The Car Sale Scam

At the London Fraud Forum Conference on the 20th of November 2025, Lou Baxter of Friends Against Scams said something so profound,

"If you say something is too good to be true, then you're saying good things can't happen to that person."

I've never thought about it that way, but she does have a point because it is an unhelpful statement that is quite frankly, albeit unintentionally, derogatory.

The saying "common sense isn't common" is a statement I sometimes apply to myself, because although I have a law degree, and successfully passed the 2nd hardest bar exam in the United States despite never having studied in a US law school, there are occasions when being book smart simply isn't enough.

In fact, the 5th grade students at St. Paulus School in Aruba, last week gave me a run for my money when they told me the decision that they would have made in a scam situation that I unwittingly fell for.

That experience not only reinforced my passion for public speaking on anti scams and human trafficking prevention, most specifically to children but also how truly valuable education really is.

The fact is, even with my degree and experience, I didn't have a formal anti-scam education, and therefore time after time I had fallen for them, albeit, always coming out unscathed and getting my money back which had always been very minimal amounts to begin with.

As a born again Christian with very strong faith and convictions, I was not into "get rich quick" schemes, receiving lottery payouts or anything else remotely questionable or illegal. I therefore couldn't be approached to act as a money mule, nor could I be persuaded to invest in bitcoin or crypto currency.

The way in which I was scammed, was through my failure to apply common sense and my belief in miracles.

Now, I want to be clear that I still believe in miracles, however, in this situation, it's that belief which made me ignore the red flags, and there were many.

I'll start with the red flags in my life, that had me foolishly convinced that after 10 years as an unpaid lawyer I was finally moving to the US, and that within a year would have my long awaited work permit.

Well, that wasn't about to happen in 2025, however, it was that belief which had me on Facebook posting adverts for the sale of my car.

Within minutes of me uploading a video and pictures I was approached by someone offering to pay me £2250, and since the purchase price was £1900, I thought it was a miracle.

It wasn't.

Still having my wits about me, I agreed to meet in a grocery store car park, rather than outside my home the next day. 

The "buyer" however, told me that he needed a diagnostic of the car before making the purchase. He explained that it was to ensure the cars quality.

I said that he could pay for the diagnostic and I'd deduct it from the purchase price, however, he then went on to explain that he couldn't purchase the £30 diagnostic because he'd done it a few times for other cars and his card had been flagged.

When he said this, the first thought in my head was:

"It's a scam."

Unfortunately, I brushed the thought away immediately.

Now, my original plan had been to pay for the diagnostic when we met for the sale of the car. However, the buyer was rather insistent that I do it right away.

He sent me a link which I clicked, only pausing momentarily to use the credit card that I knew had the greater protection if I later complained.

I paid.

The buyer asked if I had and I said yes.

The most embarrassing part of this story is that in my job at the time, as a legal advisor for the UKICC: Chartered Trading Standards Institute, I had recently undertaken training on not clicking links.

But also beyond that, on an almost daily basis I would check the privacy policy on a website to establish the traders HQ and which country's law's it was governed by.

In this instance I didn't do the right thing, not once considering that someone offering me more money then the asking price for a second hand car was a red flag.

Fortunately, despite my irresponsible choices, I had done one right thing by using my credit card to make the payment. Once it was processed I got an email saying I'd received the diagnostic in 6 - 7 hours.

Now, this entire time from being approached by the buyer, to making the payment, I didn't tell anyone what I was doing, because I was waiting till the sale of the car the next day to share the testimony of my miracle. 

The next day arrives and I hear nothing from the buyer. I send a message on Facebook, it remains unanswered. It's only at this point, that I start to do my due diligence.

I go onto the buyers Facebook page, and take a look at their profile picture. They are positioned so far away from the camera that I can't identify them, and they have a suspiciously low number of friends.

This was a red flag.

I still hadn't received the diagnostic and by this time it was almost 24 hours later.

I then had a look at the website and started to click the difference pages including privacy policy.

Nothing happened.

In other words, it was a dummy website with just a landing page.

I then took a look at the email that they had originally sent me saying that I would receive a diagnosis in 6-7 hours. It was then, that I noticed a typo in the name of the website, and then when I looked at the stripe payment page, I noticed that there was a typo again, and there was even a typo in the email address.

All of this was, of course, red flags.

To my surprise, however, I did eventually get the diagnostic report but by this time I realized that I had been scammed and that the buyer had never had any intention of ever meeting me.

I sent an email to the diagnostic company, to the email address that had the typo. It was a "valid" email, but they never responded.

I then reported the issue to my bank however, not as a scam, because there was another issue at play. It was a breach of contract.

The diagnostics had been very clear in their first email to me that I would receive it within 6 to 7 hours. If we assume that this was indeed a legitimate transaction. Then, I could have potentially lost the sale of the car, because the diagnostic was not ready at the appropriate time to enable me to meet the buyer with the required documents.

Irrespective of whether, the buyer was legitimate or not, the diagnostics company had failed to deliver as they had stated within the set timeframe.

Fortunately, I was able to recover the £30 that I had lost. However, there are of course, a lot of lessons to be learned here:

1. Do not click on links that you receive, instead, directly type in the website on google, and do your own investigations;

2. Since a website can look legitimate, also research and look for external reviews from multiple sources;

3. On social media check out the profile picture of anyone who contacts you, is their profile locked? Do they have a suspiciously low number of friends? Is their profile less than 6 months old?

4. Think twice before making a payment for anything from somebody you've met on the internet, and where possible pay in person;

5. Don't send money by bank transfer, PayPal or other such platform, always use a credit card;

6. Check that the website you visit isn't just a landing page, click around to see if the other pages are fully functional;

7. Check the privacy policy to see the country the company has a HQ and which laws they are governed by;

8. Finally, If at any point the word scam pops into your mind, then stop and do not proceed with the transaction.