How to spot (and avoid) car sale scams

Selling a car privately puts a target on your back. You have advertised something valuable, your contact details are public, and scammers know the script better than you do. The scams below are the ones Australian sellers actually encounter — learn them once and they are easy to spot forever. ## 1. The overpayment scam This is the classic. A "buyer" — often claiming to be interstate or overseas — agrees to your price quickly, sometimes without even seeing the car. Then they send a payment for *more* than the asking price and ask you to forward the difference to their "freight company" or "shipping agent." The payment is fake: a forged bank transfer receipt, a dodgy cheque, or a transfer from a compromised account that gets reversed days later. You have already sent the "difference" — real money, gone forever. **Red flags:** a buyer who never inspects the car, any overpayment for any reason, pressure to move money to a third party, urgency around the transfer. ## 2. The freight-payment and fake pickup scam A variation on the above: the buyer says they'll arrange a transport company to collect the car, and needs you to pay the freight company upfront — "I'll add it to the purchase price." There is no buyer, no freight company, and no car collection. There is only the payment you were talked into making. **Red flags:** you paying anyone as part of selling your car, remote buyers arranging their own logistics and involving you in the money side, professional-looking but unverifiable company names. ## 3. The too-good-to-be-true remote buyer Full asking price, no haggling, no inspection, wants to "secure it today." Genuine buyers haggle. Genuine buyers look at the car. Anyone who skips both steps isn't a buyer — they're setting up one of the scams above. **Red flags:** no negotiation, no inspection, urgency to "lock it in," elaborate stories about being offshore, on a rig, or in the military. ## 4. Phishing texts and fake platform messages You list your car and within hours receive a text: "I'm interested, message me on WhatsApp at this number," or a message claiming to be from the listing platform asking you to "verify" your account via a link. The WhatsApp contact harvests your details for the next scam; the link steals your login or payment credentials. **Red flags:** being pushed off the platform to another messaging app, links to "verify" anything, messages that create urgency around your account, any request for login or card details connected to a car sale — no legitimate buyer or platform needs these from you. ## 5. The deposit scam (aimed at your buyer — and your reputation) In this one the scammer copies your listing — photos, description, price, but cheaper — and advertises your car elsewhere. "Buyers" pay the scammer a deposit for a car that was never theirs to sell. When the real buyer shows up confused, it's your phone number on the original ad. **Red flags you can act on:** watermark your photos, and if a "buyer" seems to know oddly specific details while behaving strangely, your listing may have been cloned. ## 6. The test-drive theft Less a scam than outright theft, but worth naming: a "buyer" arrives for a test drive, asks for the keys, and simply drives away — sometimes with an accomplice vehicle waiting. Or they ask you to leave the car running while they "check something" and it's gone. **Red flags and defences:** never hand over keys without holding something of theirs (licence in your hand, not a photo of one), always go along on the test drive, and never leave the car running unattended with a stranger nearby. ## Your anti-scam checklist - [ ] Never accept overpayments or forward money to anyone during a sale - [ ] Never pay freight, shipping, or "agents" as the seller - [ ] Insist on inspection before price discussion — real buyers show up - [ ] Don't click verification links or move conversations to unknown numbers - [ ] Take payment by bank transfer or bank cheque only — verify funds have cleared before releasing the car or the rego papers - [ ] Watermark your listing photos and search your own listing text occasionally for clones - [ ] Trust the feeling — if a buyer behaves unlike any genuine buyer you've met, they aren't one ## Why verified dealers sidestep all of it Every scam above depends on one thing: you dealing with an unverified stranger. Selling through Sell2Dealers AU removes that entirely: - Every dealer on the platform holds a **verified Australian motor dealer licence** — real businesses with real premises and real accountability - Offers come through the platform, not random texts pushing you onto WhatsApp - Payment is through business channels, not mysterious overpayments and freight agents - Nobody needs a test drive at your house at 8pm *This is a general guide only, not professional or legal advice. If you believe you've been targeted by a scam, report it to Scamwatch and your state or territory police.* ## Sell without the scammers List your car on Sell2Dealers AU and receive offers from verified licensed Australian dealers — genuine businesses, genuine offers, and none of the tricks above.

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