Ask just about any person on the street, and he or she will tell you that this title is an oxymoron.

 

Well, it is not an unwarranted assumption, for there are many who in good faith have paid for online autos and who have then been defrauded one way or another; and they will not only agree, but underscore, that indeed, yes, it is an oxymoron.

 

Online Auto Purchase — Nightmare Scenario No. 1

 

The 1968 Ford Mustang that a private seller in Michigan offered for a little more than Sanderson had planned to spend was the precise car he was looking for. Precisely. Color, options, wheels, the lot.

 

So, his planned spending rose the 20% needed to meet the seller’s price, and he answered, yes, yes, I want to buy this car.

 

The Michigan seller emailed back, nice to know you, and delighted to do business. Just to make sure you know this is on the up and up, we will snail mail you a Certificate of Inspection, as well as our routing number and bank account; into which you should deposit 50% (plus $1,200 delivery charge) before we’ll ship the car. We trust you to pay us the remaining 50% upon acceptance of the vehicle.

 

Sanderson was convinced this was all on the level—the seller even had his photograph on the site that sold the car; and once he received the Certificate of Inspection, he wired the 50% plus shipping.

 

And that was the last he saw of his money, or the car, or the seller.

 

The Certificate of Inspection turned out to be a forgery. The bank account he had wired the money to, by the time the police inquired, had been closed. No address for the seller, and Sanderson out a considerable amount of money.

 

Online Auto Purchase — Nightmare Scenario No. 2

 

Wilson, in his fifties and a prudent man by all accounts, and a lot more business savvy than Sanderson found the very thing he was looking for in Florida. A 1976 Jensen Interceptor series III saloon, hand-built in England. Wilson had been looking for one for years.

 

Not the color he’d like, but he could always have it repainted.

 

Not cheap—well, he didn’t expect it to be. Eight emails later, and they had agreed upon a price.

 

And the seller, bless his heart, a man as cautious as Wilson himself, suggested they use an online escrow service to make sure the deal would go through smoothly, to everyone’s satisfaction. He even recommended a great looking company called reliable-escrow.com to handle the transaction.

 

Wilson visited the site, and was impressed by the professional approach to the deal it presented. He felt reassured.

 

Everything was in place. As agreed he deposited 50% of the purchase price (a small fortune) in the escrow account—the balance to be paid upon acceptance. Then he waited, and waited, and waited.

 

By the time investigators got around to it, reliable-escrow.com no longer existed (it had been registered in Russia), and Wilson had lost his small fortune.

 

Online Auto Purchase — Nightmare Scenario No. 3

 

Money exchanges hands. Shipping arrangements are made. The car arrives. Yes, it is the same year, model and color as stated in the ad, but some of the other statements stretched the truth a little. New tires, for one—these had hardly any thread left. The left headlight did not work, neither did the air conditioning, nor the rear seatbelts. This list did go on.

 

When challenged the seller referred to the contract which did—darn it, there it was—have an as is clause, and the agreement, not the ad, was the legally binding document here.

 

The buyer ended up spending an additional $2,350 on a $4,000 car to make it drivable, with no recourse to collect.

 

Good Intentions

 

Good intentions—admirable things that all too often fall short of proper follow-through—even when present in spades at the outset of an online auto deal are no guarantee that it will go through in the same spirit. Something is usually overlooked, and when the proverbial push comes to shove, the seller just does not want to eat the extra $500, sorry.

 

And at the other end of the spectrum—when the intention all along is to defraud you—take another look at the first two scenarios (the third may or may not have started out in good faith).

 

Internet Fraud

 

Now, if these first two scenarios were rare, isolated occurrences, this article would have no business being written.

 

However, Non-delivery of items purchased online constitute an impressive 24.9% of all fraud complaints filed last year with IC3—The Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NWC3)—second only to Internet Auction Fraud, which was the most reported at 35.7%.

