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Second hand car sales are big business in the UK, with around 3.7 million changing hands in the first half of 2023 alone. And there are increasing options for buying them, away from traditional dealerships. Many private sellers are using online marketplaces and social media sites to connect directly with potential buyers.

According to Lloyds Banking group, scams involving vehicles or their accessories are the most commonly reported type of online shopping scam in the UK. They found that car and van buying scams rose by 74% in the first half of 2023, compared to the same period last year.

Matt Allwright has been investigating vehicle deposit scams for 麻豆官网首页入口 Morning Live, and has been to meet some of those tricked into thinking they were making a down payment to secure a car, which never really existed.

Vulu is one of them. He found an advert for a used car on Facebook Marketplace, and sent a message to the seller saying he would like to buy it. 鈥淗e told me someone else was interested, and if I put down a deposit that will show him I'm serious.鈥� Vulu paid 拢200 in total, 拢150 for a deposit and 拢50 for the seller to travel to drop the car off at his house.

But the car didn鈥檛 show up when it should have. Vulu told Morning Live: 鈥淚 messaged the seller to tell him I鈥檇 taken the day off work to make things more convenient for delivery, and he didn't respond. I sent one more message, and when he didn't respond to that, I think the penny dropped that I'd been scammed."

(VULU STILL FROM VT)

Christine (not her real name) fell victim to a vehicle deposit scam in August, when she replied to a used car listing on a classified advert on eBay.

She told the 麻豆官网首页入口 鈥淚 thought it was quite reasonable and also very low mileage. I contacted the seller and they said they had other people interested, and told me I could pay a deposit. They said 鈥榮end the money now, or you're not going to be able to keep the car because I have other people coming鈥�, so there was a level of pressure鈥�.

Christine sent a deposit of 拢900. She spent a further 拢270 on travel and accommodation to collect the vehicle from a garage elsewhere in the UK. Christine said 鈥渨hen we got to the site, there were a couple of garages there, so we went in and asked, and they said they'd had many people turn up in the past couple of weeks with the same situation. They鈥檇 sent a deposit or they鈥檇 sent the full money.鈥�

Christine called the supposed seller and he told her that he knew where she lived, and warned her to 鈥榢eep her mouth shut鈥�. Christine adds: 鈥淚 felt really used, really violated. What I have gone through is real stress, I鈥檓 now another statistic.鈥�

(CHRISTINE CLIP FROM VT)

James Baggott, editor-in-chief of Car Dealer Magazine, told the 麻豆官网首页入口 these sorts of scams are happening 鈥渙n an industrial scale鈥�. He added: 鈥渨e鈥檝e done a lot of work trying to get these people shut down. But as soon as you shut one down, they start up another business.

There have been scams where websites are set up to clone other car dealerships, that look completely genuine. And there have been some that have pretended to be a dealer on a social media platform鈥�.

James gave his advice to those looking to buy a used car: 鈥淎lways do your research: genuine dealers will have lots of reviews on sites like Google, Auto Trader, or eBay Motors. If they haven't got any reviews, that is a red flag鈥�.

鈥淭he big problem with these deposit scams is the scammers put in a matter of urgency for the people looking to buy these cars, to try to convince them to hand over the money. You shouldn鈥檛 feel pressured into handing over money. And I would never send money to anybody without seeing the car beforehand in a dealership鈥�.

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