Five French people tricked by a fake car seller on Leboncoin
A cybercriminal based in Benin fooled five French citizens by claiming to be selling them a car on the famous classified ads website Leboncoin. A scam worth tens of thousands of euros. A TF1 team investigated.
The swindler first conned a seller
The scammer initially posed as a buyer on Leboncoin in order to obtain the key object of his scam: a car. He came into contact with Alexandre, a seller on Leboncoin. Alexandre had posted an ad for his vehicle for sale at €19,000. After getting in touch with the alleged buyer, who confirmed his interest in the property, Alexandre sent him the vehicle registration document so that he could start the formalities. Unfortunately for him, Alexandre never heard from the buyer again.
The scam is on
Armed with Alexandre's vehicle registration document and photos of the vehicle recovered from Alexandre's ad, the cybercriminal based in Benin was able to post a fake ad on the classified ads site. This time he placed himself as the seller and offered Alexandre's vehicle for sale at €12,000. This offer immediately attracted a large number of interested buyers.
Secure payment
Five buyers came forward as soon as the scammer's ad was published. Quick to take advantage of this alleged bargain, they booked the vehicle without hesitation. Our five Frenchmen thought they were protecting themselves from any scams by opting for the new 'secure payment' feature on Leboncoin. With this new feature, the buyer pays the money owed for the good they are interested in. This money is blocked by Leboncoin and is only released and paid to the seller when the buyer receives their parcel.
The deviated safety system
The cybercriminal, aware of this new service, had put everything in place so that his scam would run smoothly. He managed to avoid this security system by sending a fake email to interested buyers in which he pretended to be Leboncoin and provided a bank account details number that would enable our five Frenchmen to secure their transaction. Without hesitating too much, the interested buyers immediately paid the requested amount, except that the funds were paid directly into the bank account of the scammer located in Benin.
Of course, once he had received these sums in his bank account, the cybercriminal never gave any further news to the various buyers interested in the fake advert.
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