Police have issued a stern warning to would-be car sellers to be careful when advertising their cars for sale as well as to look out for conmen who have fleeced motorists of their cars.

This after a number of cases were received where motorists who had advertised in Auto Trader were conned of their cars. The syndicates peruse these adverts. At random they contact the sellers and arrange to meet.

Usually they would arrange to meet for the handover of the cheque to the owner and car to the new owners after work or on weekends.

Owners have been given dud cheques which purport to be bank cheques. On presentation to the bank, they then realize that they are fake when banks refuse to honour them.

In one case, a motorist drove all the way from southern Cape to sell her car after a prospective buyer had expressed interest. A few days before they met, the buyer claimed that he was busy and could not see the motorist but would send his driver and they would meet at OR Tambo . This is one of the signs according to the police.

The exchange was made and she flew back to George, a ticket that was bought by the buyer. On arrival, she deposited the cheque. It bounced and she was informed that it had been stolen in Pretoria.

She was now R395 000 poorer which was the value of the car. Unfortunately for her, she had to continue paying and her insurance repudiated the claim.

Things to look out for:

• The buyer wants to meet after hours
• The buyer somehow gets busy just a few hours before the meeting and says they will send someone else
• They arrange to meet the seller usually at petrol stations on major roads
• They pay by so-called guaranteed bank cheque. They should be able to transfer the money electronically
• Transactions happens at weekends thus the seller loses valuable time to find out the truth
• The buyers would use the name that is easily recognizable like De Villiers, Swanepoel, Coetzee or Schoeman
• They will gladly fax an identity document - usually a forged one
• The vehicle is resold either locally or to neighbouring countries

It has been found that some of the vehicles that are stolen like this have been used in the commission of crime especially business robbery.

So before you sell your car to a person from this sort of advertising, the seller needs to really check the background and insist on being paid upfront before they can release the car. Otherwise, they will lose the car - and the money.

Statement issued by Musa Zondi, South African Police Service, March 2 2010

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