CHARLOTTE — Kyle James says his father had a truck he didn’t use anymore.
So he posted it for sale online and says he got responses almost right away, responses that didn’t quite smell right. “They use urgency. ‘I got cash. I got [$]10,000 today. I’ll buy. I need it tomorrow,’” he told Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke. Weird, especially sight unseen.
Plus -- James says -- it was like they were reading from a script. “They’re trying to start a conversation with you and then they’re going to either, typically, they’re going to send you to a website and they want you to click on something or enter your credit card information,” he said.
He says another so-called buyer added an elaborate layer to their exchange. That person wanted James to do a vehicle history report. Sounds innocent enough, but not a common one, like AutoCheck or CARFAX. It was through a site he hadn’t heard of. James did some digging and concluded it was a con. “Their end goal is to get you to click on something and try to get your information,” he said.
>>CLICK HERE for more Action 9 reports
Obviously, James only played along so much. He wasn’t about to fall victim. And, yes, he says he did eventually sell the truck... to a real buyer.
And get this: he writes about fraud and other consumer issues. So he wrote an article about this experience to warn other sellers.
Stoogenke’s advice:
- Slow down. Take a breath.
- Message any would-be buyers back and set up a time to meet in person. That’ll scare off a lot of the bad actors.
- Be suspicious if they want ‘you’ to do anything unusual for them, anything that might compromise ‘your’ personal information.