Came across a BUYER BEWARE situation, wanted to spread the word . . .

[tpenfield]

On another boating forum, I came across a question asked about an Auto/RV/Boat consignment company, asking if it was legit. After Googling a bit, I came across some other forum threads about the company and its predecessor named companies. . .

Looks like people, who have fallen for the scam, have been scammed out of many $10's of thousands of $$$$'s. I did a search here on iBoats, and nothing specific to this situation came up So, as a public interest, here are the names mentioned in this series of scams.

DiMarco Auto Consignment Sales

aka

Autozirkus

aka

Autoracle Consignment Sales

I have found threads on the other forums regarding these companies and the scams.

Anyone hear of them :noidea:

Mod EDIT: No need to drive traffic to other forums

 

[alldodge]

Have not heard of them, but did some looking after your post. Several have been taken by them. Main issue I see, is they will just bring up another site with a different name and be back in business the next day. Have always heard, if it sounds to good to be true it probably is, and if something doesn't feel right, its probably not

 

[tpenfield]

I've just been reading a bit more on the several threads posted around the web about this scam. Apparently it is a group of scammers and they open up and close down their web presence quickly only to show up as a new name looking like they have been around for years. They basically re-brand the web site and use the same pictures, etc. and the same fake inventory.

There is a parade of people on these forums who have been scammed out of their money . . . . seems like about $10,000 - $15,000 each. So, hopefully, folks here on iBoats will be aware and avoid this scam.

 

[tpenfield]

Just a bit of follow-on information . . . it seems that some/many who have been taken by this scam have found very favorable reviews by Google searching. Interestingly enough, the reviews that come up are actually static pages that are hung off of a couple of web sites that have nothing to do with product/service reviews.

Definitely a well orchestrated scam that is easily repeatable under a new name.

 

[redneck joe]

from another site - i've seen this email recently on CL, on really good deals that got flagged in less than 24 hours.

The name was Amanda Collins. Email address amandacollins77@comcast.net.


I've never even thought about buying without seeing and taking delivery myself. I mean maybe a few hundred deposit to hold but would never pay full price and since i've been seeing so many scams not even the deposit thing now; if I miss a deal I miss a deal.

 

[tpenfield]

Yes, I doubt that any of the names used are real. Why would they be :noidea:

I've done some more checking around the web . . . these scam artists have skimmed forum pages from various web sites (Cars, Boats, RV, etc), doctored them up to look real and historical, then placed them all over the web on various business web sites.

So, if someone were to Goggle their name, it would show up with a whole bunch of hits with favorable commentary on these types of forums.

These guys are good. . .

 

[tpenfield]

Quick update . . .

the scam has re-emerged as M a n t i s A u t o C o n s i g n m e n t S a l e s. Exact same web site and fake ad listings, using CL as their bait system. Looks like they already have gotten a few folks, based on the ripoff reporting sites.

 

[briangcc]

Unfortunately it happens a lot more than we know as some who are taken are so ashamed that they do not report it to anyone. Happened to a bunch of muscle car enthusiasts with an outfit out of NC. They went by Build-A-Bandit, Build-A-Pony, Pontiac Pros, Those who actually received their cars, and there were only a few, quickly found out every corner was cut and the cars were unsafe requiring $$$$$ to correct. Eventually the owners were caught in Nevada. Not sure on restitution but it took one very determined individual to coax a number of those who were fleeced to tack onto the charges and finally bring them to justice.

In this instance, I would wager it's again going to take a very determined individual to get these guys behind bars.

 

[tpenfield]

Yes, I would think that these folks are not even in the country, so the odds of catching them are pretty low. The best I can tell is that they run the scam for a month or so, probably rake in a half million $ , then fold up the tent for a while.

This is their 4th or 5th go-round using this scam under different names.