A Scam I Almost Fell For

There is a new online scam to be aware of that targets people looking for hard-to-find parts for classic cars.

As some of you reading this may know, I have been looking for an original (GM) center console for my 1976 Pontiac Trans-Am. This is a difficult to find part – in good condition – because almost all of the ones that are still in existence in good condition are in good condition Trans-Ams – and the owners of those cars aren’t interested in selling their car’s console. So finding a good one that’s for sale is something of a challenge.

One way to find parts like this is to post on owner/enthusiast forums dedicated to your particular make/model car. I’m a member of a couple such forums that are dedicated to classic Pontiacs. These forums are great resources as well as great places to get in touch with others who are as enthusiastic about your old car as you are. They are also, I have discovered, a great place for scammers.

Look out! – as OJ used to say.

I posted on one of the forums I’m a member of asking whether any of the members had a console for sale or maybe knew a good place to look. Almost all of these were helpful/commiserating replies from other Firebird/Trans-Am owners. But there was one that immediately caught my attention, probably because it seemed too good to be true. And indeed, so it turned out to be.

I got a reply from a guy who claimed he was a mechanic and had what I needed – and for $250. Both of those things ought to have signaled red alert but at first I was too excited to pay attention to my more rational impulses. I asked for pictures and he sent them. He appeared to have a very good condition original GM console and he only wanted $250 for it – Including shipping!

Yes, I know. It’s obvious in retrospect that something was very wrong with this picture. First, because “mechanic” sounds sketchy. Most people who have parts for sale for 50-year-old cars aren’t mechanics. They deal in classic car parts, used and new old stock – and generally represent themselves that way. A mechanic might have some parts for a modern car; that makes sense as mechanics work on cars. They also work on 50-year-old cars, but if they do, they are not generally in the business of selling the parts of them.

And $250? Including the cost of shipping? A good condition original center console for a ’70s-era Trans-Am is a rare piece and so an expensive piece. The going rate is around $800 – not including shipping. The center console is a bulky item that requires an oversized box and special packaging plus insurance (in case it gets lost or damaged in transit). Shipping something like that – that way – will typically cost $50.

So I ought to have known something wasn’t right with this picture. (There literally was something wrong with this picture, about which more follows below.)

But I tamped down my suspicions and tried to make arrangements to buy the console and that is what saved me, ultimately, from being fleeced to the tune of $250. The “mechanic” did not accept credit cards. Nor personal checks. What he wanted me to do was wire-transfer him the $250 directly from my bank. This also didn’t smell right. What mechanic – what shop – doesn’t accept payment via credit cards? Luckily, the scammer gave me obviously sketchy sounding information to wire-transfer him the money. It was an email with a foreign-sounding handle. Then he gave me a different one. My Spider Sense was tingling by this time. I asked the scammer to give me his address and he balked at first. Then I got an address. Not of a business, but of some apartment in Texas.

It was enough.

My tech-not-hipness is what ultimately saved me. I do not do the wire-transfer thing; the buying stuff using phone apps and such. Credit cards have one great benefit, that being you have some recourse via the credit card company when a transaction goes stinky. You have essentially no recourse when you send someone money directly from your bank. It’s gone the moment it’s sent and the person you sent it to is as well. Your texts and emails will suddenly go unanswered. And you will never get the part you thought you bought.

Later on, I was scrolling through the eBay Motors ads and found a guy selling a manual Trans-Am console. The picture showed the same console the scammer had sent me. It was not same guy (i.e., the scammer) who posted the eBay ad. The scammer had used the eBay ad’s picture to try to sell what he didn’t actually have.

Ah yes, my little chickadee!

I used to think the old car forums were safe spaces; that the people there were people like me; i.e., car people. Mostly this is true. I have found out that there  scammer people cruise these boards, too – looking for potential marks. Don’t be one. Listen to your Spider Sense – and never forget the dictum that warns, if something sounds too good to be true then it almost certainly is.

. . .

If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.