Costa Rica News – I wonder what it is like for Costa Ricans to be on the victim end of a scam and not the ones scamming money from foreigners using scams like the sweepstakes scams, biofuel and teak scams, and real estate scams. With the taxes going up on vehicles it seems Costa Ricans are looking abroad for deals and getting taken for a ride.
The new car scam is “selling” at prices lower than the market offers.
This was announced today by the Office of Fraud through a press release.
Tatiana Vargas, a spokeswoman for Attorney General, said that, in one month, they have received 50 complaints about this scam.
“People fall because the value of the car is very striking. They lower the prices to get the people interested.
“Also on the website they put a contact number and an email that gives ‘credibility’ to purchase,” he said.
According to the prosecution, the suspects explained that demand lower price for the car because they took a trip and failed to register the car in the foreign country. At other times say they pushed for cash.
“They call them victims to deposit a sum of money for costs of shipping and / or taxes.
“In order to give credibility to the scam, criminals indicate that the offended will contact the shipping company, whose name is fictitious or representation,” says the document.
For deposits, the prosecution said the scammer asks to make a transfer of money abroad in the name of the representative of the alleged shipping charge to automobile transportation.
“Once the deposit, the alleged representative requested the deposit slip, which is scanned and emailed. This makes it easier to withdraw the money, as in this proof are all information to remove get the money.
Although this is happening to Costa Ricans from abroad do not be surprised for this scam to pop it head up in Costa Rica and it start being used to scam people outside of the country, especially with the new taxes being put into effect.
Watch out and always make sure you have the car in your possession and your own lawyer check out everything before you pay for anything. This includes real estate, and any other large purchases you are thinking of making. It is a good time to ship a vehicle to Costa Rica that you have picked out and purchased personally.
If you are legitimately looking for a way to get your vehicle to or out of Costa Rica get an informational free e-book from Shipping Costa Rica by clicking here.
