Brenda Cullen has a killer deal on craigslist for a spotless, low-mileage Nissan Altima. But it won’t last. A job promotion, complete with company car, has left her family with one too many vehicles, so that’s why she’s unloading the Altima for not even a quarter of its true value.
Test drive? Sorry, no. The car’s already at a shipper in Omaha, Neb., where Brenda recently moved. But don’t worry; despite its bargain-basement price, it’ll be delivered to your door at Brenda’s expense, and if you’re not satisfied, it’ll be shipped right back to Omaha for free and you’ll get all your money back.
Still interested? Just let her know, and then check your email for instructions on how to wire thousands of dollars in untraceable cash to a third person you’ve never heard of at a non-existent address in Macon, Ga.
“Hope to hear from you soon,” Brenda writes to prospective buyers.
The vast majority of those reading the pitch will recognize it as a scam. But Brenda – though that’s almost certainly not a real name – isn’t concerned with the vast majority. She or he is focused only on the tiny fraction of car buyers so blinded by a great deal that they tune out the obvious warning signs.
And business is booming.
Brenda Cullen is part of a ubiquitous pool of online scammers flooding craigslist from coast to coast with fraudulent used-car ads. In recent years, the FBI has received complaints from 15,000 victims of online car scams who have been taken for more than $45 million. Once the money has been sent, it is almost impossible to recover.
Despite efforts to identify and block the scams, scores of new bogus ads crop up every day on craigslist, featuring pilfered images of real cars and typically asking less than $3,000 for picture-perfect vehicles worth three to four times as much.
“Alexia Chavez” wants to sell you a 2004 Nissan Armada for $2,500. “Gina Russell” has a 2004 Toyota Rav4 for $2,400. “Patricia Presha” is asking $2,250 for her 2002 Chrysler Town and Country minivan. “I am going through a divorce, and I had to move with my job,” Patricia tells a would-be buyer. “So all that I want to do now is to sell the Minivan at this price, because I need to sell it fast.”
There is always a story, from divorces to money problems to tales of cars owned by soldiers killed in war.
Maria Conner is selling her 2006 Acura RL for $2,750 “because I can’t enjoy it due to my job (I’m a casino dealer on a cruise ship.)” That will come as a surprise to the man in California who really owns the custom-modified Acura featured in the fake ad. He’s selling the car on eBay for $38,000.
Staff Sgt. Amanda Gibson is stationed at an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska, and needs to sell her 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe – at 73 percent below book value – “to help ease the burden of my sister’s medical expenses, which she has acquired due to a serious illness.”
But don’t fret about shipping costs. “It’s not a problem because I will have the SUV shipped by an Air Force cargo plane,” she writes in response to an inquiry. “Also I will arrange for a military tow truck to transport the vehicle to your home address.”
Staff Sgt. Nicole Tavarez (2004 Audi A4; $2,480) writes that she, too, is stationed in Anchorage. So is Staff Sgt. Kristina Johnson (2001 Jeep Wrangler; $2,990). Ditto for Staff Sgt. Brenda Shaffer, who was selling the exact same Chevy Tahoe as Amanda Gibson.
Some of those names are real, making the craigslist scam a particular annoyance at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Corinna Jones, director of media operations for the military installation gets one or two inquiries a week from near-victims around the country.
“We’re able to let them know we’re aware of the scam, and no, it’s not legitimate, and yes, the person is aware that their name is being used in this manner,” she said. “Most people will respond that it’s despicable that someone would use a service member in this fashion. And we agree, of course.”
Many of the cars pictured in the ads really are for sale somewhere. But not at those prices.
Brenda Cullen’s scam features photographs of a dark gray Nissan Altima sedan with fancy after-market rims and a flawless interior, pictures that look all too familiar to Ben Nguyen.
They should. Nguyen, who oversees Internet marketing at the International Car Center in Lombard, Ill., is the photographer who snapped those images, and whose dealership is actually selling the Altima, for $11,800; nine grand more than Brenda Cullen’s bogus ad.
“There are all these people in the world that try to get over on you and take your money,” Nguyen said. “It’s very disappointing to hear it does happen, but unfortunately it does.”
But the scammers are rarely spooked. Even after being contacted by a reporter about the bogus Nissan Altima ad, “Brenda Cullen” continued trying to cut a deal with another email correspondent who expressed interest in the car.
FBI Agent Tim Gallagher, section chief of the bureau’s cyber division, said the used-car scams are a new twist on decades-old Internet frauds. But he said they have grown more sophisticated, with multiple backstops to give them an air of legitimacy.
The scams start with a hard-to-believe deal posted on multiple craigslist sites to maximize the number of possible victims. Amanda Gibson’s ad for the Tahoe, for example, was posted on 61 sites, from Sarasota, Fla., to Matoon, Ill., to Chico. Craigslist has a policy against posting to multiple sites, and filters automatically search for identical ads. But the scammers now post ads that are a single image combining multiple photographs with text that cannot be searched by craigslist’s filters.
The ads do not identify the location of the car and offer no phone number. Instead, the scammer provides only an email, typically a hard-to-trace gmail address, for more information.
Would-be buyers who respond are often provided links to additional photographs of the car, also simply copied from legitimate ads and uploaded to an online photo site. Some pictures are doctored to obscure the license plate or other information that would reveal the true location of the vehicle.
Buyers also are told that the car is out-of-state and can’t be seen in person either because the seller is too busy, or military secrecy forbids it or the car is already crated at a shipping company.
That would raise an obvious red flag, but the scammers have a ready response.
“The transaction will be done only through eBay so we both will be protected,” wrote Maria Conner, the name assumed by the person offering the $38,000 Acura for $2,750. “You will make the payment to eBay and they will hold the money until you receive the car. ONLY after you receive the car and you inspect it, eBay will release the payment to me, in this way we are both protected.”
Buyers who take the bait receive a separate invoice by email – “spoofed” to appear to have come directly from eBay – adorned with eBay logos and a phony confirmation that the sale is covered by the company’s $50,000 Vehicle Purchase Protection Plan.
The email also includes instructions for sending cash, almost always through Western Union, to a phony eBay escrow agent – who will already have the fake ID needed to pick up the money. “We will hold the payment … until you send us your confirmation that you are satisfied with the product you received,” one email states.
But within minutes of handing cash to a Western Union agent, most victims have no hope of ever seeing their money again.
Cracking the rings is an uphill battle, so authorities and companies have worked to educate consumers to steer clear of scams. Craigslist has multiple warnings about deals that involve distant cars or Western Union transfers or the use of eBay or other alleged escrow services.
The Western Union form used for sending money includes prominent warnings against sending money for Internet purchases or “to someone you personally don’t know or have met online.”
That last warning used to advise only against sending money “to someone you don’t know.” But Western Union found some victims felt they did know the scammer, so the company tightened up the language.
“This is all about social engineering,” said Pete Ziverts, a Western Union vice president. “This is all about the fraudster creating such a good story and such a rapport with their victim that they get them to send the funds.”
Ziverts said the company also trains agents to be on the lookout for unusual transactions.
“Some agents are going to be more aware and better at it than others,” Ziverts said. “But we look at those people as being the consumer’s last line of defense. And if they see somebody who is atypical for that store, coming in and sending money, they may begin to ask questions.”
But the scammers have figured that out as well. Over time, the scammers have added other elements to make the deals seem more legitimate, including live online chats with the purported eBay escrow agent, and U.S. phone numbers where the seller allegedly can be reached. Despite their best efforts to prosecute criminals, police know there is too much money at stake to stop them all.
