beware of scammers lurking on the camper trader page

[campertrailerman]

Hi all,

I just had an email from a member who is selling his camper via the camper trader page who had a close encounter with a scammer.

The buyer of the camper emailed the seller saying he was working offshore & wanted to buy the trailer for his father. He was paying by Paypal & would include extra for shipping costs which the seller was to forward on by Western Union to the US.

The seller became very suspicious & checked with Paypal to find the emails were fake.

Just above the information form on the camper trader page I have a few warning notes of how sellers should approach those buying their campers & also a few ideas how not to reveal your identity http://www.campertrailers.org/camper_trader.htm

It is very suspicious when the buyer is located in another state & buying without viewing & will be arranging pickup after you make a payment using Paypal. Do not give anyone your Paypal or bank account details & avoid deals involving shipping services.

For your own security please use an email address that does not involve your last name & only deal with people you can meet face to face to do the deal.

Most importantly report any scammers to Paypal or authorities.

happy camping
Rob & Carol

[justins]

I'm in Europe for work at the moment, split between Milan and London. When in London last, I caught a TV show that focussed on caravan theft. In one part of the show, an insurance company inspector (or similar) joined a couple of police (and a camera crew!), and visited a steam festival. Lots of caravans. They walked from caravan to caravan, and inspected the VINs, comparing them to a digital register they had. When they found a caravan that didn't match the register, they scanned the whole caravan for the hidden chip - much like the chip that is inserted into your dog - which shows the true VIN. Sorry for the long description - but seeing the sorry owners being told that the caravan they had purchased second hand was, in fact, stolen was hard to watch. Picture the family all turfed out, tears everywhere, and a tow truck backing up and towing away the caravan...

This happened twice on the show - made good TV drama I suppose. But the point was made that if a vendor ever offers to meet you at a neutral meeting point, be very careful - this is a classic sign of stolen property!

[Qld_Panther]

Sounds very similar to a scam tried on me via Gumtree. I have acually been playing with the fool for a few weeks changing prices, condition of the bike I am selling ect. the e-mail address of the bloke trying to scam me is pitt.ben624@gmail.com and if you google this email address it shows he has tried the sam scam on heaps of people.