Hard to tell if it's Polish, or Eastern European. It's difficult to tell since many post-communist countries have a similair slavic accent. Also a lot of Eastern-Europeans have migrated to Western-Europe for work so it's not unlikely that they are based in France.
Scammers only apologize for getting caught, that's all they're sorry for. They're not sorry for scamming. It's pathetic that they are impersonating these legitimate car showrooms that have worked hard to build a reputation. Thanks for going after them!
I could tell from the lack luster apology to Hugh, that he's not stopping his scamming anytime soon. I agree that his only sorrow was over being caught.
Yeh and they even not really sorry because they were caught, they back out the next day scamming. Its all an act. Which will one day, backfire on them. The only day when they are sorry is when they in jail. But by then there sorry will be too late
I’m kind of shocked the scammer stayed on the line for long as he did after you’ve basically exposed him. He was really trying to turn the tables on you.
I wonder whether that guy "Walter" is really sorry for what he did or... it was just an apology for being caught. I want to believe he actually has a conscience.
My grandpa just fell a victim of a scam. One click, his all life savings were gone. He is an old man trying to get it together after a heart attack. Thanks for going after them Ben!
Most of the time when I see scams I think "How could someone fall for that?" but this one's actually pretty sinister. I could see a lot of people getting excited about the price and maybe not being familiar with photoshopping stuff or not being the kind of person that tries to actually research before jumping in. You're awesome for making all these videos. It's easy to just miss the insane variety of scams out there.
@@Alex-cw3rz There are people who buy from a long way out and they ask the dealer to send them video/pics before they come to get it. It's not that ridiculous. I've even almost been tempted to get a used Tesla through their site which is completely blind. Thankfully I found a dealer with a great one and saw it in person before buying. They guarantee it to match the basic quality checks but that doesn't mean you won't get bad panels or dings or whatever minor issues. (Not a problem for me but vain people will have massive issues with this.) Either way, it's really not that far-fetched.
@@Alex-cw3rznah.. you can get a warranty.. a video before you buy.. just make sure it's a legit website..! and call and verify.. l researched the owner and called him.. lol . but hey, it worked..
@@Alex-cw3rz Fr, especially if people aren't that educated, or don't even look at what they are buying, the internet is a messed up place if your not careful, people will take advantage of you from the best they can and won't even feel remorse or guilt of their actions, people gotta start being vigilant and aware of where they are going online
I was shocked about the “American Classic Cars” scam stealing all those pictures and you finding the exact real place. They really are getting clever. But Ben’s always one step ahead.
Several years ago a guy in Bakersfield, California, was pulling the same scam, only he pretended to be a private seller. He'd drive all over, taking his own pictures of random cars just parked in people's driveway, etc. that were never offered for sale. He'd place online ads and his first question was where are they calling from. If they said someplace nearby, he'd say he already has a deposit on the car, but will give the caller 2nd refusal. Someone calling from overseas is the perfect bait for a wire transfer to a legitimate account. But since there's no international law against such piracy, the buyer was always fucked and this crook was never prosecuted.
If I had $40-$75,000 to spend on a classic car, nothing gets done until I show up and drive the car, and take it somewhere for a pre-purchase inspection.
Exactly, and even then I'll be double, and triple checking the title and who really owns it. And making sure the numbers on the car haven't been altered, or changed.
That's not always true though. I found and bought my car sight unseen. The first time I actually saw my car was when the dealership picked me up at the airport in my car. It can be done safely and properly. Just don't be dumb about it
@@FukaiKokoroexactly.. done all the time.. if you dont like it, or it's not all as represented, many will refund you.. but yes, this day and age (heck decades previous) yes you can get a veh from across the country.. just be smart abt it..
The scammer's "apology" was hysterical. And then he had the audacity to ask you how you faked the wire transfer information. A highly entertaining but also educational video!
It legitimately sounded like a conversation I have with my 6 year old students when I catch them doing something stupid, right down to me asking them what they are sorry for. The only difference is my students actually have the intelligence to own up to their mistakes unlike this idiot scammer.
I faked a wire transfer to a scammer. I didn't expect it to work, but it backfired on the scammer instead, big time, and now he's in debt to his financial institution, big time.
Thank you! That was my inspection report you referenced in your video on the 55 T Bird that I inspected for a client. These scam sites are a terrible problem and I report all the ones I become aware of in the state of Michigan to the Michigan Attorney General to have them taken down. Keep up the good work!
