associate owing buyer money, etc)
2. distant seller requests payment via Western Union or MoneyGram:
seller often claims that an MTCN or confirmation code is needed before he can withdraw your money - this is FALSE, once you've wired money, it is GONE.
common items currently: laptops, plasma TVs, cell phones, tickets - but could be almost anything
common countries currently include: Nigeria, Romania, Ukraine, Spain, UK, Italy, Netherlands - but could be anywhere
deal often seems too good to be true
3. distant seller offers to send you a cashier's check and then have you wire money:
this is ALWAYS a scam, in our experience - the cashier's check is FAKE
sometimes accompanies an offer of merchandise, sometimes not
scammer often asks for your name, address, etc for printing on the fake check
deal often seems too good to be true
4. distant seller suggests use of an online escrow service.
most online escrow sites are FRAUDULENT, operated by scammers
for more info, do a google search on "fake escrow" or "escrow fraud"
if you must do business with a distant seller, insist on a legitimate service, such as www.escrow.com
5. distant seller asks for a partial payment upfront, after which he will ship goods
he says he trusts you with the partial payment
he may say he has already shipped the goods
deal often sounds too good to be true

Answer 6

it is a very good and safe the seller see the money but can't touch it till you get and check out the car then you say ok and he gets his money