For Sale SCAM ALERT 2005 LX470 in NJ

I am in the very early stages of searching for an LX470 and someone recommended this forum as a start. Its a shame that my very first post has to be a warning about a scam, but if I can help out at least one person, it'll be worth it. Fortunately, the scam doesn't originate from this forum, but rather Autotrader (and maybe other classified ads). The vehicle being "advertised" is a 2005 LX470 with approximately 70K miles and the seller is asking for $12.5K. The ad will show the vehicle with NJ license plates. Once you contact the seller, he'll tell you it was his dad's and because the seller is currently deployed, he is using a dealership to help sell the vehicle. The name of the dealership is TCD Auto Sales based in Maine. Now I'm not sure if this dealership is legit, or not and somehow the scammers are piggy backing, but they do have a very official looking website that advertises their company as a third party intermediary between sellers and buyers. I didn't save the emails, but they go along the lines of the seller had a buyer in South Dakota, however the buyer's loan was not approved so the vehicle is currently in storage in Pierre, SD awaiting the next buyer. This was about the third or fourth red flag in this whole exchange. The final straw was when I spoke to "Dan Campos" at TCD. Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and risk being labeled but in this case it saved me $12.5K. I've spent my entire 50 something years in California and have been exposed to many different nationalities, cultures, races, etc. and every single person with the last name Campos that I've known have had only has two accents. It's either an "American" accent, if there is such a thing, or a Hispanic accent. That's it. The guy from TCD had an unidentifiable accent which I wont even guess because I'm not an expert. And no, it wasn't a New England accent with a Hispanic twist. Haha. I discontinued any further contact with the seller and TCD and have chalked this whole thing up to half a day spent on yet another lesson of online scams. I hope this will help someone on this forum and won't lead to wasted time and loss of money. Have a great day.

Jesse

 

[HOFNAR]

I
I was able to track down the email I received from the seller.

 

[HOFNAR]

 

[HOFNAR]

 

[HOFNAR]

 

[LCMoneyPit]

The TCD site looks a lot like this one: autosmartsolutionsinc.com, +1-206-701-7448, ESCROW SCAM.

 

[gnawhnehpets]

I got the exact same story for a GX listed in AZ

For Sale - Scam alert - GX470, 2006, 78300 miles

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/798650603/overview/

forum.ih8mud.com

Emails and story match up almost exactly.

 

[Dts13]

Thank you for this thread. I’ve encountered the exact same thing when searching for a Acura nsx to buy. I found the car on cars.com and got the exact same emails from the “seller”. I hope this thread pops up every time someone googles tcd auto sales Maine or tcdautosales.com to help save someone from being a victim. Got to report these assholes now.

 

[LCMoneyPit]

This scam is not limited to cars. My buddy was looking at a boat a few months ago. It looked like a really good deal, until he got messages very similar to these.

 

[srs148]

Yes, in nearly every product category you'll find the same scam. I see it with vintage hifi gear all of the time. The dead giveaway is the free shipping, inspection period, and free return shipping. I mean, get a little less obvious with the scam already.

The 'I'm deployed and the car is elsewhere' portion of the scenario is reserved for automobiles, but the rest of the scam is the exact same. For kicks, I'll always ask for a piece of paper with the name 'Hugh Jassole' and the date on it written on the item being sold. I've never once gotten a photo back because it stops them in their tracks. If you can't prove possession of the item, all bets are off.

 

[koretex]

Their website server is being hosted in Iceland. Trying to get around all the American laws regarding scams I would assume.

 

[LeeUK]

I am in the very early stages of searching for an LX470 and someone recommended this forum as a start. Its a shame that my very first post has to be a warning about a scam, but if I can help out at least one person, it'll be worth it. Fortunately, the scam doesn't originate from this forum, but rather Autotrader (and maybe other classified ads). The vehicle being "advertised" is a 2005 LX470 with approximately 70K miles and the seller is asking for $12.5K. The ad will show the vehicle with NJ license plates. Once you contact the seller, he'll tell you it was his dad's and because the seller is currently deployed, he is using a dealership to help sell the vehicle. The name of the dealership is TCD Auto Sales based in Maine. Now I'm not sure if this dealership is legit, or not and somehow the scammers are piggy backing, but they do have a very official looking website that advertises their company as a third party intermediary between sellers and buyers. I didn't save the emails, but they go along the lines of the seller had a buyer in South Dakota, however the buyer's loan was not approved so the vehicle is currently in storage in Pierre, SD awaiting the next buyer. This was about the third or fourth red flag in this whole exchange. The final straw was when I spoke to "Dan Campos" at TCD. Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and risk being labeled but in this case it saved me $12.5K. I've spent my entire 50 something years in California and have been exposed to many different nationalities, cultures, races, etc. and every single person with the last name Campos that I've known have had only has two accents. It's either an "American" accent, if there is such a thing, or a Hispanic accent. That's it. The guy from TCD had an unidentifiable accent which I wont even guess because I'm not an expert. And no, it wasn't a New England accent with a Hispanic twist. Haha. I discontinued any further contact with the seller and TCD and have chalked this whole thing up to half a day spent on yet another lesson of online scams. I hope this will help someone on this forum and won't lead to wasted time and loss of money. Have a great day.

Jesse

Unfortunately I ordered an import to the UK through TCD Auto Sales and not only did the vehicle not arrive, they've completely stopped all communication.
Not quite sure what I do about this, as I've obviously been completely scammed.