Ok, I found this ad on Craiglist.com. I contacted the guy to see if his listed price was a typo. He is listing his 2001 VW Jetta GLS for $2950. I looked up the NADA value of this car and it is worthabout $10,000 normally with a low of $7,500.He e-mailed me back with this response:

I'm SGT Jonathan Talak . This Jetta is in perfect working condition. This detailed vehicle makes the exterior look like it just came off the assembly line.The car has 89710 highway miles. VIN Number: 3VWSC29M91M076376
It was never involved in any accident, not even minor ones. The body and paint are great. The interior is super clean, mechanically, it runs like a cat on carpet.
Click this link for more pics: http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii183/jetta01gls/

As I know that my current situation is pretty special I want the deal closed only through eBay's Buyer Protection Program in order for you to be 100% protected. You will make the payment to eBay and they will hold the money until you receive the car. ONLY AFTER you receive the car and you inspect it(for 10 days) eBay will release the payment to me; in this way we are both protected. Anyway i am sure that if you will don`t be satisfied about the car i will surely find another buyer in your area and there will be no need for you to ship the car back. I am located in London, United Kingdom and I was sent here to improve the military relationships between USA and UK. Two months ago, my wife moved here with me and brought the car with her, but now we have to sell it back in the United States because we can't register it here; it has US specs and everything, and registering it here in Europe will take for ever. My final price on it is US 2,950 $. If you will take it for this price, I am willing to handle the shipping. It will be shipped from here by plane with US Air Military Cargo so it will not cost me anything. You will get it to the nearest airport in your area and then it will be trucked forward to your place. You will receive the car in about 3 days. Please get back to me asap if you decide to buy, and include in your e-mail your full name and address where you want it shipped so I can start the deal with eBay. You will receive all the transaction payment and shipping details from them.

Cheers,
Jonathan Talak


I copied and pasted the response here. Is this some sort of new scam I have never heard about or could this really be legit? Mydad always told me if a deal seems WAY TOO GOOD to be true, then it most likely is. Thats kind of what i'm thinking here. Please let me know whatYOU think or possibly may know. Thanks.

 

float him a question back regarding the price. Simply ask, how did you arrive at this price.
also, don;t have a problem asking him who he works for. see if he clams up.
Try this: I think it is great that you are doing what you do. I am familiar with Govt. realtions as well with extensive ties over there, who do you deal with? Are you civilian or military?
See what he says, then. if he dissappears, then you will know. if not, post his response. or PM me.

 

Sounds like a scam for sure no way would someone take 7k off of a car just to do it come on now I would try what railrunner said....nothing is that good !

 

It is a scam, they will send u fake ebay emails that look real but are not real. Everything will look legit but is not legit. Trust me I nearly got scammed. Do not give this guy a penny. Report him!!!

 

I donno, sometimes the people over there with military and moving between countries really just want to get rid of their cars. It's very possible he just wants it gone

 

Hey thanks for the responses guys! I will definately try what railrunner said. I just figured that it would be much more difficult for someone to try and scam you using an eBay"seller guarantee" deal. Just more work for the scammer. On the other hand$3k would be worth it to them. It sucks that there are people out there that are this heartless.

It would be super cool if it were legit though. We'll see what this guy says.

Anyway, you guys rock. Again, Thanks for the 2 cents!

 

You will get screwed. It is an overseas thing for a reason and though you do have some security using Ebay, don't think that he doesn't have a way to get your money. Don't even waste your time. There is no way he is taking that much off the price and then will pay for shipping overseas on top of it. Do you have ANY IDEA how expensive it is to ship a f'in car overseas?????? If you pay him money and he sends you a car, let me know and I will match whatever you paid him. I looked at the same exact kind of thing for a Toyota Supra (gawd I love that car) and its just so not legit man. Also, I have seen the official Ebay emails. They are unbelievably real looking. I do still use Ebay so don't get be wrong as being all against using it. I even bought my Audi on there, but you just really need to be careful and extra extra careful when you are talking about any sum of money that large. Be smart man and good luck with your car search.

 

Thanks for the words of wisdom. I'm not headstrong about just throwing my money wherever I think there may be a good deal. So, I asked the guy some questions and he sent me the eBay messages. They look strikingly real. The one thing that throws it all off is that he asks for a Western Union money order. I would be sending this money order to a "eBay representative" in the UK. Paying with a credit card electronically is not an accepted payment option. Wonder why (paper trail).

So this is definitely a scam. How ghey. Oh well. I just hope this fool gets busted before he rips someone off. I've dealt with the scams through autotrader.com where the scammer will want to send you a check for an amount well above your asking price and ask you to ship the car and excess money back to him. I actually told him to go ahead and send the check! I have the $15,000 "check" made out to me! Its crazy that people actually fall for this one.

Anyway, its done. Thanks for the thoughts everyone! God bless you all.

 

It's a fake! A friend of mine just tried buying a jetta from a person at an air force base down in texas, she ended up sending him 4000 and never heard from him again! DO NOT DO IT!! Shes now out 4K with no car, please stay away.

 

Definitely a scam, the email seems like a template, and it's too fishy overall. Run away as fast as you can!