Buyer narrowly avoids scam purchase

Terry Hare lost thousands of dollars to a Caravan scam. Terry in front of the food caravan with a bucket full of rust that fell inside on the trip back from Wellington. WAG 15Dec15 - BAD LUCK

A Masterton man on the search for a food caravan narrowly avoided the same scam that saw a Hamilton couple lose thousands, and shortly after fell prey to another bad deal.

Terry Hare thought he found the perfect food caravan to run for the Gypsy Travellers Fair for $16,500 on Trade Me, but "smelled a rat" when he began emailing the seller.

Mr Hare expressed interest in the food caravan and was contacted by the seller who called himself Allan Hutt.

"Allan" asked Mr Hare to pay the money to a third party shipping company, called Priority Cargo, and said he wanted a quick sale as he was in a hurry to move to the UK because his wife's father had throat cancer.

Mr Hare received an invoice from the company with paying instructions but discovered that the bank account details were of an overseas account and that the Wanaka address of "Allan" did not exist on Google Maps.

"So, next move, I gave this Allan guy another ring. While the phone was ringing I heard the phone click, and this guy called Anthony answered.

"Next minute he said that everything was ready to go and that I just had to pay the money into the bank account.

"So I asked him where the caravan actually was and he said it was in a shipping container. More alarm bells started ringing because they don't fit in shipping containers. I said I've just been on Google looking for their address and I can't find it. He insisted that they were definitely there and were a legitimate company.

"So, I said, what's the weather like down there mate, because at that time I knew it was snowing and that they were having s*** weather. He started uming and ahing and I just hung up. I said to my wife, it's a scam."

At least three other scams of a similar nature were reported within New Zealand in recent months.

A Hamilton couple lost $26,000 to a man also named "Allan" who claimed his wife was recovering from cancer.

Priority Cargo Limited and Direct Cargo Limited are the names of third party shipping companies that have been used in the scams. Investigation into the scams by Waikato's corporate fraud unit reveal the scammers are acting offshore.

Mr Hare said he was disappointed that police were unable to take action. Since the Priority Cargo Scam, Mr Hare has "had the wool pulled over his eyes" during another caravan sale. He said he put a deposit on a caravan in Gisborne, which he discovered was filled with rust and unfit to be on the roads when he viewed it in person. He "luckily" got his deposit back, and purchased a caravan from a Christchurch seller, which he said swerved and "snaked" all the way over the Rimutakas after picking it up from Wellington.

"I got it home and when I opened up the doors, everything was covered in rust too," he said. "I was devastated, absolutely devastated."

When he found this caravan's WOF, he discovered it was the same caravan he had viewed in Gisborne but with a new paint job.

"My mind was just flashing back to Gisborne and I could remember where all the rust was. I walked around and all I could see were all of these patches over it, patched over all the rust and painted over."

He bought the caravan for $14,500 using a bank loan. He said he cannot believe his bad luck and near misses on Trade Me and warns other buyers to be careful when buying online.