Signs of a Fake Car Listing Scam

The used car market is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and countless people are on the lookout for cars and other vehicles on a daily basis. That’s a big audience for scammers to target, and one of their most popular go-to techniques is the fake car listing.

Here’s how fake car listings work and how to spot them.

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How Do Fake Car Listing Scams Work?

A fake car listing scam is one where, as the name implies, the scammer creates a fake ad or listing of a car for sale. They might use pictures of a real car they own or just take stock photos or images from another, genuine listing. They’ll usually make their ad as enticing as possible by claiming the car is in perfect condition and offering it at a very attractive price to drive attention.

Then, if you try to contact them and say you’re interested in the car, they’ll make it difficult for you to arrange a viewing or test drive. They might claim there’s already a lot of interest in the car, but that if you pay an up-front “reservation fee” or some other payment, they can hold the car for you or even deliver it to your home. In reality, that’s all false, and they’ll keep the money and vanish.

Signs of Fake Car Listing Scams

Sign 1. A Price That’s Too Good to Be True

Arguably the most glaring sign of fake car listings is the price tag. Scammers want to get as many people interested in their fake car ads as possible, and the easiest way to do that is by offering a price that’s way better than the market average. That way, they’ll get many victims showing interest and can steal more money before they disappear.

Sign 2. Ad Posted on Social Media or Obscure Sites and Platforms

There are many big car sales platforms nowadays, and the best ones have protection for buyers as well as moderation teams and security systems in place to weed out obvious fake ads. So, many scammers prefer to post their fake car listings elsewhere, e.g., on their own made-up dealership websites or on social media, like Facebook Marketplace.

Sign 3. Low Quality, Blurry, or Copied Photos

The photos in fake car ads can be a dead giveaway, too. They might be blurry or obscure, for example, so you can’t quite read the license plate or see any real details of the car. If you try a reverse image search for the photos, you may also find that they’re already being used on a stock site or for other car listings. Scammers sometimes intentionally blur or crop photos to prevent you from figuring this out.

Sign 4. Lack of Detail About the Vehicle

Scammers often create multiple fake car ads to essentially cast the widest net and lure in as many victims as they can in the shortest time possible. However, they don’t always put a lot of time or care into writing each ad. The ads may lack detailed information about the vehicle, like its service history, what condition it’s in, and what work has been done on it.

Sign 5. Coercive or Pressuring Language

If you actually speak with the seller, you may find that they communicate in quite a coercive or even pressuring sort of way. A common technique, for example, is for them to immediately say that there’s a lot of interest in a car as soon as you first message them about it – this is done to make you feel you need to act fast if you want to get it.

Sign 6. Demands for Up-Front Payment

Fake car ads usually work by asking for an up-front payment. The scammer might call this an admin fee, a reservation fee, or even a delivery fee if they’re offering to transport the car to your home. Real dealerships and sellers won’t ever ask you for any sort of up-front payment, especially before you’ve even seen or taken a car for a test drive.

Sign 7. Difficulty Arranging a Meeting or Dealership Visit

The people behind fake car ads don’t actually have a real car to sell you, so they’ll do all they can to evade the idea of meeting up, showing you the car, or letting you take a test drive. If you try to contact a seller or dealer and they’re being evasive or making up excuses why you can’t see the car, it probably doesn’t exist.

How to Protect Yourself From Fake Car Listing Scams

Watch for the signs and red flags listed above.
Never pay any up-front fees for cars you haven’t seen.
Make sure you see and inspect cars before buying them online.
Be wary of any listings that look too good to be true or have little information.

Report the Scam

Depending on where the ad is being hosted, you may be able to report fake car listings to the site itself, like Facebook or AutoTrader. You can also report scam activity as follows: