Fraud & Scam Alert

The HubGarage.com Classifeds are a great way to buy and sell vehicles, parts and products within the Hub community. Unforunately, there is always the chance that a scam or fraudulent ad may be get posted.

HubGarage.com strongly encourages you to be aware of potential scammers posting classifieds and be smart about who you deal with and how. We have created a few important guidelines to help you out.

HELP KEEP THE HUB SCAM FREE! SEE A SCAM? PLEASE EMAIL US.
If you see an ad that you suspect may be a scam or fraud – or you have a bad experience with a suspicous buyer or seller, please let us know immediately by emailing mechanic@hubgarage.com.

IMPORTANT GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW:

Be cautious about who you buy from or sell to. Get references or proof they are legit.
Make personal contact before entering into any transaction with a buyer or seller. We highly recommend you speak to the other party on the phone before conducting ant type of transaction.
Do not wire or transfer money to a foreign bank or foreign account
Do not accept payment for an item by cashier’s check or money order
Ask for references or proof that the person or business and the item being sold is real.
Use common sense. If something sounds too good to be true or smells fishy, it probably is.
Be wary of payment by cashiers check. It can take banks up to 4-6 weeks to spot a phony cashiers check and you will be charged for the fraudulent amount.

MOST COMMON SCAM - CASHIER’S CHECK FOR MORE THAN THE PRICE:
Scammer’s will often ask to pay for the item with a cashiers check. They will then want to make out the check for a higher price than you are selling the item for; then ask you to send a portion of the overage amount back to them via a wire transfer.

It can take the local banks up to 4 weeks to spot a bogus Cashiers Check, thus you will be charged by your bank for the proceeds which were sent back to the scammer.

Never accept or transfer cashed funds from a Cashiers Check or Money Order. Let the seller know that you will be waiting for the bank to finalize the funds which may take up to 4 weeks.

SELLER SCAM SCENARIO:
Scammers may post merchandise that they actually do not own and try to get you to pay for it. Their goal is to get a down payment deposit to hold the vehicle or product for you. The scammer will typically request payment of cash, money order or direct wire. Once the scammer receives the payment, the scammer stops communicating and virtually disappears.

BUYER SCAM SCENARIO:
A scammer may contact you and express interest in your item then ask you to follow several strange steps to arrange for or receive payment. See the email scam examples below for a sample of how a buyer scam may look. Note: these often come from foreign countries and have broken or odd language.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
Be suspicious if the seller only wants to communicate via email
Be cautious of odd requests to transfer or wire money
Look for odd or broken language

WHAT TO DO:

Use cautioun and thoroughly investigate the buyer or seller
Speak one-on-one over the phone, especially about financial details and transaction information
Use an inspection service to inspect the vehicle or product
Report any suspected scammer to the Hub, email: mechanic@hubgarage.com

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Never wire money or agree to refund money or cash a check for an unknown individual
DO NOT ship or release your merchandise until you are confident that the funds have cleared or you have the money in cash
DO NOT give out detailed personal information such as social security number, bank account numbers, etc. Only give out address, phone number and email information to people you are confident are not scammers.

MORE SCAM SAMPLES:
FOREIGN REQUEST
Many email scams originate from foreign locations and countries. They often include broken language and seek to send you a cashier’s check for payment.

Location: Nigeria, Africa
Complement of the day, 
My name is Grant Clancy, i am interested in making an enquiry on your car, 
Do you till have the said car in your procession, if yes, 
I will issue you a US Certified Cheque payable to you, Please send me your last asking price, interior pictures of the car, 
and your full name, tel #, contact address, where your payment will 
reach you, and can you ship the car, or do you have a shipping agent who will ship the car?.
I hope to hear from you soonest.
Best Regards
Thank you, and God Bless
Grant Clancy.

STRANGE REQUESTS
This is typical scam where a fake check is sent to the seller for more than the amount owed, and the difference is to be wired to the scammer. This also has some quite strange requests for printing out a check.

From Dave Smith 
To: Seller

Hello,
Thanks for your reply i got all your information about the car and am ok 
with it, i will be making your payment today i need your full name and 
address to make your payment today through electronic check i will handle the shipment myself.
All what you need about the mode of payment is to get a Blank check paper and magnetic versa ink to print the check, the check will 
be sent to your email and you get it printed from it. 
You can get this materials from the following stores.

1. Office Depot
2. Office Max
3. Staples Store 
4. Stationery Store
5. Compusa.

When you get this materials you can print the check out and immediately after the printing you can then get the check cashed at your Bank or any bank of america branch around you I will wait for you to confirm and clear the check.

The payment will be in excess as i will want you to contact my shipper with the excess fund for shipping
 the car after you must have confirmed and cashed the check.i will wait for your bank to clear the check so
  you can deduct your own money and send the excess fund to the shipper via Western Union Money Transfer so as to cover the cost of shipping the car from your place to it's destination. 
  I will add extra 100$ for the purchasing of check paper and magnetic versa ink.
For more information about the mode of payment you can check the website www.qchex.com and know more about it .
Dont worry i will handle the shipping myself with my shipper. you can IM on this ID goldenwum10@yahoo.com or call me on 9145954296 for more information.

Thanks and God Bless 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -


           From: Michael book  +447045720495 
michaelbook1960@gmail.com
To: Seller

Thanks for your mail.
I will like to know more about the car, where is the car presently located? Is the Engine of the car still OK. I need to hear from you soon. I will be coming to inspect the car this weekend.
When was the last NCT done on the car?

Can you email me more pictures of the car, when will you be available for inspection this weekend and what is the rock bottom price of the car?

I have just contacted my fudiciary agent to pay for the car by bank draft for 4800euros which will be from an Irish bank and it will only take 2 to 5days to be clear into your account,the draft will gets to you by next week. inspection will be done on the car by Mid next week. I need this car for my family and i need to act fast in buying it,i will need you make available all the relevant documents for the car because it will be ship to my house in Ukraine.

Kindly supply us your FULL NAMES,ADDRESS AND YOUR MOBILE NUMBER for the draft to be issue to you.

Yes,I know but I will need your details so that the draft can be issue and sent to you by next Monday.

Cheers, 
Michael