Making purchases online has become second nature for millions of Americans, however, scammers are increasing their efforts to target individuals who buy and sell cars virtually.
KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
Making purchases online during the pandemic became even more of a lifeline for those who didn’t want to visit physical stores, including car dealerships.
However, a multi-year investigation by theBetter Business Bureau shows a distributing trend that both buyers and sellers of cars online are being duped by scammers. Scammers continue to list fake vehicle listings, for cars that don’t exist are prices that no dealership can match.
While scammers are creating fake websites that mimic dealerships. Regional Director of the Better Business Bureau in Springfield, Missouri Pamela Hernandez shares this example.
“There’s someone in the Joplin, Missouri area who sold vehicles for a couple of decades but the problem is they never had their own website. That wasn’t a big thing when they set up their business and unfortunately, the scammer bought the domain for their business name, and created a website selling classic vehicles which is not what they do.”
According to the BBB’s Scam Tracker consumers lost an average of $12,600 from 206 reported fraud cases from 2021 to 2023.
Copyright 2024 Four States Public Radio. To see more, visit Four States Public Radio.