 

Vigilance

 

Therefore, when it comes to buying anything online from a private party—especially something as costly as an automobile—keep the following in mind:

 

·         Be aware that if a problem does occur, it will be more difficult to resolve if the seller is located outside the United States—laws can differ widely country to country;

 

·         Learn as much as possible about the seller, especially if the only information you have is an e-mail address;

 

·         Before you make a payment for any purchase, you should verify the seller’s identity and contact details in case there is a problem with the delivery of the item;

 

·         Ask the seller when delivery can be expected and whether the merchandise is covered by warranty if you need to exchange it;

 

·         Use registered or certified mail to enable tracing; this will eliminate claims that the parcel was sent but must have been “lost in the mail;”

 

·         Check that the seller information matches email, phone number and any bank account and location information;

 

And here is the most important advice of all:

 

·         If you have any doubts about the identity and integrity the of seller—and when it comes to high-ticket items such as automobiles, even if you have no doubts whatsoever, and if all intentions appear angel-like: use an escrow agent.

 

An escrow agent or company is an independent third party that holds payment in trust until the buyer receives and accepts the item from the seller. While this service does incur a fee, it protects the buyer because the third party will hold the money until the goods have been received in good condition, inspected, and accepted; and only then releases the funds to the seller.

 

Internet Escrow

 

The principle and process of Internet escrow is the same as with buying and selling real estate—where, of course, the escrow company is deemed indispensible due to the amounts involved.

 

·         The buyer or seller opens an account with the online escrow company;

 

·         The prospective buyer of an item sends payment by wire transfer, check or credit card to the escrow company;

 

·         The escrow company verifies that the funds indeed do exist, or that the buyer is who he represents himself to be and is in possession of the credit card, if used;

 

·         Once this checks out, the escrow company asks the seller to ship the merchandise;

 

·         Merchandise is shipped, and seller submits tracking information;

 

·         Once the shipping site shows the merchandise as delivered the escrow company double checks to ensure the buyer has the goods in hand;

 

·         The buyer now has an agreed-upon amount of time to either accept the goods or return it to the seller;

 

·         Once accepted by the buyer, the escrow company releases the funds to the seller, less any processing fees and commissions.

 

Straightforward enough. If, that is, you are dealing with a legitimate online escrow company.

 

Fighting the Fighter

 

But the world, as we know, likes to throw us curves; and in this instance the curve comes in the guise of escrow fraud.

 

Handling, as it does, substantial amounts of money, the bona fide escrow company is often itself a target of fraud—where look-alike phishing sites try to con you into providing them your confidential financial information; and where the escrow company concept itself is flagrantly abused by criminals who set up fraudulent escrow sites where money will only travel one-way: you guessed it, away from you.

 

In fact, the problem of fake on-line escrow sites is now so severe that some reputable and legitimate escrow sites have simply thrown in the towel.

 

Buyer Guardian, for example, recently shut its doors due to Internet fraud stealing their business, and posted the following note on their site: “We are sad to report that after careful and lengthy consideration we have made the decision to cease operations at BuyerGuardian.com. This is a very difficult decision, and one that is made primarily due to the rapid growth of online escrow fraud.”

 

Many of these apparently bona fide escrow companies, established for the sole purpose of enriching the criminal, are set up off-shore—predominantly in Russia or China—where lax cyber crime laws (and sometimes questionable cooperation with U.S. authorities) makes it more difficult to shut the sites down and bring the perpetrators to justice.

 

Enter: Escrow.com

 

Actually, Escrow.com entered this fray nearly ten years ago during the dot-com boom and has since shown itself to be the online escrow company to turn to for secure and fraud-less auction and other online sales/purchase transactions—with the credentials and staying power to prove it.

 

Licensed by the state of California—as well as by the States of Idaho and Arizona, who require separate licenses—Escrow.com is the only on-line escrow company credentialed to serve every state of the Union, and who indeed does so 24/7.

 

While Escrow.com will handle transactions of any size, it may not make financial sense to turn to them for low cost items since their transaction fee is $25, and their commission is $63 per $1,000 value of the transaction if payment is by credit card and $32.50 per $1,000 for wire transfers.

 

But, if you value your sleep, Escrow.com would be indispensible for any transaction of $250 on up.

