Victim Location 78003
Type of a scam Online Purchase
Professional looking website – linked to numerous Craigslist Adds reportedly selling seized vehicles at a highly discounted rate. Most of the vehicles they are marketing have been spoofed from other adds (you-tube) etc, with high quality photos/videos. There are simple mistakes in the adds on the fraudsters website that are not immediately apparent. They even include ‘Carfax reports’ etc that appear to have them listed to bolster the scheme. Confidence attempts are gained immediately by using ‘online chat’ with sales reps, they will even say that if you are unsure about purchasing on-line, that you can make your furst purchase at their location in Mandan, ND. (it would just take a few more days to get to their business location in ND). They will send a professional looking invoice with a time limit (approx. 3-days) in which you are to wire transfer the listed amount or 20% to get the units lien cleared prior to shipping. (shipping is free and they offer a 30 day money back guarantee)…..pretty good deal for an on-line purchase. The invoice includes the routing number and account and a ‘Beneficiary’ – which you would assume is the current owner or lien holder. A little further checking reveals that the accounts seem to be in NYC with names that do not corresspond to the CarFax reports or information for the unit in question. I thought it odd that many vehicles were from Kentucky (?) and 2004 yr models(?) I found one RV on a different website (sold in 2014)…this group was using the same photos and video from 2014 (RVSales by owner – site)
The Invoice they send – is ‘signed’ by Bran Orlowski
"DAKOTA PRAIRIE USED & SEIZED LLC Mandan, North Dakota 2335 Highway 10 Mandan, ND 58554 (701) 885-4128"
* They want you to also send them a copy of the bank wire receipt by e-mail to "[email protected]" or by textto "701-885-4128"
* "Robert Nestel" was the point of contact #(701)885-4128, left a message and appeared to have a foreign accent.
*They also want you to send a copy or photo of your Driver’s license to get the paperwork started. I have done this before with little to no concern in certain vehicle transactions…. (they got me on this – unfortunately) *I have fraud protections in place and use Experian fraud alerts regarding my personal info. – so I hope enough protections are in place that my identity doesn’t get used in any other scam.
They are friendly / fairly persistent, but when challenged – ie: I sent a link to the exact same unit on their site that had been sold in 2014 – they did not contact me back with any explaination….