For buyers

General information

• Never send money to an unknown seller via a money transfer service. Never pay for a car via Western Union.

• Always check the information provided by the seller. Phone number, address, or customer reviews can often be verified online. You can also ask the seller to provide additional information, photos, and documents about the car.

• You can also complete the purchase in person and carry out the exchange in a safe place. We recommend you choose a location that is protected or has surveillance – such as a specialized dealer.

• We do not display your personal e-mail address when you communicate with a seller using our system. This helps protect you from people looking to abuse our platform for phishing or other fraudulent purposes.

• If you find a suspicious offer, please contact our Auctomobile Support Team using our contact form.

Escrow Service

• If the seller offers the use of an external escrow service as a payment method, you should check carefully that any escrow service sites or contracts are legitimate and serious. Fraudulent parties often use fake websites. Even documents from well-known companies like Ernst & Young, DHL, and TNT should be checked for authenticity.

• If you decide to pay via an external escrow service, please contact the escrow service directly for all information. Do not rely on forwarded e-mails from the seller.

• Many private sellers offer the Escrow Service on Auctomobile as a payment option. When you choose this payment method, your payment goes to an escrow account, where it safely remains until you have the car in your place. Only then will the money be transferred to the seller.

Trusted Checkout

• When buying from a commercial dealer, you can order safely and easily via Auctomobile Trusted Checkout.

• To prevent abuse during a Trusted Checkout, please check the relevant data before paying. You can follow the process in detail there and view all the important information. Should you receive unusual or suspicious e-mails, please get in touch with us immediately.

For sellers

General information

• Always check for receipt of payment in your account (whether bank, PayPal, etc.) via your own login or account statement before shipping an item. Do not rely on e-mails forwarded by the buyer or alleged confirmation e-mails.

• Prospective buyers who offer you more than the asking price should be treated with caution.

• Do not rely on correspondence from foreign banking institutions asking you to ship an item. Always check for receipt of payment in your own account.

• Be careful with prospective buyers who contact you via text message. Fake e-mails from PayPal or financial institutions such as Royal Bank can ask you to make unwarranted reimbursements. Always check for receipt of payment in your own account.

• You can also complete the sale in person and carry out the exchange in a safe place. We recommend you choose a location that is protected or has surveillance – such as a jewelry store.

• We do not display your e-mail address when you communicate with a buyer using our system. This helps protect you from people looking to abuse our platform for phishing or other fraudulent purposes.

Escrow Service

• If you would like to use an external escrow service, check carefully that any escrow service sites or contracts are legitimate and serious. Fraudulent parties often use fake websites. Even documents from well-known companies like Ernst & Young, DHL, and TNT should be checked for authenticity.

• If you decide to receive payment via an external escrow service, please contact the escrow service directly for all information. Do not rely on forwarded e-mails from the buyer.

• As a private seller, you have the option to offer payment via the Escrow Service on Auctomobile. When using this payment method, you only ship the car after the buyer has made their payment to a secure escrow account. This protects you from missed payments and attempted fraud.

• If the Escrow Service on Auctomobile is the chosen payment method, we will never send you the buyer's delivery address via e-mail. You can only find the address in your login area. There you can follow the order progress and view all important data. If you receive any unusual or suspicious e-mails, please contact us immediately.

PayPal

• If you and the buyer agreed on payment via PayPal, always check for receipt of payment in your PayPal account before shipping the item. Only rely on information from your own online statement and not on alleged PayPal confirmation e-mails.

Advance payment / bank transfer

• If you and the buyer agreed on payment by bank transfer, always check for receipt of payment in your account before shipping the item. Only rely on information from your own bank and not on alleged confirmation e-mails.

• Do not rely on correspondence from foreign banking institutions asking you to ship an item. Always check for receipt of payment in your own account.

Payment by check

• Be careful with checks from abroad. At first, the money will be provisionally credited to your account. Although you may already be able to see the amount on your account statement, the check can later bounce and the bank will retract the money.

Trusted Checkout

• For purchase processing via Trusted Checkout, we will never send the delivery address of a buyer to you via e-mail. You will find the address only in the dealer area. You can follow the process in detail there and view all the important information. Should you receive unusual or suspicious e-mails, please get in touch with us immediately.

