Buy it for my son…

Sleazy scam artist trick: Find a picture of a dead soldier. Post the picture in a craiglist ad for a used car. Say the soldier is your dead son. "All I want is to find the right person... who'll love and take care of this car in the same way he did. I'd like to make a person very happy and to light a candle for my son once in a while." From cbc.ca:

It is common for scam artists to pair photos of real soldiers, police and firefighters with fake stories, said Larry Gamache, communications director for CARFAX, a company that collects vehicle histories.
"The story is what pulls you in," Gamache said.
The ads are designed to try to get people to blindly send money to the supposed seller, he said.
"They combine motivators for two different things — our desire to get a great deal and our desire to help somebody out."
But in many cases, the alleged vehicle doesn't even exist, he said. "The car is just the bait."

An ad like this showing a picture of "Sgt. Anderson Shipway Bruce" is currently popping up throughout Canada and New York State. The soldier in the photo is really Sgt. Prescott Shipway who was killed in Afghanistan.

Scams

Posted on Mon Nov 10, 2008



Comments

Wow, that's sleazy. If I believed in Hell, I'd say there's a special extra-hot place there reserved for these scumbags.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Mon Nov 10, 2008  at  06:59 PM
If the identity of the scammer is ever discovered, of course, they then get to have unofficial visits from various incognito military personnel. . .and then walk funny for months afterwards. . .
Posted by Accipiter  on  Tue Nov 11, 2008  at  03:12 AM
I was looking for a car on Craigs List recently, and I literally came across over 20 of these sleaze-ball ads. The car is always located out of state, and you get all of this additional info in a personal e-mail the scammer sends to you after you respond to the ad. It is pretty sick- I confronted one of them via e-mail, and all I got in response was vulgarity and basically the attitude of "go ahead and report me- good luck." Some people....
Posted by Rich in Beantown  on  Tue Nov 16, 2010  at  01:00 PM
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