SELLING a second-hand car is never straight forward, from being hounded by hagglers to the countless fruitless phone calls.
But it has now grown even more challenging, particularly for sellers using online marketplaces which have unfortunately turned into a breeding ground for scammers.
Last week, I decided to sell my car with the help (and patience) of my partner.
The car was advertised using online marketplaces.
Within a few short hours we were inundated with messages from what looked like potential buyers.
However, it quickly transpired that they were not genuine and instead scammers posing as interested parties in yet another sophisticated phishing attempt.
Firstly the interested buyers asks to arrange to view the car, before then insisting the seller produces a “vehicle history report”.
They’re adamant it’s for their protection, and a sob story about almost buying a previously written off car which was not disclosed soon followed.
Next, they sent a link that led to a website requesting card details to pay for a report.
After doing some quick research, we discovered that this was a common scam targeting second-hand car sellers.
What shocked me the most was their determination and the level of persuasiveness they showed.
If we had been more eager to sell the car, we could have fallen prey to the scam.
The Donegal News reached out to An Garda Síochána for information and guidance on how to report cybercrime and what to do if you have fallen victim to a similar scam.
Where you believe you have been the victim of an online scam or fraud they said you should report it to your local Garda Station, and also use the online reporting service of the website or forum on which you were scammed.
When reporting to your local Gardaí, bring copied of all emails, account details, copies of the advertisement of online posting and any other relevant information you may have.
