Man Nearly Loses $72,000 On Fake Dealership Website

A car-shopper was seconds away from purchasing two vehicles entirely online, until a phone call saved him from a financial catastrophe.

A man from Tacoma, Washington was about to wire $72,000 to Benson motors Inc. out of Ames, Iowa in order to purchase two vehicles when he paused to make a call. The man called the local police department who told him there was one major problem with his transaction: Benson Motors closed back in 2009. The deal was an apparent scam as was the website bm-center.com, which according to Who.is was registered December 3, 2015. The website has a number of notable grammatical errors as well as an image of a semi-truck in front of exotic cars which by using a simple “search Google for this image,” leads to the strong likelihood that it’s hastily “photoshopped.”

Speaking to KCCI, the Washington man who almost purchased the vehicle online from what he believed to be Iowa, said he thought perhaps the cost of living and car prices in “middle America” were simply lower. The car shopper even spoke to a man who identified himself as a salesman and has a picture on the website. His dialogue with the so-called sales rep didn’t raise any red flags, and thus it was a last minute call to the police based on a bit of suspicion that saved that man from being out $72,000.

Have you heard of any cases similar to this one occurring previously? How can someone create a fake dealership site and almost make a sale for $72,000 from across the country? Finally, what does this story say about consumer confidence when it comes to buying vehicles online?