I have bought 9 cars online remotely over the past three years. All have been legit (knock on wood) but along the way, I talked with many scammers. The tactics and websites you all have been listing are all spot on. When I was looking for a Scorpion, Trovit had plenty of options, but all were either old ads or scams. Crazy how often the gold Scorpion that sold on BAT in 2017 was magically for sale for a great price on several different web sites and still is today! I also talked with a guy who was working in Europe now, who had a car at a great price, all I had to do was send the money to his escrow site, and I could get the car shipped to me and return it if I did not like it. Of course, I could not have my son go look at it out in Seattle as that was not possible.....
For real cars with real owners, remote purchases can work out, but you have to do a ton of research, get the VINS, go see what has been said about the cars in the past (crazy how often classic car owners talk about their cars, who knew?) and you can often be able to verify the owner by these conversations and more often, see the history of the work they have done. My TR8 was purchased sight unseen from New Mexico, car was exactly as described and in the pictures and the owner was stand up guy, but I had many calls with him and eventually had the car inspected by the TR8 Car Club president. My red scorpion was inspected by my son, before I sent the money. Facebook Marketplace has been a good source, as the groups police themselves and members call out obvious scams for the most part. My X1/9 came from Connecticut via FB, the seller was a great guy, car was as described and now is in Carl's collection. MR2 was purchased without any inspection based on the photos for $800, car was rust free as described and even was a runner once I fixed the timing issue. I got three GT6's from New Mexico for 5K delivered to my home. One was partially restored and rust free, one was a rust free desert survivor (complete with tumbleweeds) and one was rusty example that had been driven all over including to the 2000 VTR National convention (the medallion from the event was under the seat). Google searches of the VINS, found much of the history, confirmed the previous owner had passed away and that all was purchased at an estate sale as the seller had told me. I sold two of the cars and kept the desert survivor for a future restoration.
Bottom line is it seems too good to be true, then you have to do your homework, but good deals are out there to be had, but there are just as many scammers looking to take advantage of those of us looking to get a deal.
www.scamadviser.com
I wasn't sure about the 'scam advisor' websites, as those seem to have many popups. I'll look at your link after work. I will move on. I'm waiting for my neighbor to hear from his brother about the one in town.
