Victim Location 30080
Type of a scam Online Purchase
I contacted someone on autotrader about a car. I was told that the car was held by this company and the owner was overseas. The companies website claim to have been in business since 1995 but something didn’t ring true. Firstly, the domain has only just been registered in Ukraine in April 2018. The the email address of their "client" in the UK is arb-ssl.com which is also a new registration in the Ukraine but ironically, the web address resolved to arb.org.uk which appears to be legitimate professional standards website that leads you to believe that the owner is legitimate.
The scam is that you send a deposit and then go to see the vehicle. If you like it, you pay the balance and if not, you get 100% of your money returned. They seem to have backstopped their story including a new linkedin profile for the "owner" that has zero connections as well as various listings. Their claimed UK head office is a Mercedes Dealership.
They also claim to have the following licenses;
California Department of Business Oversight – License #8631160
Arizona Department of Financial Institutions – License #EA 0908628
Idaho Department of Finance – License #ESC-1056
No doubt in my mind it is a scam and I thought I would report it before someone loses some money. Thanks.