Is this a scam, or what?

Factual Questions
1

I’m looking for a used SUV 4X4 to use during winter. Even with snow tires and sandbags in the trunk my Mustang GT is lousy in snow.

So my cousin has been helping me look and he finds THIS. He sends out an email asking about it and where it can be seen and such. The seller sent him the following email:

*Sorry for my late reply and thank you for your interest in my 2000 Jeep Wrangler Sport.
From the start I have to tell you that the price has nothing to do with it’s condition.
I am only selling it at this price due to my financial problems and my job that keeps me busy all the time.

The Jeep is in a perfect condition inside-out, never had any kind of damages or accidents, runs great, looks great and smells like new.
There are no liens or loans on the vehicle and it has a clean title, so registering it under your name won’t be an issue.

I serve the USAF and for the next 4 weeks I’ll be stationed at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, than I’ll be back home.
Of course I am not asking you to buy a cat in the bag so we can arrange for an inspection and I can have the vehicle delivered to you through the USAF Air Cargo, so it will cost me nothing. However I am not very familiar with online sales so I will have to use a service from a business-specialized company.

I’m asking $4,200 on it, so if you are interested in purchasing it, and if you have the funds available, please contact me asap.
Feel free to ask me for more details…I also downloaded some pics from my camera and attached them.

Best regards,
Staff Sgt. xxxxx xxxx, 13th Air Support Operations Squadron
Peterson AFB, Fort Carson, Colorado*

For now I’ve crossed out the name on the email.
What seems hokey to me is, this Jeep was advertised in the local newspaper here, but seems apparent to no be anywhere in the area. The Car Fax suggests it’s in Indiana.

Prior to this I had found a Suzuki Grand Vitara on Craigslist. When I called the number (which turned out to be a Richmond, VA number) an Indian answered and started telling me that I took out a payday loan and didn’t pay it back and that he was going to call the FBI.:rolleyes::stuck_out_tongue:

2

It’s a scam, all right. He’ll ask you to pay the shipping and nothing will come. He’ll swear that he’s not screwing you and if you don’t get the car, the shipping company will refund you the money anyway, so what’s there to lose? It’s all a lie.

ETA: Here’s one of them.

3

Probably a scam and this part is the key:

If some sort of freight forwarding company is involved, they are also the scammer. They may want only a couple hundred dollars to handle the transport from the nearest Air Force Base to you, and even deduct that from the total price, because all the scam is about is the freight money and the Jeep belongs to someone else.

4

Is based in Ft. Carson and not Peterson. They are two very distinct bases and no one AFAIK would ever confuse the two. Plus Peterson AFB is in the City of Colorado Springs. It seems to me that the emailer found a military unit but thinking am Air Force unit should be at an Air Force Bae found the closest one (about 10 miles away) and thought Ft. Carson was the city.

I wonder if you could call the Squadron and ask for the Staff Sgt by name to confirm he exists and is the person who sent the email.

Oh and why no license plate? Could it be he doesn’t want you to know where the car is?

Is he claiming it’s in Colorado Springs? If so, how old are the pictutes because we had a snowstorm a while back and it doesn’t look like that.

5

The idea that the Air Force will ship service member’s cars around the country for free sounds like obvious bullshit to me. I mean, allowing a person or smallish package on a plane that was heading to a particular destination anyways? Sure. A whole freaking car to the destination of your choice? No.

If you google the VIN number, ads for a car in Indianapolis that apparently already sold pop up.

6

When someone starts giving excuses for having to do business in some unusual way, I assume that it’s some kind of scam.

When someone is making an offer that seems to good to be true, e.g. “the price has nothing to do with it’s condition. I am only selling it at this price due to my financial problems and my job that keeps me busy all the time”, I assume that it’s some kind of scam.

When someone makes a big deal about how they’re in the middle of a move, or will soon be moving (implicitly pressuring you to buy now), I assume that it’s some kind of scam.

7

Tell him you’ll pay the shipping costs if he knocks the price in half. I’m betting he’d take the offer.

8

Scam.