I am issuing this information to warn people who are considering purchasing a car from the internet, specifically Done Deal. I have recently been made aware of a scam that has been in effect for a number of months now at least, that involves a one or two people attempting to sell a car through this website. This scam seems to always involve the same people and the same car in every instance. They claim to be selling as residents living in Ashbourne’s surrounding areas but are in fact passing off empty houses as their family homes so as to not arouse suspicion when meeting potential buyers. These people offer the car at a very decent, “almost too good to be true” price, and once they take a deposit from unsuspecting customers, they disappear with the car.
The reason why I am particularly interested in this scam is because the “seller” is claiming to be my brother in order to gain some sort of credibility as a genuine person which may lure the buyer into a false sense of security. This man is also asserting that my garage has serviced and checked the car, which is a silver Toyota Avensis, in a bid to further legitimise his false claims. I suspect that the individuals who are involved in this scam are the same people who defrauded me of several hundred euro a few months ago; I have alerted the Gardaí to this matter and they are presently investigating the case.
I am hoping that this matter can be resolved as soon as possible before any more people fall victim to this hoax. In the meantime, I urge everyone to be extremely careful when dealing with car sellers online and to only purchase vehicles from SIMI dealers or from sellers with real or appropriate premises. Residents who live in estates with empty houses in them should be extra vigilant towards suspicious activity around the premises as these scammers will often pretend to live there, much to the buyer’s shock when they return to find that nobody does. Any doubts or instances of dubious activity should be immediately reported to the Gardaí.
If you have any information surrounding the circumstances of these activities, please contact Ashbourne Garda Station on 018010600.