Car dealer cloning occurs when a scammer sets up a website or social media profile as a legitimate car dealer.  The website and social media posts use images and photographs of legitimate car dealers to make them look legitimate and, with the increased availability of AI to assist the scammers in setting up their phony car dealer websites and social media presence, they appear quite legitimate.  On these phony sites the scammers offer tremendous discounts on cars.  Generally, the scammers require the purchase price for the non-existent cars to be wired to them.  Wiring funds is a favorite choice of payment of scammers because it can be difficult to reverse and is easy for the scammers to disguise their identity.

Recently Adrianna Parsons found a Lexus SUV listed for sale on CARFAX by what appeared to be a legitimate car dealership called Specialty Auto in Nebraska.  After going to what she thought was the dealership’s website and talking with the owner, Jim Woods she wired $45,000 to who she thought was Jim Woods, but the car was never delivered. The truth is that the real Jim Woods is indeed the owner of Specialty Auto, but his dealership does not have a website and he does not sell cars online.  Unfortunately, the scammers have used Woods’ name and a phony Specialty Auto website to scam others as well.

TIPS

Research any car dealer you are considering to confirm their actual phone number, email address and other contact information to make sure you are communicating with the real dealer and not a scammer posing as the legitimate dealer.  Confirm with your state Department of Transportation that the dealer with whom you are dealing is a properly registered.  Never buy a car without actually seeing and inspecting it.  Before wiring money. confirm with the seller’s bank the identity of the company you are sending the funds to.  You can tell the bank that you want to verify the company’s identity before wiring funds.