CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Better Business Bureau is warning consumers who are looking to buy a vehicle online that they need to do their homework before sending out any money.
Cleveland BBB President Sue McConnell told News 5 that impostors are posing as Amherst Classic Cars on the web and on Facebook, a business that closed more than five years ago. McConnell said the bogus auto dealer was using pictures of classic cars that were stolen from other auto websites and then using the pictures to lure unsuspecting consumers into wire transferring tens of thousands of dollars for vehicles that were no longer available.
Marie Valles and her brother, who live in New Mexico, told News 5 they tried to buy a 1967 Camaro from the fake dealership a few weeks ago, but as they looked further into the deal, they realized the offer was bogus.
“We come from a classic car family, mostly Camaros, and he was really excited he found this really nice car; they were selling the car for $32,000; it was a 1967 Rally Sport," Valles said. But then the salesman started hesitating, pressuring us, telling us it’s going to be sold pretty soon, we’re talking to some other people, go to the bank."
McConnell told News 5 there were many red flags related to how the fake classic car dealership was operating online. McConnell said it was a webpage that registered to an owner in Lithuania.
"You had to pay for the vehicle in full up-front, and you had to wire the funds; that’s always a typical payment that scammers want is wired funds," McConnell said. “The seller could not provide a lot of details about the vehicle and could not make it available for personal inspection.”
News 5 confirmed the impostor classic car dealership web page and company phone number have now been taken down, but the company Facebook page is still in operation. News 5 determined the photographs of the classic cars used on the fake dealership web page were stolen from Cars Remember When a legitimate classic car dealership located in Colorado.
McConnell urged consumers to run checks on internet car dealers before sending any money.
“This scam, it works, unfortunately, and scammers love this type of ruse," McConnell said. “You definitely don’t want to pay up-front for the entire price; you don’t want to wire money; we recommend consumers use their credit cards so that if there is a problem with a purchase, you have recourse through your credit card company.”
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