Anyone looking to purchase a car online beware of someone claiming to use Yahoo Finance as a 3rd party arbitrator for the deal. It's similar to the Worldpay scar. I was almost suckered out of $5,000.00. After reaching an agreed to price with the seller you will receive an email from someone claiming to be with Yahoo Finance. I verified with Yahoo and they don't offer this type of service.

The latest Yahoo finance scam involves a 2006 volkswagen Jetta TDI that is supposed to be located in Reno Nevada. The poster has placed the vehicle for sale in Atlanta, Nevada, and Miami.
There are the messages the scammer sent me.
Scammers e-mail is martawhite@live.com

1st email
Hello ,
Thanks for replying to my ad.
I want you to know the car is in excellent condition with no rust or any kind of damage anywhere and it doesn't need any maintenance.
Title is clear and free of liens.
My price is $ 4200. I am now in a divorce and I am in desperate need of money to pay the mortgage on my house with this economical crisis.
That's my only reason for selling it otherwise I wouldn't do it.
Where are you located?
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask
Best Regards

2nd email
Hi,
The car is located in Reno, NV sealed and ready for the shipping.I work as a dealer on a cruise ship. Now I am not in the town. This the reason that I chose to sell my car over internet.I hope this situation won't affect your decision in buying the car.
All documents, including owner's manual, clear title and a bill of sale on your name will be provided along with the car.Also about payment and shipping I will use only Yahoo Finance.I need your name and shipping address so I can reserve the car for you and register the transaction with Yahoo Finance and they will contact you with all the instructions step by step on how to complete the transaction.fees).After you receive the car you will have 5 days to test, verify and do whatever you need to the car.Let me know your decision.

Best regards

None of the e-mails are signed and there is no finance option offered of this sort from Yahoo Finance.
This type of long distance theft will continue to occur as the economy gets worse. I expect it to be rampant in the automotive sales industry within the next few months

Here are the scam pages

http://miami.backpage.com/AutosForSale/_4_200_2006_volkswagen_jetta_gls_tdi/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=8170030

http://espanol.phoenix.backpage.com/AutosForSale/_4_200_2006_volkswagen_jetta_gls_tdi/clasificados/ViewAd?oid=7358476

http://toronto.nowtoronto.com/AutosForSale/_4_200_2006_volkswagen_jetta_gls_tdi/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=3018563

This happened to me but luckily i googled!

Hello,
Thank you for your interest in my 2007 Ducati Superbike 1098 MOTION
The bike is in perfect condition, the paint looks like new without any scratch on it.Also it's free of accidents.
Always garage kept,no problems i can say it's in the best shape possibile.
One month ago i moved to London, Uk, with my work and i need some extra cash for a house here and i decided to sell my bike.
The shipping to any location in Australia will be included in the price.
Last price i want for it is $4000
If you are interested we can make this transaction in a secure way through yahoo finance so i will receive my money only after
you will have the Bike.
So please let me know if you are interested with this deal
Thanks


second email

Hello again,
The bike is with me in UK and it's available if you want to buy it.
I can ship it in australia in 7 days.
Look how i want to complete this deal in a secure way through yahoo finance if you want to buy the bike:
Yahoo holds the money until the bike is delivered to you, with properly executed title and all the paperworks to register the bike under your name. After you will receive the bike you will have 10 days for the inspection period. If the bike is not like described,
you will have to ship it back in 30 business days on my expense, but I am sure that you will love it.
So if you want to do this deal look what are the steps
- you give me your full name and shipping address,
- I start a transaction on yahoo finance,
- they send you the invoice with payment instructions,
- you send the payment to yahoo trust account
- they confirm me that they received and secured the funds,
- I ship the bike immediately after the payment is received by yahoo finance
- you receive the bike (maximum 10 days) inspect it and if you decide to keep it they will release the funds to me,
- if you don't keep the bike they will send the money back to you in 2 business days.
Thank you,


nearly fell for it