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Fraud Prevention - Lets Fight Fraud Together

Dear supporter of MobilityVanSales.com,

We have recently learnt of various scams being directed at buyers and sellers on our website. It is alarming that after running this trusted free classifieds website for disadvantages handicapped drivers since 2006 that someone would go to such lows to take advantage of disadvantages people like ourselves. Unfortunately MobilityVanSales.com is not immune and we are appear to be dealing with the same type of people that take advantage of Craigslist.

MobilityVanSales.com website was created to run with little maintenance required – this meant no fulltime staff or wages to pay so you can advertise free anytime you like. The little money made from the website still does not pay for the hosting of the site – we just ask our friends to help out. We aren’t glitzy, we don’t have offices, we don’t even have a phone number (we wish we could support you in this way). We obviously aren’t in it for the money - we are in it to help disadvantaged people like us have a place to buy their next or sell their old wheelchair van. We like to be simple and fair and give everyone a fair go.

Being a free website we are unfortunately taken advantage of whereas scammers don’t like paid websites – this will NOT stop us from continuing to remain free!

We are very upset about this and we are taking a stand! Being a free classifieds website just like craigslist.com we obviously do not have the funds of our corporate competitors to fight this. So we have been lucky enough to gather our friends together to help fight this by updating our systems to easily check every van advertised, monitor every email sent through the website and ways for you to alert us to scams by buyers and sellers. We believe that this help will beat the scammers and continue to keep MobilityVanSales.com free!

What We Have Done

1) On every advertisement you can easily flag the item for sale as :
a. ‘Price Concern’ – where the price is for example too cheap
b. ‘Prohibited’ – the advertisement should not be on the website
c. ‘Spam’ – the advertisement looks possibly fake

Seen below and in current advertisement with these additions here.

So please help us to identify as many concerning ads as possible.

2) On each advertisement we advise buyers to be aware of scams by dealing locally. We have also informed buyers that we are not involved in any transaction. These notices can be seen below and here .

3) Every buyer enquiry sent to sellers through MobilityVanSales.com website is now monitored and read by our helpers before being sent.

4) Each day our website sends us the list of new advertisements so we can check them out and contact any sellers we may have a few questions for. We are sure this personal interaction will ensure only the valid advertisements belong on MobilityVanSales.com.

Thank you for supporting MobilityVanSales.com and we hope these changes will make the experience even safer for you and your family.

The MobilityVanSales.com Team.

Scam Prevention Information

The Following extract is from Craigslist and provided here for your convenience.

You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:

• DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on MobilityVanSales.com.
• NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
• FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
• MobilityVanSales.com IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification"
• NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
• AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.

Who should I notify about fraud or scam attempts?

• FTC toll free hotline: 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357)
• FTC online complaint form (http://www.ftc.gov)
• Canadian PhoneBusters hotline: 888-495-8501
• Internet Fraud Complaint Center (http://www.ic3.gov)
• Non-emergency number for your local police department.

If you suspect that an item posted for sale on MobilityVanSales.com may be part of a scam, please email the details from our web form here. Be sure to include the URL in your message.

Recognizing scams

Most scams involve one or more of the following:

• inquiry from someone far away, often in another country
• Western Union, Money Gram, cashier's check, money order, shipping, escrow service, or a "guarantee"
• inability or refusal to meet face-to-face before consumating transaction

Examples of Scams

1. Someone claims that MobilityVanSales.com will guarantee a transaction, certify a buyer/seller, OR claims that MobilityVanSales.com will handle or provide protection for a payment.

• These claims are fraudulent, as MobilityVanSales.com does not have any role in any transaction.
• Scammer will often send an official looking email that appears to come from MobilityVanSales.com, offering a guarantee, certifying a seller, providing payment services -- all such emails are fakes!

2. distant person offers a genuine-looking (but fake) cashier's check

• you receive an email (examples below) offering to buy your item, or rent your apartment, sight unseen.
• cashier's check is offered for your sale item, as a deposit for an apartment, or for just about anything else of value.
• value of cashier's check often far exceeds your item - scammer offers to "trust" you, and asks you to wire the balance via money transfer service
• banks will often cash these fake checks AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE WHEN THE CHECK FAILS TO CLEAR, including criminal prosecution in some cases!
• scam often involves a 3rd party (shipping agent, business associate owing buyer money, etc)

3. Someone requests wire service payment via Western Union or MoneyGram:

• Scam "bait" items include apartments, laptops, plasma TVs, cell phones, tickets - but could be almost anything
• Often claim that an MTCN or confirmation code is needed before he can withdraw your money - this is FALSE, once you've wired money, it is GONE.
• Common countries currently include: Nigeria, Romania, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Spain, Italy, Netherlands - but could be anywhere
• Apartment listing may be local, but landlord/owner is "travelling" or "relocating" and needs you to wire money to them abroad
• Deal often seems too good to be true, price is too low, rent is below market, etc

4. distant person offers to send you a money order and then have you wire money:

• this is ALWAYS a scam, in our experience - the cashier's check is FAKE
• sometimes accompanies an offer of merchandise, sometimes not
• scammer often asks for your name, address, etc for printing on the fake check
• deal often seems too good to be true

5. distant seller suggests use of an online escrow service.

• most online escrow sites are FRAUDULENT, operated by scammers
• for more info, do a google search on "fake escrow" or "escrow fraud"

6. distant seller asks for a partial payment upfront, after which he will ship goods

• he says he trusts you with the partial payment
• he may say he has already shipped the goods
• deal often sounds too good to be true

7. foreign company offers you a job receiving payments from customers, then wiring funds

• foreign company may claim it is unable to receive payments from its customers directly
• you are typically offered a percentage of payments received
• this kind of "position" may be posted as a job, or offered to you via email