Just picked up on one of the MG forums details that warns of a current scam, which is affecting other car owner forums such as those for the Mk1 Golf, Opel Manta, Astra and Escort. The guy involved cleared over £1000 from the Escort forum before he was rumbled (although when you look at the link the clues are all there from about the first few posts....)
In essence, the guy appears to be based around the Northampton area. He joins a forum, and quickly puts a post into the sales/wants forum saying that he is an enthusiast who has amassed a garage full of bits and is having a clear out, forced by the wife/financial hardship/emigrating etc, and invites people to ask him for what they want. When the questions of "have you got a...." are asked, surprise surprise, he has at least two of them at stunningly cheap prices and in perfect condition, and can even repaint stuff for a few quid. He only takes payment by paypal and says that he will despatch by courier, and there is no response if someone only wants to do cash on collection collection. People pay via paypal, and then - and how surprising is this - the parts never arrive.
http://www.escortevolution.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=74748All pretty obvious stuff, a whole bundle of people have been caught out so far and the guy is working his way round various forums - OK it may well be that the people involved "should have known better", but worth raising the subject here just by way of warning.
MG Mark
