Time to Roam Magazine Issue 13 - February/March 2015 | Page 18

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upfront feature

3

Police warning:
beware of
online caravan
scams

Scam stories are always going
around and it’s the ones you
haven’t heard of you may
need to worry about most.
A popular one is the classified
scam where fraudsters pose
as genuine sellers and post
advertisements online or in
print classifieds. Usually the
scam ad is indistinguishable
from a legitimate one. The aim
is to lure multiple victims in a
short timeframe. Consequently,
the price of the caravan or
RV will be amazingly low.
In one recent case WA Police
reported an unfortunate would-be
caravan buyer was defrauded of
$12,000 by a classified scammer.
The case illustrates some common
characteristics of classified scams.
The victim answered an
advertisement purporting to offer
a caravan for sale, priced well
below market value. He was
then advised to pay $12,000
to a foreign bank acc