Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Richard Piatt Reporting"I didn't expect to fall for a scam on a reputable website."
Another Internet scam -- unscrupulous people pretend they want a car, when they really just want your money. It is another reminder to keep your guard up if you are selling or buying anything on the Internet.
One Utah man says it can happen to anyone, even on websites you trust. In this case, our very own website KSLcars.com was also victimized---the conduit of a scam that one man caught just in time.
A shiny, pre-owned 2004 Volkswagon Passat, for sale by owner. Jim Rollins' family has outgrown the car. To get the word out, Rollins took out an ad on KSLcars.com.
Jim Rollins, Stopped Online Scam: "We got a bunch of responses. One of them was amost a full price offer, so I pursued that one."
Rollins never dreamed that person, so interested in the car, would try to take him for a ride, but over the course of several days, and after several e-mails, things just didn't add up.
Jim Rollins: "Things started to get fishy, and it turns out, it seems to be some kind of scam."
Here's how the scam could have worked, if Rollins had played along. E-mailing from England, the buyer asked Rollins to ship the Passat to New York, claiming it was a gift for someone in Canada. The so-called buyer says he mailed him a check for more than the asking price, $26-thousand, to pay for the shipping. He asked Rollins to write his own check for the shipping itself, using the extra money.
Rollins now believes if he had done that, he would be out his car and the $6,000 'shipping' payment.
Jim Rollins: "We were really hurt by it, and the other night I got mad, downright mad about it. It doesn't feel good to be taken advantage of, ever."
In fact, the state department of commerce has gotten complaints about similar deals.
Francine Giani, Utah Department of Commerce: "It's a scam. We've seen scams like this before. It's a dicey game unless you're very, very comfortable moving around the Internet, because clearly you have to check these people out."
This is a case where you clearly need to protect yourself, like Jim Rollins did. For him, one problem still remains, he still has his car.
Jim Rollins: "It's still for sale. it's a nice car."
Rollins says he plans to post it on KSLcars.com again. He had his eye out for red flags. In this case, he couldn't help but wonder why HE should have to write a check to sell his car.
