It's supposedly a new Diablo Roadster, complete with V8 and "volvo transmission" for $35,000. The seller wants $5000 deposit to hold the vehicle, which he claims he's currently repainting. The asking price is less than half of what the street price for the car should be. The seller says he's liquidating because he "has to move."

The seller says his name is Paul Commers, living in Reading, MA.

Has anyone dealt with Paul in the past? He claims to have sold many cars. Is this possibly a scam?

Given my suspicions (he couldn't be precise about what needed to be done to the car, lied about when the ad was posted, etc), I first checked out the VIN of the vehicle: 1G2pm37r7gp205216. Checks out good, as a Fiero that is indeed in Reading, MA, where Paul lives. I ran a background check on Paul Commers -- no criminal record at the state or federal level, has lived in the same house for at least the past 20 years (1130 Main St, Reading, MA 01867), and has even bought and sold a few condos in Reading over the past 15 years.

But I was still suspicious, so I had a friend call him today, posing as a new potential buyer. He accepted my friend's offer to send a $5000 deposit as well! Didn't mention that there were any pending deals. Now that I was convinced that Paul was scamming people, I called him back just to ask whether our agreement was still on. He confidently said that he was not accepting any offers from other people for deposits -- less than an hour after he had told my friend that he was taking deposits!

In either case, there is something truly suspicious going on here. He admits the photo of the ad wasn't actually of the car itself. He claims to own the car, but the car isn't currently viewable -- it's being "painted". My best estimate is that Paul bought a Fiero and was hoping to complete it, but ran short on cash and is now looking for ad-hoc financing based on stealing people's deposits and then stringing them along.

I intend to contact the folks who run the ad (DealsOnWheels) as well as the attorney general in Massachusetts. Paul currently also has a Jaguar XKE listed for sale, coincidentally also at the magical price of $35,000. Beware of ads with his phone number: 781-944-7544.

I hope no one has sent him a check already...

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