Most important rules avoiding online fraud when buying or selling a vehicle

1. If it sounds too good to be true they say, that is because it is. But is this true? No, it is not. People are always advertising underpriced cars and because of it we are all vulnerable. Private sellers often undervalue their vehicles which enables the eagle-eyed buyer to hurriedly jump in and buy at a bargain price. That is where the fraudster comes in, so watch out as the vehicle is often just too far away for you to go and see. In fraud, a person will attempt to fool you into believing that he or she is a legitimate seller with a bargain. The trap is most often, to defraud you out of your money. The goods often do not exist, are nothing like their description or simply do not belong to the seller. Sometimes, particularly where you are selling, the fraudster will want to make off with your vehicle by the use of counterfeit cheques, money or a stolen part exchange.

2. Think hard before sending any money! Always be suspicious no matter how good a deal it seems, no matter how convincing the seller is and no matter how small an amount. A fraudster will be collecting deposits, and often the full purchase price of the vehicle, from a number of different people. Yet, once again, the goods often do not exist, are nothing like their description or simply do not belong to the seller. Even when the seller uses a legitimate home address and name, that can be verified, they can still belong to an innocent third party. The fraudster may also be using a well known high street bank. They may have hijacked someone else's bank account details and thus have access to it, like that of an elderly or disabled person, who know nothing about the fraud. Many fraudsters will talk to you on the phone, but quite often the phone number does not work and they seek to groom you out of your money by email. "Sorry been called away… bereavement… working overseas… on holiday… send a deposit…" etc etc.

3. A fraudster needs to make you think they genuinely have the vehicle. Some fraudsters are hardened criminals and can be involved in all sorts of crimes. They may also be ex car or bike salesman, mechanics, or failed entrepeneurs. They may know a lot about the vehicle they are pretending to sell, they may be able to go into its history and even talk about the various car or bike clubs and shows. Don't be overawed or outwitted.

4. If you are selling a vehicle and you are offered cash why not insist upon the person drawing the cash out in front of you at an agreed bank branch. Get it authorised with the local branch and make arrangements to pay it back in on the spot. You could of course arrange an electronic transfer of the money with the purchaser in front of the cashier at the till in a branch of the buyers bank. Always be suspicious of cheques, bankers drafts or large amounts of cash as you have a right to refuse them. They can be and often are, fraudulent. If the buyer or seller cannot meet you at a bank branch during banking hours consider finding another buyer. Often a fraudster will say that the transaction will be done through paypal and they will pay straight away. They may say that they have over paid a 3rd party like Paypal and require you to pay back the shipping costs etc. They may also produce evidence of the over payment on official looking paper or emails. Don't be fooled into paying out to help someone buy your car. In all cases why not insist upon proof of the buyers identity, a passport, driving licence or utility bill, or all three. Jot down the vehicle registration the buyer turns up in. You cannot be too careful.

5. Fraudsters often use email address that are easy to get. A typical address might be a name which is followed by several numbers for example: 2545@gmail.com, 6990@hotmail.com and xyz2@yahoo.com. They will use any number of email providers.

6. When buying obtain the vehicles registration details and get a vehicle data check. Simply go into a search engine and search Vehicle History or Data check.

7. When buying why not ask for particular pictures of the vehicle to be taken and sent to you. But don't rely on them alone, they may have access to the vehicle whilst not owning it. Study the back ground of the vehicle pictures. What time of year was the picture taken? What country was the picture taken in? Road markings, road signs, traffic direction and foliage and fauna will all give you a clue.

8. Do not allow yourself to be brow beaten or bullied and do not feel compelled to buy or sell. The fact that there are other people looking at the vehicle, with great interest, could be an act or scam. Often fraudsters will use female names in adverts or emails as people often tend to be more trusting of women.

9. Do remember that the overwhelming majority of vehicle sales are successful and legitimate deals particularly when buying or selling through an established car dealer. In the majority it is a reasonably honest world. The fraudster often needs to act his or her part well to defraud you. If something does not seem right to you, or you sense the individual may be less than honest, excuse yourself and walk away.

10. At Auctomobile we do not personally sell vehicles, or arrange finance or the transfer of funds. We also do not arrange delivery, storage or shipping. We do not put email addresses or phone numbers in the advert text box or the attached photographs. You need to be cautious of the content of any links you might see to web sites whether they appear to be to our site or elsewhere. It is not beyond the realms of possibility for a fraudster to create a site, or pages, that look like Auctomobile.com.