This car popped up on my radar yesterday and I sent a response, the guy called be today and I talked a bit and asked for more pictures. He sent more of the underside of the car. I made an offer and he accepted. I asked if they were a consignment company, he said no. I asked if the car was there he said yes, I said please take a picture of you with the car and todays date, he said sure no problem. I told him I would come next week and pay cash in person, would he like a wired deposit, he said they don’t do deposits. He said he understands Internet scams and assures me he’s not. I asked for the video they offered in their ad to send. He has an accent that’s noticeable and yet his name is Dave Wilson, never sent the video. They have very real looking website, but you google and nothing else comes up. Not a peep since. The photos are from where the car sold before earlier in the year I believe. My spider-sense tells me he’s a scam 99%. BEWARE! Like they say, when it seems to good to be true, it isn’t! https://mariettavintagemotors.com/listing/8004-1970-buick-grans-sport/
If he was a scammer, why wouldn't he take your wired deposit? That makes zero sense. Have you given him money? Not much of a scam. Although admittedly the pricing is? Although "Marietta Vintage Motors" shows as this in Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.4293016,-81.4805016,3a,75y,42.94h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1su8dSBCtuhMt0x9Tkvk72Fw!2e0!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?panoid=u8dSBCtuhMt0x9Tkvk72Fw&cb_client=search.gws-prod.gps&w=86&h=86&yaw=42.94021&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu I wonder if he's going to come up with a story soon... Does seem too good to be true.
No No money, I told him I would be there next week with cash on Thursday. Also never answers the phone, he would call back minutes later. Their machine answers with the regular phone company lady voice. I have left several messages since and no call back. Googled the location and it’s a warehouse with the doors open and lots of boxes but not a car in sight. All the car pictures on website are at the same house in summertime. It’s all pretty convincing until you dig, I think he wants all or nothing in this scam.
Link was sent to me a day or two ago, and I though it looked good and maybe underpriced ( sight unseen). Pictures look "touched up/altered"?
They have several cars for sale - all pictured at the same house. Maybe he's running the business from home?
As I said in the lead posted yesterday, be wary of Facebook Marketplace car dealer ads. I've seen several that were questionable although some use legit business names and addresses, when investigated further, it just seems scammy. In example: I saw an ad for a 70 442 convertible for a reasonable price, below market value. I click the link that takes me to the supposed site and I see several other sought after muscle cars at below market prices. I Google search the address and then look at the pics thru Google maps and I see a small house with a large yard with several vehicles in front for sale...a Ford Granada, a early 90's Honda Accord, and a few 1980's-early 90's trucks, all in rough shape. It hardly looked like a place that was going to stock super clean muscle cars. Maybe I am too cynical, and while some of those sites look convincing they sure don't pass the smell test. Usually you see legit dealers cross-list on Hemmings, eBay, etc...none of these FB MP "dealers" have any of "their" cars cross-listed, ever, from what I have seen.
I’ve posted about this new phase of scamming a few times but, unfortunately I think people are getting burned by this. It’s a bit more sophisticated than the previous scams we have seen. A few times I have googled images the address of the dealer and it would be a more run down looking dealer then you would think would be selling cars of this caliber. I have a friend that works in the prison system and believe it or not, quite a few scams are ran by prisoners with all the time in the world on their hands and contraband smart phone. I called on a 1970 Chevelle Convertible in the Atlanta area and the guy wanted me to zelle him the full amount. Pictures were of a ran down survivor looking project. He said he was at the beach with his girlfriend and would be back soon but, needed to be paid in full if he was going to hold it for me. No accent with this particular gentleman. Anyway, be careful out there and what you see here is a pretty common scam being ran now. Some have even realized that if you price the car closer to market value, it’s easier to pull the scam off as it seems legit and comes off as a slightly good deal.
It’s a good looking car but this sure sounds like a scam, especially since Marietta Vintage Motors is using a photo from Sabetta’s with their front license plate blacked out.
Yup, I saw all that while I was online searching, exactly why the Red Flags! I would have been stoked if I had bought it for $21,000! Damn fine car.
I picked up a very clean 70 GS 350 a few weeks ago and saw that same car from marrieta motors. Either I really overpaid for mine or that one was WAY below market. I have a buddy that is a car dealer and he is always telling me about scams. He saved me on a car I was looking for that seemed like a "good deal" Turned out though it had a blue Texas title he said it was bought from an insurance company and if I bought it I would have received a salvage title. The care fax he pulled said "complete loss"
