Need some help ruling out scammer

I am selling my car and an interested party is making me feel a little weird about the process and wondering if anyone could share their thoughts on the situation?
I will include the screenshots of our text history
The blacked out portions are contact info that I have removed.
Some things to note that aren’t in the pictures are that I tried calling her number and no ring straight to “The party you are trying to reach is unavailable…etc”
Part of the redacted contact info may also hide the fact that when she was giving me her email address she refused to put the @ symbol in at any point. And also went further to say swap the * with an @ symbol

Message 2

Message 3

Message 4

Message 5

Message 6

That is kinda odd, have you tried asking them to call you?

Not yet I haven’t. We are supposed to meet tomorrow.
Another thing I didn’t explain was after she asked to meet the first time, I never saw that reply so like two weeks went by or something before I asked her if she was still interested.
But on that point there was something that stuck out.
when she asked me if I had changed my number I thought that was weird. The only reason I can think of (I’d she’s legit) is she deleted the original texts. But it’s not like there are many Subaru Sti’s listed in my area

Another thing that stuck out was her asking for my email address. I was already emailing her a pdf if the VIN report? The only reason for this (if she’s legit) I could think of was maybe she gets a ton of emails and whatnot and would help her find it or something

Then the other thing that stood out was her refusing to put the @ symbol in her email address

you should Try to setup a call maybe and if they refuse that’s probably a good indication they are up to something sketchy

Yea I will do that thanks! But you would think that her wanting to meet in person tomorrow would be a ruling out factor ya know?

Like how would she scam me in person apart from giving me fraudulent payment? (Counterfeit cash, fake check, etc.)

If it is a scam it would be in the way she wants to pay you but also beware of fake cash too, rare but can happen.

Yea I’m giving her an address to meet tomorrow which will be at a bank parking lot. Not telling her it’s a bank though

Yeah, be careful. Better be safe than sorry. If your gut tells you something is wrong, better listen. At the same time, though, I don’t think you should completely rule it out as there may be a good explanation for the way she was acting. I would do what you said and arrange a meeting. Ask, or mention, about the phone number thing and see what the reaction is.

Things to watch out for:

  • Too good to be true (ie. giving you more than you’re asking for it)
  • Pressure (scammers love to pressure you to make a hurried decision.)
  • Guilt (scammers will try to make you feel guilty if you feel uncomfortable and decide to drop the deal)
  • Other tiny red flags (like you’ve noticed)

Many times when you get scammed, there were many tiny little things that you wondered about at the time, and then payed no more attention, but you only realize it after you have been scammed. Now that you are alert, you may also misinterpret red flags that are not really.

Also, what was the area code of her number? Is it different than yours? I just want to see if it was a TextNow or Google Voice number also.

Here are some real quotes (paraphrased) by scammers my family has encountered, using those tactics I mentioned above.

Pressure (eBay scammer): 1) Made an offer much higher than anyone else. 2) Texted my dad at work, right before 5PM, saying “I’ve put $200 extra in the payment for you to ship it via fastest available shipping before 5PM.” (Note: The money had never been paid, so the item was shipped, outside eBay’s jurisdiction, to the scammer.)
Guilt: "Well it’s too bad you couldn’t do X since my [insert relative here] was in the hospital, and that’s why I wasn’t able to… blah blah.

Hope it helps :slight_smile:

Here’s a good article I just found:

It’s been a while since you replied, so I hope you weren’t mugged outside the bank :laughing: