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Selling my Supra -- Possible Scam?

DR.COKE

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Good lord the amount of scammers I got trying to sell a $5000 Acura TL 6 speed a few months ago. Name it I got it.
1) ship to another area
2) wire transfer
3) buy there version of car fax
4) payment plan
5) personal checks
6) a lot more buy there version of car fax

its simple, for $5k bring cash and I deposit at teller in front of you. For +20 grand we go to bank if same bank or you write money order to the bank And we go to bank. Hell I’ll even go with you to DMV for title transfer For transparency.

in todays world I rather trade in and take a little lose buy gain tax incentive for trade. Can’t stand the public anymore.
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BimmerGuy

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I've sold cars, high value watches and also bought them remotely, so I've been through these things before. My rules are to be careful and diligent, but it's perfectly normal to buy and sell things from a great distance and have them shipped. Commonly found used cars, those are rarely shipped overseas, but if it's a high value car, then it may be worth it. Especially if it's been titled as a total loss, which an overseas buyer may never know (since CarFax is not world-wide). AMHIK.

First rule: funds from a USA bank only (or whatever country you're also in). Domestic wires can be reversed within 24 hours if there is a legitimate error, but it's rare and difficult. Never do an international wire. Period.
2. If paying by certified check, if possible, go with the buyer to their bank to get the check issued. If they are remote, then have them send you a picture of the check before they mail it, and call the branch that issued the check to see if it's real. Don't use the number on the check, research it and look it up. If you go to the bank and get a $25,000 check, the teller will remember it the next day, I promise.
3. Make the buyer wait a day (at least) between you receiving the funds and them picking up the car. That gives you a chance to make sure that the funds aren't reversed, etc.
4. Never take a personal check, period, unless it's written on a local bank and you can run over to a branch and cash it immediately, and then rule #3 still applies. Never accept funds from Venmo, Zelle, etc. except perhaps as a deposit.

And of course, the usual flags. I remember selling a Corvette once and the buyer sent me an email stating "I am interested in your Chevrolet". No one calls that thing a Chevy, it's always called a Corvette. Ditto if they refer to it as "your vehicle". Or, like the OP mentioned, unless it's a dealer, when you call them, they'll know what car they are shopping for.

Better to piss off a real buyer than to fall victim to a scam and lose a bunch of money.
 

stormgreysupra

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Crazy reading all of these replies. I thought I was familiar with all scam techniques from the fake paypal emails to the fraudulent checks, but I would have never guessed that even wire transfers could be reversed.
 

LexGiorgio

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Crazy reading all of these replies. I thought I was familiar with all scam techniques from the fake paypal emails to the fraudulent checks, but I would have never guessed that even wire transfers could be reversed.
They can't be reversed.
 

jchadwell

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I've sold cars, high value watches and also bought them remotely, so I've been through these things before. My rules are to be careful and diligent, but it's perfectly normal to buy and sell things from a great distance and have them shipped. Commonly found used cars, those are rarely shipped overseas, but if it's a high value car, then it may be worth it. Especially if it's been titled as a total loss, which an overseas buyer may never know (since CarFax is not world-wide). AMHIK.

First rule: funds from a USA bank only (or whatever country you're also in). Domestic wires can be reversed within 24 hours if there is a legitimate error, but it's rare and difficult. Never do an international wire. Period.
2. If paying by certified check, if possible, go with the buyer to their bank to get the check issued. If they are remote, then have them send you a picture of the check before they mail it, and call the branch that issued the check to see if it's real. Don't use the number on the check, research it and look it up. If you go to the bank and get a $25,000 check, the teller will remember it the next day, I promise.
3. Make the buyer wait a day (at least) between you receiving the funds and them picking up the car. That gives you a chance to make sure that the funds aren't reversed, etc.
4. Never take a personal check, period, unless it's written on a local bank and you can run over to a branch and cash it immediately, and then rule #3 still applies. Never accept funds from Venmo, Zelle, etc. except perhaps as a deposit.

And of course, the usual flags. I remember selling a Corvette once and the buyer sent me an email stating "I am interested in your Chevrolet". No one calls that thing a Chevy, it's always called a Corvette. Ditto if they refer to it as "your vehicle". Or, like the OP mentioned, unless it's a dealer, when you call them, they'll know what car they are shopping for.

Better to piss off a real buyer than to fall victim to a scam and lose a bunch of money.
This is what I’ve always done as well. Require a certified check and then contact the buyers bank directly to confirm they are a legit customer, purchased the certified check, and the check is not fraudulent. And never use a phone number or contact info provided by the buyer. Once you get in touch with the actual branch where the certified check was purchased, they will gladly confirm for you that their customer and the check are legit.
 

splv

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TLDR.

Just wanted to reiterate and correct wrong advice given in this thread. Wire transfers cannot be reversed. Wire money at your own risk. If you're not sure, check with your bank.
 

BraveDemon

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They can't be reversed.
TLDR.

Just wanted to reiterate and correct wrong advice given in this thread. Wire transfers cannot be reversed. Wire money at your own risk. If you're not sure, check with your bank.
This is also my understanding from my experience working in M&A & financing transactions over the past 15 years. If the funds have been transmitted and cleared via wire, they cannot be reversed.

I've had clients in the past erroneously wire substantial funds to completely wrong escrow accounts (on multi-state portfolio deals with various escrows) and there was no simple "reverse" process for wires from the client's bank, instead the funds had to be requested directly back from the escrow account.
 

FLtrackdays

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Is that something new? or applicable to the US?
First rule: funds from a USA bank only (or whatever country you're also in). Domestic wires can be reversed within 24 hours if there is a legitimate error, but it's rare and difficult. Never do an international wire. Period.
2. If paying by certified check, if possible, go with the buyer to their bank to get the check issued. If they are remote, then have them send you a picture of the check before they mail it, and call the branch that issued the check to see if it's real. Don't use the number on the check, research it and look it up. If you go to the bank and get a $25,000 check, the teller will remember it the next day, I promise.
3. Make the buyer wait a day (at least) between you receiving the funds and them picking up the car. That gives you a chance to make sure that the funds aren't reversed, etc.
4. Never take a personal check, period, unless it's written on a local bank and you can run over to a branch and cash it immediately, and then rule #3 still applies. Never accept funds from Venmo, Zelle, etc. except perhaps as a deposit.
It’s a race against time & why those are good rules to use Michael. Have either of you (your banks) used SWIFT? Links below ?

https://www.certifid.com/article/can-a-wire-transfer-be-reversed

https://trustpair.com/blog/can-you-reverse-a-b2b-wire-transfer/

Additionally, if you are doing this often, it’s cheap to open a company in Florida. If buying & selling watches, cars, higher ticket items, most recommend using a shell company or escrow account. This keeps your personal accounts & assets separate. Similar thinking of what you’d do during a 1031 exchange (for real estate).
 
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