I live in Glen Burnie, MD and Brown's Performance Motorcars was a reputable place for classic cars until they went out of business. The building still stands, but empty
They have just about ALL one-star reviews on Yelp going all the way back to 2012. The Google street view was taken in Aug 2018 and cars are visible through the plate glass windows.
We do pre-purchase inspections in Salt Lake City and have been dealing with this exact thing for many months. It always takes a long conversation to burst the bubble and explain 'if it's too good to be true, it probably is' (and I always have to "prove it" to them by going through this process you've explained well). Thanks for posting, I'll be sharing this with many.
I bought my car online. From a dealership in Utah! Best car buying experience I've ever had. We talked to the dealership got the paperwork in motion, flew to salt lake. Got picked up at the airport in my new car. They took us to an auction place. Filled out the paperwork and handed the certified check. It was so easy and laid back. Also saved a ton. because the local dealerships wanted 35k when this place was 12k. Haven't had a single issue with the car. Love it! So it can be done. Just have to be careful.
@@SeanJuan85 I mean, is it though? Yes PPI's are important on classic vehicles, but you don't need a mechanic to tell you the car doesn't actually exist, right?
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this video. I work in the classic car business and I'm dealing with these Scams almost 5 times a week. I used to be an account rep for the real browns performance motor cars before they went out of business
I have been watching you for a while and I have been a attempted scam victim but, watching you has given me a sense to spot a scam at 61 years old. They have attempted to scam me about 10 times. I only came close once so I just want to say Thank You!!
There’s a RU-vid channel-Catfished that makes videos of romance scammers. 99.9% of scammers live in Africa and pretend to be Americans. Warn your friends and family! They steal 2 billion annually from lonely Americans!
Wow what a nightmare. I can't imagine sending money to a scammer like that, losing your hard-earned money and not getting your dream car. I would like to think I would never fall for anything like that, but you never know. It sure looked legitimate. Thank you for this video. I'm betting you have saved someone from a real heart-breaking situation.
My uncle found a scammer who said they were a noble woman from sweeden who was selling her old cars, but "she" couldn't talk via telephone because she "was" mute because of throat cancer...
even a watermark cant save you, there are tools that can effortlessly remove the watermark for you, dealerships should have a presenter just like Vanguard Motor Sales has.
The internet gave people in other countries acess to us "rich americans". Honest people trust others to be honest. Other cultures look at us as infadels and dogs who deserve to be defrauded. Now there setting up business here thanks to the open border. The scammers are arriving by the busloads.
I wouldn't have told him your payment was fake. He should have thought you cancelled it so he can be caught again in the future. BUT GREAT JOB!! Love your videos.
3:24 As a car Enthusiast, cars with low miles, especially those that are considered special models or collectible models, are desirable and fetch higher price than those of a similar model with higher mileage.
I got my car online. I had a certified check and flew to Utah from Oregon. They picked me up in my new car from the airport. We went to this place and filled out all the paperwork. And gave them the check. The car has been amazing! No issues at all. It was from a dealership. It can be done safely and properly.
His staying on the phone as long as he did would have been a great "scam" to tell him his location has been triangulated by the Interpol and they are going to be breaking down his door if they don't come out with their hands in the air ! Great job and video !
Your daughter's got her head screwed on right. You would be surprised how many elderly people fall so easily for things like this. One of my family members lost 1000s over a scam.
@@Darth001that’s mostly who they target. They cast a wiiiiide net and most people recognize the scam but the ones who fall for it most often are old and out of touch. Even though it’s really simple to verify a real person/company/product
The gaslighting on this one was so extreme. He didn't stop trying to make you feel like you were the one that was wrong. Absolutely deplorable. He even tried to get you to teach him to scam better 🤦
The conversation is fake lol We’re the ones getting scammed! But the audience got everything we want and more!!! Not only did we get to hear a long phone convo, but then we heard over 5 min of him getting confronted!!! With all the evidence!!! And there was a lot of it. Oh and he found out he wasn’t getting the money, and the best part… he admitted at the end 😮😮😮 Yeah totally real
Thank you for the video! I was soooo close to being scammed. The seller gave me a sob story of her son tragically passing away. He just wanted thecar to go to someone who really needs it. NEVER EVER SEND MONEY TO ANYONE WITHOUT THE CAR IN YOUR POSSESSION. NEVER !
