Dear EF members,
Wondering if anyone has heard of bsl-cargo?
http://www.bsl-cargo.com

My uncle in UK saw a car being sold in automart. BMW 330d (typical price was 23,000GBP for similar models) but this one was being sold for around 8,000GBP.
So he wrote to the advert, and the guy emailed back saying he has moved to basel, and to contact the above address who are taking care of everything. I checked the website, they apparently import/export and take care of checks, paperwork etc...

googled the company, does not come up..went directly to the website, number is for a basel based optical lens company, and googled streetview - all looks shady.
They did have an online chat option - yesterday the car was reserved, today sold, and the operator was a not forthcoming with any info...

anyway - thought it may interest some of you that look for importing cars back and forth, as this may not be a reliable company.

regards
CB

I've seen this one before. There were a few scams on craigslist back in Vancouver trying to sell motorcycles with this url to ship.

Classic scam grammar and scenario though, so easy to pick out.

Supposedly trading since 2006, but only registered their website last month. With an Indian registrar.

I suppose it could be legit, but I wouldn't be giving them any of my money in a hurry.

I sincerely hope your uncle has not parted with any money. If a deal is too good to be true - then it is...

christ, this scam is older then the bible

selling a car, car not in country, will ship, send payment to holding company etc and lo and behold no car ever gets delivered

the clue is in the price, £8k for a £23k car, really what do you think?

webuyanycar.com would even give him more then that for it.

The original advert in automart (in UK) did not stipulate the address etc..only when guy responded by email to say this 3rd party company is handling all angles of the sale.

Of course, a car at 1/3 of its valued market price raised an eyebrow - hence looked them up, and hence, making others aware!
thanks.

There are plenty of car buying/selling scammeres around.

I had a car listed on autoscout.ch and got contacted by someone in scotland who was interested in it, he said he would pay me and then arrange for shipping.

It sounded to good to be true (didn't even try to bargain or ask for more details)
so was quite sceptical. Received check a few days later much higher then what he needed to pay, was stamped in russia the check was from the Scottish national bank, faxed them the check before cashing it to check if its authentic. Scotish national bank never heard or seen of such a check.

A few days later he asked me since its to much money that he sent please send him the difference back...

be carefull some of them are quite smart

Very smart. If you'd have been clever and waited for the check to clear, then after three days it would and the funds would be there in your account, ready for you to send your car and his change. You'd be very happy until the funds disappeared from your account a few days after that because clearing isn't really clearing.