Scams Targeting Classic Car Sellers

The numbers behind this are big. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged $16.6 billion in reported losses across all types of internet crime in its 2024 report, a record, from 859,532 complaints, and that counts only the people who reported. Vehicle sales are a small slice of that, but a classic car is a five-figure item changing hands between strangers, often across state lines, with no dealer in the middle. That is the profile scammers look for.

This is the catalog of scams that hit private sellers. For the paperwork side of a sale, the title, the bill of sale and the release of liability, start here. This piece stays on the fraud.

Speed is the tool, not cleverness

Most scams aimed at sellers are not sophisticated. They are fast. The scammer needs you to act before you check, so every script has a clock in it: the buyer is shipping out Monday, the transporter is already booked, the "escrow agent" closes the file at 5 p.m. A real buyer of a 1967 Chevelle will wait two business days for a wire to post. A scammer will not, because in two business days the fake check bounces.

That gives you one rule that kills most of these on contact. Nothing leaves your hands, not the title, the keys, a verification code or the car, until money is final in your own account and you have confirmed it yourself. Then make every step slow on purpose. Slow costs a legitimate buyer a day. It costs a scammer the whole play.

The scams sellers actually see

These are the patterns that come up again and again in FTC and FBI warnings and in seller forums.

The overpayment check

The buyer sends a cashier's check or money order for more than your price and asks you to send back the difference, usually "for the shipper." The check looks right. Your bank makes the funds available in a day or two. Weeks later it comes back counterfeit and the bank takes the full amount back from you, including the "difference" you already sent. It is the oldest scam on this list and it still works. The mechanics, and how to verify a check properly, are covered in depth in our companion piece, and the details are here.

Fake escrow

The buyer suggests an escrow company, sends a link, and the site looks professional. You get an email saying the funds are deposited and you should ship the car. There is no money. The site is the scammer's, built to look like a real service. Tell: the buyer chose the escrow company, not you.

"My shipper will pick it up"

The buyer never sees the car, asks nothing technical, and has a transporter lined up for the day after "payment." The transporter is real enough. The payment is not. Usually this rides on top of a fake check or fake escrow notice.

The verification code grab

The "buyer" says they want to make sure you are a real person and asks you to read back a six-digit code they are sending to your phone. The code is not from them. It is from a service like Google Voice, and reading it back lets the scammer set up a Google Voice number linked to your phone number, which they then use to cheat other people while hiding behind you. The FTC has warned about this one specifically, and it names sellers on sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace as the targets. No buyer needs a code from you. Ever.

The "send me a history report from this site" request

The buyer asks you to buy a vehicle history report from a specific website before they will commit. The site either takes your card details or pays the scammer a commission on each report. A real buyer runs their own history check. They need your VIN, not your credit card.

Your listing, sold by someone else

This one does not touch your money at all. Someone copies your photos and description, reposts the car at a lower price on another site, and collects deposits from buyers who think they are dealing with you. You find out when a stranger calls asking where the car is. Search your own photos online now and then while the car is listed, and report copies to the site hosting them.

Red flags in the first message

You can screen out most of this before anyone knows your address. The table below matches what a message says to what it usually means. One flag is not proof. Two or more, and you are reading a script.

Now compare a real buyer. A real buyer asks about the car, and the questions get more specific, not less. Floors, frame, VIN tag, engine stampings, whether the numbers match, what the receipts cover. They want to see it or send an inspector. They argue about price. They accept a payment method that protects you, and they are fine waiting for a wire to post. If a long-distance buyer does not care whether the car runs, ask yourself why.

"Real buyers are annoying. They want the compression numbers, they want photos under the car, they want to knock two grand off for the tires. Scammers are easy. They want nothing except your bank details. Easy is the tell."

Dan Reeves

If one gets through

Move fast, in this order. Call your bank first, using the number on your card. If a wire or transfer went out, ask them to request a recall right away; the odds of getting money back drop by the hour. If you deposited a check that now looks wrong, tell the bank before you spend any of it. If you read back a verification code, change the passwords on your email and phone carrier account and turn on two-factor login with an app rather than text messages.

Then report it. File with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. Report the account to the site where you listed the car. If the car itself was taken, file a police report immediately so the VIN goes into the stolen vehicle database. Keep every message, email header, check image and phone number. Screenshots are fine; originals are better.

Where you sell changes how much of this lands on you. An auction house or a dealer handles the money and charges for it. A direct listing keeps more of the sale price in your pocket but makes payment verification your job. That tradeoff is laid out platform by platform in our main selling guide. Whichever route you take, the rule from the top of this page holds. Final money in your account, confirmed by you, then the car.

Sources and notes

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: 2024 Internet Crime Report
• FTC: How to spot, avoid and report fake check scams
• FTC consumer alert: Selling stuff online? Here's how to avoid a scam
• FTC consumer alert: The Google Voice verification code scam
• FBI IC3 public service announcement: Fraudulent online vehicle sales
• OCC: Consumers warned about counterfeit cashier's checks