We very recently came across a for sale ad on Craigslist for a Bugatti Veyron. After about five minutes of digging we discovered that this ad was a scam. But this phony listing did get us thinking about other supercar scammers out there. Today's CarBuzz Real or Fake asks you to spot the faux phony. Three of these stories involving supercar scammers are totally legit while one is false. Do your best to cut through the crap and let us know which story you think is garbage in the comments section.
There aren't many Ferrari LaFerraris up for sale in the world, never mind the US. So when one pops up for sale on eBay Motors it's bound to draw attention. Unfortunately the person behind this scam didn't even try. The supercar's description was lifted straight from Wikipedia and the VIN came from a Prius. Way to put in absolutely zero effort, pal. Hopefully this seller didn't get a cent of the fake LaFerrari's $3.5 million asking price.
It's one thing to be a supercar scammer who works behind the cover of a computer. It's another to actually rip people off face to face. This scammer from Dubai certainly has balls. As the story goes the scammer would meet up with victims in a Ferrari 458. That made him seem legit enough for sellers to trust him and his bad checks. Of course once the victims went to cash the checks they bounced. Punishment for just about any sort of crime in the UAE is pretty damn steep, which means this guy is taking a much greater risk than the other people featured here. Again, ballsy.
The worst thing for a rich gearhead is a lack of connections. What we mean is that not anyone can just buy a limited edition Ferrari or Lamborghini. Sometimes you have to know a guy who knows a guy and very often you have to have owned some of the company's cars in the past. One man tried to cut the line for a Lamborghini Aventador SV and ended up getting taken for a ride (and a loss). A person claiming to be a high-level Lamborghini sales rep convinced the man to part with a $25,000 "deposit" to ensure his spot in line. As you can guess that spot in line was as real as the rep was.
Getting scammed online sucks, but what is even worse is flying cross country to find out you've been duped. One New Yorker did just that in pursuit of a 2009 Corvette Z06. When his flight from New York landed in Montana the poor guy learned that both his car and the dealership he was buying it from didn't exist. To be fair this guy only lost the cash he spent on his flight, which certainly sucks. But it could have been a lot worse. Then again, you can't really put a price on an embarrassment like this, can you?
Did you guess which scammer story was the phony? Fun fact: Someone was actually dumb enough to list a LaFerrari with a VIN from a Prius for sale on eBay. That Dubai scammer may or may not still be alive-or in possession of fingers/hands-but he did indeed rip people off using a 458. That leaves the scheming Lamborghini sales rep and the duped Corvette buyer as the final two. If you've learned nothing so far it's that a story that sounds too good to be true probably is. Yes, the Aventador SV ripoff was a lie and the Montana scammer was legit. Well, legit in terms of actually having happened.