Tony Volz I sent $2,960 to purchase a 2003 Honda Accord was told to send more money before receiving the car. San Jose California
A 2003 Honda Accord was advertised on Craig's List for $2,960 from a person by the name of Grace Garvey. We (me and my family) emailed this woman to get the jist of what procedures we needed to go through to purchase the car. On Craig's List the car was located in Columbia, SC and we live in Sumter, SC which is about 45 minutes to an hour away. So when we finally got in contact with Grace Garvey she told us:
"Hello there,
Thanks for being interested in buying my 2003 Honda Accord EX-L V6 Sedan, Automatic Transmission, Engine : 6 CYLINDERS, 80,351 miles, A/C is Working Perfectly, VIN #1HGCM66513A016683.
The car is like new, clear TITLE, completely working, perfect running condition,with no hidden damages or accidents, it has always been garage kept, low miles, non-smoker no flood or storms. It is a US model and passed the US test emissions (smog).
The price is $2,960.00 USD. I recently moved to Lisboa, Portugal because I divorced with my husband and after the divorce I own this car, now I tried to register it here (for my son) but they said that I can't register a car that has US emissions.I am selling the car so cheap because I can't find a buyer here.I want to sell it in US because is located and still registered there (US).
I will prefer to use only eBay Vehicle Purchase Protection to complete the transaction safe. If you are interested in getting my jeep please give me a reply.
Thank you,"
Therefore we asked her for a number where we could reach her at regardless of it being out of the country, and she would always talk around the question and never gave us a number. However, we still wanted to purchase the vehicle and went forth with the moneygram transaction. Being that we were first time buyer's from eBay we didn't know any of these precautions and now are very aware of them. Although we wouldn't think someone would try to do this to someone who works hard for all their money. So we received an email to send the money gram to:
Tomy Volz
302 S. Market St.
San Jose, CA 95113
Fax number (503) 658-9192
After I sent the money we received a confirmation email that said:
"The payment details have been received. Please allow eBay Motors Financial Department up to 24 hours to confirm the payment with MoneyGram. As soon as the payment is confirmed, the Seller will be instructed to ship the vehicle. The Seller has 3 business days to send the Buyer and eBay Motors Customer Support the tracking number of the shipment. If no tracking number is provided, a full refund is immediately sent to the Buyer.
The refund will be sent to your bank account, by check or money order. The way you are refunded is at your sole discretion. Refund requests are processed within 48 hours."
We continously sent emails to Grace Garvey and Tomy Volz asking for the tracking number and the details on the transaction but never recieved an e-mail back until today (May 18, 2009) saying:
"Dear customer,
We are realy sorry but we have bad news for you. We have big problems with the trailer and the car can't go to you is blocked. We are really sorry to inform you but all the buyers must pay $2200 for this problem.We have also good news for you: after you and all the buyers will make the payment you will receive the car and the title at your door in 1-2 days and your money $2,200 back. ( 75% from all the buyers already make the deposit so we are waiting for your to make the deposit as soon as possible). Please understand us we have big problems. You will receive your money ($2,2000) back."
From here we knew it was a scam. The mispelled words were a given as well. He even spelled his name wrong on the moneygram order information for goodness sake. We wanted to investigate the whole thing before filing a report so my daughter called the money gram number and found out when the money was picked up. We sent the money on May 14, 2009 and they money was picked up May 15, 2009. We also googled 302 S Market St and it ended up being a hotel. We called the hotel number and asked if anyone by the name of Tony Volz stayed there and they said no. We also asked if someone by the name of Grace Garvey stayed there and they said no. However, they did say that people by the last name Volz did stay there but it was back in 2006, 2007, and 2008. We emailed eBay's customer service and they told us that the emails were about of phising.
We are very sad this incident happened and know that we will probably never get that money back but this man needs to be stopped. We don't want others to be put in this situation if anything can be done to stop it first. I understand he was arrested before for something of this nature and I hope this time he stays in jail for a very long time. Thank you for listening and I hope something can be done about this.
Darryl
Sumter, South Carolina
U.S.A.
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1 Updates & Rebuttals
Flynrider
Phoeix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Not much hope
#2Consumer Comment
Tue, May 19, 2009
It's very unlikely that this or any of the dozen other people pulling this Craigslist scam will be caught anytime soon. Moneygrams are not traceable and these folks use public access Wi-fi ports to communicate. The only thing that will stop them is if enough people bother to click on "avoid scams" at the Craigslist homepage. For future reference :
You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:
DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist.
NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification"
NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.
Another one I would add is that anytime you see someone selling a car in supposedly perfect condition for half of its market value, you can bet it's a scam. Scammers always bait the hook with a "too good to be true" deal. This is designed to keep the victim from asking too many questions (and it works!).