That scammer was absolutely apologizing for getting caught, and even just refused to swallow his pride and even make an actual apology acknowledging what he was doing
This is a really good video! Compared with other more common scams, these scammers are niche, well-trained, go for high value transactions, and are much more tech literate. Ben meanwhile just jumps right in, knocking some incredible investigation work right out the park, telling an excellent story as always, almost seeming to meet his match with the scammers disengaging or refusing to admit at every turn. At a guess, I'd expect these scams, less assembly-line, more "quality over quantity", taking advantage of less online or defunct businesses are either more common than we might think, or will become more common, but are much more under the radar.
Thanks man! Your videos are GOLD standard! Maybe a career in acting is also in your future .. you are SO convincing and quick minded. Bless you for the good you are doing!
We've been dealing with a rash of parts seller scams in our Saab community. Some of us that run Facebook pages are doing our due diligence, but these guys are slimy!
I live in Connecticut. I wanted to buy a muscle car. I found the car I wanted to purchase. Contacted the seller who stated he worked on an oil rig. His email low balled the price right away from $60,000 to 25,000. Why? Then he said the car was in NJ. Perfect I replied, I live in Connecticut. Pause. Then my oil rig friend said he just shipped the car to California. He said if I paid the $ 25,000 he would ship it back to NJ. I was born but I wasn’t born yesterday. Scammers have infiltrated every aspect of civilization.
Thanks for doing what you're doing. I actually own a classic car dealership that's been around 20 plus years and my photos are constantly stolen by these awful people who steal and hurt people on a regular basis!
Autobahn lady says there's nothing she can do about people stealing her photos, but somebody should tell her that there is something she can do. It's called watermark
Have you not been paying attention? These scammers are stealing the logos and branding of legitimate businesses so a watermark wouldn't do much. They'll just steal the logo so the watermark would match, or they'll crop out the watermark.
There are digital watermarking technologies that do not disturb the visual content of the photos, sort of like invisible ink. Unfortunately, a layperson wouldn’t necessarily know how to verify a digital watermark. The battle ensues…
When you're standing at the train station and you look to your left, you see a tall dude who looks familiar. You ask him, "Don't I know you from somewhere?" He replies, "Oh yes, I have a small RU-vid channel called Pleasant Green." I was in shock, but somehow I didn't realize it until I had already left, five minutes later. LOL
I was shopping for a used Hunter Passage 42 sailboat. The were ranging for $75,000 to $100,000. I found one for $25,000. I suspected a scam so I called and asked for info. He claimed to be military headed for the middle-east and needed to sell it. I was still concerned so I copied his description and did an internet search and found the original article he stole for his scam. The original had the boat for around $90,000. I contacted the real owner and the web site to inform them of the scammer.
A REAL car salesman never talks like this vile scammer. I love your videos because you bring different sorts of scams and NOT like some scambaiters who always focus on the Indian scammers pretending to be Microsoft, Norton, Amazon...etc and always asking you to login to AnyDesk or to a similar application to get into your electronic devise and it is always the same.
they did EXTREMELY good at this. the '56 and '57 Corvette look EXTREMELY similar, only being differentiated by the mirrors being slightly inwards/outwards on one of them. This can't be seen by even the most experienced of car spotters. It's amazing at how thought out this car scam actually was.
Hey, I got 22.5 years in Law Enforcement. I ( we) were taught to never “ stereotype/profile” but let’s face it ,,,,, listen to the accent !!!! Imagine the color of their skin !!! Do they speak “ correct “ English ? “ It is what it is !!!” “ Just saying………” There is no honor or integrity with those kind of people /scammers !!!
I used to work at a classic car dealership, and you'd see these all the time on facebook marketplace. The least scummy is the time wasters luring you in with $1 car, but there's the ones that rip images from other posts/websites, and often you'd see those posts right next to real ones. Hell, there was one using the same images from a car we had in our shop. It's crazy what these scumbags will do for a quick buck.
I have been seeing a lot of scam posts for auto detailing in one of the Facebook groups I’m in. It’s supposed to be a local buy sell and trade group but these fake auto detailers could be several counties away. They display all the red flags: new Facebook account, usually a pretty girl in the profile picture, nothing related to auto detailing in their profile, they want potential victims to DM them instead of giving details in their post such as a physical location. These various types of scams flourish on social media because the platforms I feel do not do enough to get rid of the scammers
It's disheartening to see how deep and sophisticated these scams can get. Thanks for helping us stay informed and aware. Your investigations could potentially save many from falling victim to such scams.
