Super Auto Sales was located at 815 E. Broadway, Louisville, KY. The dealer went out of business about two year ago. The company is out of business...except on the Internet. If you are shopping online, you'll find an attractive website, www.superautosalesus.com, claiming to be an auto dealer located at 815 E. Broadway, Louisville, KY. If you visit Google Maps Street View, you'll find a picture of Super Auto Sales that must be a couple of years old.
Problem is, this website is entirely a scam. It's a scam that the Better Business Bureau has found to be operating across the US, often using the stolen name of legitimate, operating used car dealerships, and registering a bogus website with a similar name that appears to be selling repossessed cars at too-good-to-be-true prices.
Better Business Bureau is warning car shoppers to beware of websites offering repossessed cars. BBB has heard from people across the country who thought they were buying from a reputable dealer online but were actually sending money to scammers posing as legitimate, already-established community dealerships.
“These scammers are very sophisticated," said Charlie Mattingly, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Louisville, Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky. "They are stealing the identity and good name of reputable businesses, as well as posting pictures, VIN numbers and links to CarFax reports for real cars. The websites also claim third-party credentials that can be deceiving to consumers, such as 'Verified by MerchantCircle' and several other credentialing organizations."
In another recent case, one Memphis auto dealer, America Auto Sales (www.memphisautoworld.com), received more than 1,000 calls from consumers across the country who had shopped for a new car on www.americautosales.com thinking that it was the website of the Memphis dealership. The phony website used the name, address and contact information of the real dealer.
The fraudulent websites claim to sell repossessed cars at prices well below market. Buyers are instructed to wire a deposit—as much as $5,000—to an individual rather than the company, which, according to the phony websites, “helps us avoid taxes legally.” The balance is to be paid upon delivery at the consumer’s address within five days.
In some cases, after paying the deposit victims have called the real dealership to arrange delivery of their car. Some customers have even showed up at the lot to pick up the cars they had “bought” on the bogus site.
Similar websites have posed as many different dealers in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas. The websites are often taken down after a few days only to crop up shortly thereafter under a different URL address and under the auspices of another legitimate dealer.
BBB recommends that car shoppers look for the following red flags when shopping for a car online:
- The prices are too good to be true.
- The dealer only communicates through chat or e-mail—never by phone.
- The dealer only accepts payment by money wire transfer.
If you have been the victim of a fraudulent auto dealer online, notify your BBB at www.bbb.org and the Internet Crime Center at www.ic3.gov to file a complaint.