 

Peace of Mind

 

Michigan-based telecomclassifiedads.com, which buys and sells expensive telecommunication switching equipment concurs, and would not, according to Mickey Fivenson, complete any online transactions without Escrow.com.

 

“I use Escrow.com for all my equipment transactions, and without them I would not be in business. It’s as simple as that.

 

“I deal with buyers and sellers on a daily basis who do not know each other and who live in different parts of the world. Escrow.com is the only way I can complete a transaction between them.

 

“As a result, after five years of doing business through Escrow.com I have never had anything but satisfied customers.”

 

Dave Kurko of RPM Auto Wholesale in Pleasant Hill, CA could not agree more:

 

“Escrow.com provides a safety net for both seller and buyer, delivering certainty in an uncertain world.

 

“Most people understand the concept of escrow, particularly if they have bought and sold real estate in a jurisdiction that uses an escrow company rather than an attorney to settle a real estate transaction; in fact, we have modeled our transaction on the real estate transaction. Escrow.com has made this approach not only possible but also very effective.

 

“They are also very customer centric, and thanks to their tech support we have been able to integrate opening an escrow account with them into our own web-hosted application, allowing our CRM software to talk directly to their database over a secure link.

 

“Really, they’re the only game in town. We’ve searched other companies, and nobody else measures up.”

 

Escrow.com—Going the Extra Auto Mile

 

And when it comes to automobile transactions, Escrow.com does go the extra mile (no pun indented).

 

All buyers and sellers located in the United States using their Vehicle Escrow service can also avail themselves of the following additional Escrow.com auto services:

 

Title Transfer

 

Escrow.com can handle everything—including the paperwork—from start to finish for all 50 states.

 

Inspection Service

 

Using the latest in handheld computing, and following standardized inspection and auditing procedures, trained personnel electronically record all inspection and audit information right in the field. Reports are then made available on the Escrow.com website and are made downloadable for convenience.

 

Vehicle Title Insurance

 

TitleGuard Vehicle Title Insurance provides a vehicle history report and insurance for up to $50,000 against any unreported DMV brands, title defects, and evidence of odometer rollback for as long as the policyholder owns their vehicle.

 

Vehicle and Motorcycle Transport

 

Dependable Auto Shippers can have your vehicle delivered anywhere in the world; and JC Motors Motorcycle Transport can have provide the same service for your motorcycle.

 

Vehicle History

 

Escrow.com can provide a vehicle history report that includes vehicle description, title check, past problem check, odometer history, and a summarized history.

 

Escrow.com—The Detective

 

While Escrow.com understandably is gaining increased recognition as the Internet escrow company to turn to for peace of e-commerce mind, their staff, on a daily basis, also hunt and diligently work to shut down fraudulent impostors, which are encountered daily.

 

And they spring up like mushrooms, these impostors: there are days that Escrow.com staff discovers as many as ten new such sites.

 

The good news is that as these sites are tracked down, authorities are alerted and the sites are soon off the air.

 

eBay Weighs In

 

To quote the biggest online market of them all, eBay:

 

Pay safely – beware of fake escrow services when you consider using them to pay for your eBay item.

 

For eBay transactions, you should use eBay’s only approved Escrow Company: www.escrow.com

 

To avoid being deceived by fraudulent email from a fake escrow service, you should visit the escrow service’s Web site to verify information you received via email.

 

Make sure you type the entire Web address (for example, www.escrow.com) into your Web browser. Don’t let your Web browser auto-complete the Web address for you. It could mistakenly auto-complete a fraudulent Web address.

 

Escrow.com—The Household Name

 

More importantly, however, as Escrow.com gains further and further recognition on its way to become a household name, it gets harder and harder for impostors to defraud the public for the excellent reason that they are not Escrow.com—the only name you know you can trust.

 

Here’s to peace of mind and a good night’s sleep.

 

And to successful online auto transactions.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Ulf Wolf writes about cybercrime for Words & Images (ulf@words-images.com)

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Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Ulf Wolf writes about cybercrime for Words & Images (ulf@words-images.com)

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