15 May 2023
EMPORIA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Better Business Bureau has a warning for anyone in Kansas who may be looking online for a new car.
Scammers are using the real name of an Emporia car dealership German’s Auto Sales. The fake website is located at www.germans-autosales.com and appears to be legitimate, with a phone number with a Kansas 620 area code.
The fake website claims to buy and sell classic cars. However, a closer look at the text reveals several grammatical errors.
German Alverado, the owner of the real German’s Auto Sales, Inc in Emporia, contacted the Better Business Bureau when he discovered the fake website. The domain name for the fake website was created on March 2 and registered privately in the Netherlands.
Alverado confirmed to the Better Business Bureau that he doesn’t list his cars for sale. He has also been registered with the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office since 2017 and is accredited with the BBB since 2019 with an A+ rating with no complaints or bad reviews.
KSN News was able to determine that the photos the fake website is using actually come from a legitimate classic car sales company in Michigan called Garage Kept Motors. Jeremy Brunen with Garage Kept Motors says this has been happening for about five years now.
He says the scammers go after small dealerships in a state and operate until they’re shut down. Brunen says the last state he had heard about was Iowa.
He says in order for it to stop, the FBI would need to get involved. Brunen says he was told that would require someone being scammed out of a minimum of $250,000.
In the meantime, he says the best way to avoid being scammed by a fake website trying to use their pictures is to use a program like Google Maps to actually look at the street and the building where the dealership is located.
If you see a regular car dealership with vehicles parked outside, then you can be certain it is a scam. All Garage Kept Motors photos are taken from inside their warehouse.
The Better Business Bureau also offers these tips:
Watch out for too-good-to-be-true deals. They are most likely a scam. Scammers often steal consumers’ personal information and money by offering them high-value goods at extremely discounted prices.
Never wire funds or complete bank-to-bank transactions. Scammers love this kind of transaction because there is no way for you to get your money back once it is completed. Instead, make legitimate purchases by check or credit card.
Contact the seller by phone. At some point during your negotiations, speak with the sales manager on the phone. If they are unusually vague about certain details of the sale or cannot confirm their location or the vehicle’s location, it’s most likely a scam.
See the car first. Never buy a car without making an in-person inspection and taking a test drive first.
Don’t give in to pressure. Scammers often try to pressure you into giving up your personal information or making a down payment before you have time to think about the purchase. Take your time and think a deal over before agreeing to anything. If you get a bad feeling, listen to your gut.
Don’t trust a seller or buyer who says that the transaction is guaranteed by eBay, PayPal, Craigslist, or another online marketplace. These sites explicitly explain they cannot guarantee that people using their services are legitimate. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.