Yet another SCAM!

[Dreamer]

Anyone remember Lotus 73’s BaT auction from Nov. 20221? https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-lotus-europa-twin-cam-special-2/
It did not sell but several interested parties did track him down. A deal was made and in March of 2022 it went to a new owner in the US. Would anyone know who owns this car now?
It has popped up for sale on https://cars.trovit.com/used-cars/lotus-europa
However, when you click on “View Car” it sends you to another company out of Florida.
https://tropicalbestauto.com/listing/1973-lotus-europa-twin-cam-special/
Curious I sent them an email and received the following quick response. 

Hello,
Thanks for reaching out!
I wanted to share some additional details about the 1973 Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special you inquired about.

You can check out more pictures of the vehicle here: View additional pictures
This vehicle is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and we’d be happy to arrange shipping to your location at no additional cost.

To ensure your satisfaction, we also offer a 7-day return policy.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s anything else I can assist you with—I’d be happy to help!

Best regards,
Alfred Munoz
Tropical Best Auto

Well, I know the car isn’t in Canada and reviewing the BaT Auction I can see that’s where they lifted all the photos and text, word for word.
So I just as quickly sent off a request for the sellers contact information so that I could arrange to view the car.
Yep, you guessed it. Helpful Alfred has not replied.

[MAK]

Back when I was hunting for a car, I to contacted this dealer.  I questioned him on the fact that this car was on BAT, and that the car was eventually sold to someone here in the states. I agreed to buy the car if I could personally inspect it and have my shipping company pick it up. 
Never heard from him again. Trovit does not screen the ads, over the last 4 years I have found the EVERY Trovit ad is a scam, generally the lines are, the owner is out of the country, it was her ex or dead husbands' car, have to use their shipping company, the car is in storage and not available to be seen, will ship anywhere in the US for free just pay their shipping company,  I reported each issue to Trovit with zero reply.

Alot of the pictures are from BAT, and the price is very appealing about half of what the car sold for or bid to on BAT.

[BDA]

I thought the owner is (still) a member here... Had he sold it or put it up for sale?

[MAK]

Owner of this car was: Europa73, he joined in 2016 and last seen in 2022, which is when he sold his car.
In addition to the videos of the car on BAT - It was featured on Canadian TV:
Classic Car | 1973 Lotus Europa | Driving.ca
YouTube
Driving.ca

[BDA]

Huh… I thought he or whoever he sold the car to was still around…

[Dreamer]

The thread on Lotus 73’s car being up on BaT was started by BDR and is called Very Nice ’73 on BaT
https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=4894.msg53031#msg53031

As stated above his last post was telling us that he’d sold the car and it was heading to the US. Again, that was in March 2022.

The depth of this scam has been revealed as Alfred sent me the following:

We are a consignment company and are offering this vehicle on behalf of the current owner.
All the communication, documentation as well as the purchasing process itself will be handled directly through us.

This 1973 Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special is listed at $21,000. This is our "out the door" price for this vehicle.
Shipping within the US will be provided at no additional cost.

In order to view or inspect this vehicle in person - we would have to schedule an appointment with our seller, our inspection team and your mechanic (if needed) in order to inspect and test drive the vehicle.
Upon checking the calendar I can see that the next available date for this vehicle is on June 16th at 10:30 AM.
Please let me know if you would like me to book this date and time for you.

This particular vehicle has shown a lot of interest to potential customers and unfortunately there are no earlier dates available for booking and inspection.
Also, as a reminder - there is a 7-day return policy for this vehicle in case you are not satisfied with the condition of the vehicle or your purchase in general.
A $150 processing fee, as well as a $250 delivery fee will be retained in case of a return. Our logistics department will be handling the entire return process on your behalf.
The return policy will start on the day your vehicle will be delivered to you.

Let me know if you would like me to schedule this appointment for you, or if I can be of any further assistance.

Best regards,
Alfred Munoz
Tropical Best Auto

Where to begin, eh?

The problem is, everyone knows these scams exist. All the agencies want to stop them. BUT! None are willing to spend the time or money so nothing gets done.
I submitted this info to BaT as it's their copyright material that is being scraped off their site and used. The acknowledge the problem but haven't the time or money to go after these bad actors. As far as I know, they don't even log or forward these reports to anyone.
It's up to us in the car community to call these bastards out. I wish there was a central pool/website/media group that I could send this info to and they would blast it all over the web.

[4129R]

If you insist on your own shipper collecting the car, cash on collection, that eliminates getting stung by any scam.

Here speaks a victim.

[MAK]

"If you insist on your own shipper collecting the car, cash on collection, that eliminates getting stung by any scam."

A couple of years ago, I was interested in a 74 Europa that was listed in the Seattle, WA area, again the seller was overseas, and I pushed to inspect the car,
Told the seller I was locale and would take me 45 min to the location, (I am located on the east coast) got a ton of reasons why that would be difficult, he finally gave me the name and web site of the carrier, I can tell that web site looked authentic, and was slick, I was almost convinced, but I did 2 things:1 I looked up the web ip - it's easy to do - address of the carriers web site - it was less than 90 days old and was registered to a Bulgarian  address and 2 I did a map search of the address of the shipping company and did a street view - it looked nothing like the website, it was a tired, broken down building with no parking or some windows were boarded up. I talked to the seller (it was an overseas # 7 he called me) pointed this out along with the fact that the pictures were exactly like the ones when the car was listed for sale 3 years prior.  He hung up

The seller was very convincing, had a great pitch and the carriers web site was slick and looked legit -
I can see how people fall for this; they are that good at it.
As a retired retail exec, I am naturally skeptical on deals that are too good, I immediately believe it is a scam, stolen or the product is being represented better than its actual condition.

[Dreamer]

I posted about this scam with a photo on several sites including the Lotus Owners Club of Canada Facebook page. Ron, (Lotus 73) saw it and replied:
“OMG - this was my car, I did the restoration. Yes it did not sell on BAT but later sold and now it lives in the US. TBH, I do miss that car - was a blast to drive.”
My response was; “…if you have contact info on the person you sold the car to PLEASE, contact him to let him know the BaT photos and text are being used to resell his car…”
Hopefully Ron can get a message to whoever owns the car now and they make a formal complaint to US authorities.