Vehicle sales related scams are rampant. It is scary to think that so many people out there are trying to rip people off!

These scammers go to a lot of effort to ensure they look credible, and don't be fooled into thinking you are only at risk if you are selling a vehicle. Buying has its risks too so it is always important to err on the side of caution.

If you see an advertisement on our website that looks fraudulent, or receive an email that looks suspicious, please report it to us by clicking here.

A warning about Bogus Emails

As a general warning, Tassie Cars will never ask you for your username or password. Something to be mindful of lately is the number of "phishing" attempts trying to get people to login to a certain website with their username and password. While we haven't had any reports of this happening to people using our website, it's much the same precautions as false emails from banks, online auction sites, or sites such as PayPal. An example of this would be you receive an email from PayPal (but it isn't), claiming that there was a hardware problem or similar and that they require you to log in to confirm your details, by clicking a link in the email. These links will take you to a website that looks official, but it really is just a clever forgery, designed to look like the page you'd normally log in at. If you enter your details and log in, the scammers now have your details and can log in to the actual website with your details. If you have ANY doubts about an email you receive asking you to log in, we recommend that you do NOT click the link asking you to log in, but instead go to the page, by typing the address of the website in the address bar of your browser.

Warning signs that an enquiry may be fraudulent.
Most email enquiries from our email service are from legitimate website users. However, there are scammers online and you need to protect yourself from fraudsters.

Some things to look out for when selling your car

• Email Communication only
• Bad English or grammatically incorrect language
• Enquiry is from a Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail or similar free email accounts
• No phone communication and/or invalid or no phone number provided
• Not a local buyer, for example, they are currently touring the UK and are heading home soon, or they are a sailor
• Buyer asks for your details including name, address, bank account details (never NEVER give out your bank account details over the internet)
• Buyer will only pay through PayPal
• They don't arrange to come and view your car
• Offers an already drawn up bank draft for more than the price of your car and asks you to send them the balance. Bank drafts can be counterfeits that look so authentic even the banks are fooled, that is until it gets rejected from the issuing bank.
• Asks you to ship the vehicle

Please don't send these people your personal details, and definitely never send them any money.

Some things to look out for when buying a car

• Does it look too good to be true? If the price is inconsistent with the age of the car then it may be a scam (e.g. way too cheap).
• Seller can't show you the vehicle
• Communicates by email only
• Invalid phone number or no phone number on advertisement
• Wants money up front before sending the vehicle to you, without you having seen it

Please visit Scam Watch - A Government Web site with more information about scams and how to report them.

Tassie Cars Staff

Disclaimer: Our email enquiry service is provided in order for online enquiries to reach you via email without displaying your email address on Tassie Cars. We make no guarantee that enquiries received from this service are from actual car buyers and are not liable for any loss or costs which may be suffered by you in connection with use of this service.