My dream car

As we all know, ebay is THE place to find almost everything you are looking for at a reasonable price.

I found my dream car on ebay. A beautiful shiny purple XR 8 falcon. And
look at the starting bid price! WOW!! I can afford that! and look at
the buy it now option. That can't be right?? these things are worth 5
times that!

O.K. I'm interested. No, more than interested. I WANT IT! YESTERDAY!!

Lets contact the seller (the seller wants you to contact them to be
placed on the approved bidders list). Contact email was sent through
ebay together with an O.K whats wrong with the car question.

Email promptly returned with the response that there is nothing wrong
with the car, just can't be registered in the USA. Alright then, sounds
reasonable. Me thinks that there is still something suspicious about
the deal.

The next series of emails happen outside of ebay as the seller uses
your personal email address for all further correspondence. O.K said I,
I'll buy the car from you and have it shipped back to Australia. I
Provided the requested details of who I was and where the car was to be
shipped to the seller. Bingo the cars mine I thinks. I return to ebay
to complete the buy it now option. Thats strange. The advert has
dissapeared. Oh, well me thinks. The seller has removed the ad due to
me offering to buy the car.

The next email requests that I send via Western union, a deposit to
start the shipping ball rolling. Um, sorry mister seller, can't do that
its outside the ebay rules and not safe to do so. No problem replies
the seller, we'll use an escrow agent appointed by the shipping company
to handle the transaction and that way your money will be safe and
won't be released until the car arrives and you're satisfied with it. I
have arranged buyers insurance to further protect your money for you.
The car will arrive in 5 - 6 days. Alarm bells start to ring. A ship
that can sail from America to Australia after waiting to be loaded that
quick!WOW!! I think I want the ship intead (It's obviously faster than
the car!!). Bugger it, I want the ship so I can enter the Americas cup
and win it for Australia. We're going to be GUARANTEED to win it again!

I send the seller another request email to obtain all the essential
information about the car. i.e. Registration number, VIN number Engine
number etc. I think I'll play the game and see where it leads. Its
highly unlikely that I'm really going to get the car that cheap but
stranger things have been known to happen. You know the story, a friend
of a friend of mine bought this car real cheap as the result of divorce
proceedings etc. The ad is at least no longer on ebay. The seller sais
no problem, here are the details of the car you require.

Shortly thereafter, an email arrives from a US shipping company. An
independant escrow agent has been appointed and the Western Union
transfer needs to be made to this 3rd party in order to commence the
shipping process. OK, the email looks official, has a shipping tracking
number that can be traced. Even has a fax number to send the payment
details to.

I decide I best look a little deeper. A good search engine locates the
shipping company for me no problem. I enter the tracking number and
alas its no good. It's Sunday in the US the shipping company is closed
until Monday. It's possible that the details haven't hit their system
yet.

I decide that speaking to the seller is a good idea at this point and
request a telephone number. It is provided no problem. Gee, the number
is even in America (and the right part of it). So is the fax
number.

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