Test drive? Sorry, no. The car's already at a shipper in Omaha, Neb., where Brenda recently moved. But don't worry; despite its bargain-basement price, it'll be delivered to your door at Brenda's expense, and if you're not satisfied, it'll be shipped right back to Omaha for free and you'll get all your money back.
Still interested? Just let her know, and then check your email for instructions on how to wire thousands of dollars in untraceable cash to a third person you've never heard of at a non-existent address in Macon, Ga.
"Hope to hear from you soon," Brenda writes to prospective buyers.
The vast majority of those reading the pitch will recognize it as a scam. But Brenda — though that's almost certainly not a real name — isn't concerned with the vast majority. She or he is focused only on the tiny fraction of car buyers so blinded by a great deal that they tune out the obvious warning signs.
And business is booming.
Brenda Cullen is part of a ubiquitous pool of online scammers flooding craigslist from coast to coast with fraudulent used-car ads. In recent years, the FBI has received complaints from 15,000 victims of online car scams who have been taken for more than $45 million. Once the money has been sent, it is almost impossible to recover.
Despite efforts to identify and block the scams, scores of new bogus ads crop up every day on craigslist, featuring pilfered images of real cars and typically asking less than $3,000 for picture-perfect vehicles worth three to four times as much.
"Alexia Chavez" wants to sell you a 2004 Nissan Armada for $2,500. "Gina Russell" has a 2004 Toyota Rav4 for $2,400. "Patricia Presha" is asking $2,250 for her 2002 Chrysler Town and Country minivan. "I am going through a divorce, and I had to move with my job," Patricia tells a would-be buyer. "So all that I want to do now is to sell the Minivan at this price, because I need to sell it fast."
There is always a story, from divorces to money problems to tales of cars owned by soldiers killed in war.
Maria Conner is selling her 2006 Acura RL for $2,750 "because I can't enjoy it due to my job (I'm a casino dealer on a cruise ship.)" That will come as a surprise to the man in California who really owns the custom-modified Acura featured in the fake ad. He's selling the car on eBay for $38,000.
Staff Sgt. Amanda Gibson is stationed at an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska, and needs to sell her 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe — at 73 percent below book value — "to help ease the burden of my sister's medical expenses, which she has acquired due to a serious illness."
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