History of this vehicle...potential scam listing for sale

[Jack Bowser]

I took a look and the site is hard to surf. The same car is also listed as being in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee for $30,000. and again for $20,500.
The pictures are taken at the same house.
I couldn't find a picture of the data plate. Did someone say there is a picture of it?
I sent the seller a note asking to come see the car. His answer should be interesting.
If you this car is a bargain, They also have a 1957 Mercedes 300 SL Roadster listed for $90,000.

I'll take all those I can get at that price. Ha!

[Jack Bowser]

Right on, John.
They also have a 1957 Mercedes 300 SL Roadster listed for $90,000.

[Jack Bowser]

Another red flag is the lack of the kings english as the saying goes.
Christine, can you send me the data plate picture he sent to you.
Send it here or to my email jbowz@aol.com
He says his father was the second owner except I was and sold it to a Japanese lady who took it to San Fransisco.
This has spam written all over it.

[jdsnoddy]

https://cars.trovit.com/used-cars/19...nental-mark-ii

I have no idea what Trovit is. You see the same cars listed at different prices...red flag #1. The car in question is the one for $17K. Click on most of the cars and you get AmericanListed.com or automotive-classified.com redirects.
And when I asked for s/n he sent a pic of the plate. All the pics are of a blue car.

The pictured car appears to be C56B1996 which is a $49,000 car. Our most recent ownership history Is :

2020-2021 Francois Courtois Montreal CN
Hope this helps. John

P.S. Too good to be true; suggest you move on.

[christine]

Jack/Pat, see plate provided by the "seller". Doing some further listing research and this smells bad. I'll explain later when I have time but wanted you to see this plate.

What is trim code 7B6B-1 (on tag)? That doesn't appear in the trimconfig.pdf. This s/n has 02 for color and the car obviously looks like it was repainted blue again. See overspray on s/n tag.

So the tag, s/n, and claimed owner history don't match with your history or database listings.

The reference above "CL" meant Craigslist.

Also, what does the last sequence in the tag, 208-10, represent?

Thanks again,
Christine
VIN.jpg

[jdsnoddy]

Original Invoice Specifications - 02 1B6B
Continental Color: Deep Blue
Trim: White Leather Seat Biscuits & Bolsters w/Medium Blue Welts
SPEC: 02-1B6B-(1)208-10 (Data Plate was erroneusly stamped 7B6B)
(1)208 is the production date: December 8, 1955
Please note the "208" should read "1208"
Someone must have had a hangover when they stamped this data plate.
10 is the sequence number believed to be the 10th unit
Produced that day.
CL is our abbreviation for craigslist.

This plate matches C56B1996
The last number could have been photoshopped.
Regards,
John

[christine]

I saw 1996 as well in the database which is why the s/n tag looked phony. Aside from photoshopping the s/n, was it not an uncommon thing to have the wrong trim stamp? In this case a 7 instead of 1? Why would someone photoshop the trim code to 7B6B when the original trim for 1991 was 1B6K?

I'm confident this is a scam but I want to expose it if so. I'm playing the game here with them, back and forth on email with the "Seller". That's why I got him to tell me the owner history. Doesn't match either of those cars. Capital Auto Sales does not come up on any Google Search for Dover, DE. The email provides a secure link web url so that means it's private. Of course when I click on it I pull up their company and all their terms. Looks legit but it's intended to. Again, you can't pull them up on the public web. The also provide in email the Yelp and Yellowpages write-up for their business. But those are bogus because the secure urls are titled yelplocalbusiness and yellowpageslocalbusiness, and there is no such thing.

Oddly, the address I got from their website came up on Google Maps with the Capital Auto Sales tag hovered over the building on the map. That's odd. It's in a parking lot next to a Van Line company. So I called that business and inquired. There is no Capital Auto next to them and their building listed on the map is their own warehouse.

It gets better. I left message with Capital per the # given in email. Someone of Asian Indian descent called me back and I played along. How can I view the car? You have to arrange with the seller. Conveniently the seller is out of the country and wants me to coordinate with Capital. You see the circle. I asked if the car was there where I can visit it. Answer was yes (???). BTW...do you know which car I am referring to? Yes, the 56 Continental. How did you know that? Because you left v-mail earlier. I intentionally did NOT specify any vehicle in my message so I asked him again how he knew. He then asked why I'm asking so many questions. Because I want to connect the dots. He then said because you're name is Christine and that matches with the seller's notes. So obviously there is a back office communication going with the seller and this company.

I asked him to send me a copy of their business license and the car title. We'll see. I just want this exposed.

[Graham Rollo]

well done thank you

[Pat Marshall]

I don't recall any instances where a Mark II's data plate had the wrong spec code, maybe an occasional type single digit typo on the plate.

The 1996 data plate was obviously altered, using the same photo as we used on the Forum history. Here are the two side by side:
1996-1955 Data Plate.jpg 1991 Bogus Dataplate (See 1996).jpg

[christine]

Let this be a lesson to all. This could be any make vehicle- there are scammers and cyber threat people everywhere. Pat- you confirmed it straight on. The 2 tags have identical markings 100% through. They took the obvious path of altering the s/n but didn't go far enough to alter the trim code which makes this truly stand out as bogus.

Here's what concerns me: you said the 1996 photo was from the Forum history. That tells me they got the photo from this forum? If so they registered an account and are probably trailing this thread. I smell a mole here. And maybe every other vehicle scam/forum they are engaged with.

It amazes me that people are full time involved in this type of business. I am in the cybersecurity space and I see it daily, with the more common phishing and ransomware attacks.

I experienced something similar when relocating to the NY area several years ago. Craigslist ads for apartments: beautiful pictures for low priced apartments in high rent districts. Too good to be true! Landlords who are out of the country but will coordinate rent payment with the building superintendents. Oh by the way, they are not at the building locations, so please sent the deposits to this location. It's really sad.