Car Buying Scam

Part of our car-buying research was done on cars.com. One of the listings was by a guy named Pete for a fully loaded 2011 suburban for about $22K - way below blue book. No address or contact info, but I was able to email Pete from the website. So I requested some information. Here's part of 'Pete's' response:

My 2011 Chevrolet Suburban is still for sale. The asking price is $22,344 ... It is located in Canada, as I recently moved here with my job. ... I had a buyer offering $25,000 and I've lost about 2 weeks waiting for him to pay just to find out in the end that his loan wasn't approved. I've lowered the price because I'm in desperate  need of cash, so if you don't need a loan you can have it. I don't want to offend you, but the car is priced for a fast sale so please if you intend to apply for a loan or financing do not  reply to this message!

I want to use Amazon Payments for closing this deal. If you are not aware of how they work you should know that they will allow you to test drive and inspect the car before me receiving  any money.  You will have a 7 days inspection period to decide whether you want to keep it or not before they release the funds to me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Steve

Yes, Pete is now Steve and he wants to sell me a car from Canada using some payment method I've never heard of (I've since looked into it and there is no such 7-day provision with Amazon Payments) and he doesn't want to work with me if I need a loan. Hmm ... his English wasn't terrible, but there were some oddities I wouldn't expect from an English speaker.

I told 'Steve' I thought this was a scam and asked him to make me feel better. His response, in part:

The car is now located in Prince George, Canada, sealed and ready for delivery, in case it gets sold I will take care of shipping. You will receive the car in max 5-7 days and you will have the chance to inspect it for 7 days. In the inspection period you can test the car or go with it at your local mechanic for inspection, but do not put more than 200 miles on it. The car will be delivered directly to your requested address as soon as I will have the payment confirmation from Amazon Payments. Also you will have to put your decision there and whether it will be an " Yes. i keep the car" or " No, i want to return the car", Amazon Payments will either advance the funds to me or give you a refund and have the car shipped back to me at my expense.

If you're interested to purchase just email me with your full name, full shipping address include zip code and your phone number, so I can notify Amazon Payments that you are selected as my buyer and they will contact you to explain the entire procedure. I will call you as soon as I receive your full info so we can talk before starting the transaction.

Hopefully, I made myself understood and we will be closing the deal. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

The grammar is getting progressively worse and now Steve is taking care of shipping. At this point, I did a little research and found a nice little article that tells a familiar story. I ask Steve what his nationality is. He tells me half german, half american and asks why. His words, "and what this has to do with the car?"

No english or german speaker would formulate the sentence like that. I responded:

Wovon sind Sie in Deutschland? Erzaehlen Sir mir ein bisschen von Ihrer Geschichte - welche Halb ist Deutsch und wie kommen Sie dazu, dass Sie in Amerika und danach Kanada leben?

I ask because I don't believe you are who you say you are. I believe you're trying to scam me. And if I'm right, I highly recommend you rethink your life. If you steal from someone, you may be able to rationalize that through some perverted philosophy and feel good about yourself for awhile, but ultimately it catches up with you. You can't do evil and be happy in the long run. If I'm right, you need to change what you're doing for your own sake.

I haven't heard from Pete/Steve since I sent that email, but I hope he/she will take to heart my call to repentance. :)