I encountered a familiar scam site, that was selling a 68 Pontiac GTO for 22k from a place called "Marriane Vintage motors" in Ohio. Was able to decipher this scam very easily by reverse searching the picture of that GTO and they cropped it on another picture. I even was able to find that the number in the site was a textnow number. And looking at the accents of those guys, they are obviously based in Pakistan
I have been into buying and selling cars / classic cars online. I’m well aware big these scams. The only way to cut to the chase is to tell a seller you want a meet n greet. Real sellers say yes and scammers have excuses why they can’t.
The lesson here is NEVER buy a car online only. ALWAYS go to the location and see both the dealership and the car for yourself THEN buy the car once you determine it's a legitimate dealer. If you have the money to buy one of these cars then you have the money take the trip to whatever state and observe the dealership and its inventory. Sending money on faith and thinking they're gonna mail you the car is a rookie mistake.
This video was so satisfying at a personal level. I drove from California to Texas to discover my construction equipment deal was a scam. No money changed hands because I want to personally inspect the equipment. They hijacked the address and business name of a legitimate operation leaving both parties bewildered when I met the owner in person. Beware when shopping on Facebook Marketplace!
Omg these scammers are getting smarter by the day and stealing a lot of money from people . But Ben is even smarter and he will find you and destroy you lol. Thank you so much for uploading this video Ben because this will save a lot of people from being scammed. Btw how much money did you pretend to them? 😘
To be honest I think if you are going to spends 1,000s if not 10,000s on a car and not see it before purchasing which I even did for a £600 Ford Focus. I feel like you almost asking to be deceived in one way or another.
I lived in Alabama once upon a time and passed by the classic car dealer you showed with the old service station twice a day for about 30 years until I retired. It was and still is legit and has some awesome cars for sale, (not cheap, but near perfect). Recently I was back for a visit (in Bama) and passed by again. They are still there and open for business! (just bring a big stack of green stamps)!🤑 Thanks for another great video!
Omg when he says hue jass n your face ahahaha that part was so funny 😂 theres alot of ppl that bust these scamers but your channel is by far my favorite!
Unfortunately, when people fall prey to these scammers and get scammed out of a lot of money-they inevitably call their local police. As a retired police officer- I can tell you that 99% percent of the time these victims are never going to get their money back. These scammers operate all over this country and countries abroad. Police DO NOT have the resources or personnel to investigate these crimes. Police are overwhelmed with trying to keep the public from shooting and killing each other . Its been my experience as well as many of my colleagues, we couldn't get cooperation with another Police Dept in the next jurisdiction over let alone another state or country. I would call a Police Dept in a major metropolitan area in another state (because my Victim gave me a lead to follow up) only to be put on hold, passed around to who ever was willing to pick up the phone in that particular department. And when you get another officer to actually listen to you-you can tell that they there are not at interested in helping you-your lucky if you get a call back in a month. In the interim you case just languishes, and the crooks pick up and move to another location or scam. Ultimately you terminate the investigation because the logistics in pursuing your leads are insurmountable.
Hope that scare tactic indeed makes them think otherwise. They seem new to scamming people tbh and perhaps even with a little bit of conscience. Very interesting conversation with the manager btw. I've never seen a scam call end this way before. And thanks for what you do!
You know my friend from the UK asked what my apartment building looked like (not a scam, she was curious about american apartments) and it only took me about 2 minutes to get her five angles of pictures and type up where my, and the other apartments, and the parking garage was. Funny how it took these people 30 min to go outside....
Ask the scammers to do a FaceTime video walk around of the car after they say the car is right here at this moment! That would be funny to see that response.
Yeah it almost sounds as though they have a towel or something slung over sleazy head. I could very well be be wrong, but there is little doubt about them be a big ol' bag of stinky shiit 😂
The easiest way to tell the Browns Performance is bullshit is the fact that all the cars are listed as petrol and not gas. Nobody in the states refers to fuel as petrol.
A guy in my senior apartment building bought his wife a new mobility scooter for 70 bucks, he said he saw the model looked good,,I told him,,no way a scooter for less the 1,800,, well when he got it ,it was junk he was not happy
huge fan of this content thank you for creating this i love seeing and learning about the diffrent types of scams and scammers a person can have to deal with and ways to protect us from them by you either telling us to avoid them or using a program to stop or block these types of people. i always learn something new from your videos and say what people really do that anyways keep doing this type of stuff and know you got fans like me that are being saved from getting scammed by your lessons :)
