How VW’s T5 van became the ‘most scammed vehicle in Britain’

Rebecca and Simon Gregory were away on a long weekend at Disneyland Paris when the first stranger called at their two-bedroom house in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

The couple, in their 30s, knew they weren’t friends or relatives thanks to their “smart” doorbell, which sends CCTV from their front door in the resort town to their mobile phones.

After briefly seeing a confused man wandering on their porch, the couple began to worry.

But then another stranger showed up. And another. And another.

Rebecca started to worry. What on earth lured so many people to their homes 300 miles away?

The merchandising account director asked her mother, Davina, 62, who lives nearby, to come over and investigate.

When Davina reported, Rebecca was stunned. All of their unexpected visitors had turned up for the same reason: to pick up a Volkswagen Transporter van they had bought on eBay.

Davina had politely explained that it was impossible for her daughter and her husband to sell a VW Transporter. They simply didn’t have one.

In all, about 13 eBay buyers showed up and found only the couple’s Ford Fiesta in the driveway.

And they were still gaining weight when Rebecca, 35, and Simon, 38, returned home two days later.

Each buyer had put £2,000 to £3,000 as a down payment on a VW Transporter for sale on eBay. They had then been given Rebecca and Simon’s address to collect the van.

One couple had driven hundreds of miles.

Others had booked hotels. One had been on a train from Liverpool for five hours.

Alarmed: Rebecca and Simon Gregory discovered their address had been used in a scam when people started showing up at their doors asking for their vans

Most were furious when they found out that the van they thought they had bought did not exist. In short, they had all fallen victim to Britain’s most common vehicle fraud: the fake second-hand VW Transporter van scam.

The Transporter – especially the fifth generation T5 models, which were built between 2003 and 2015 – has gained cult status.

It’s a cheap but cheerful utility vehicle that’s ripe for conversion into a motorhome you can travel and sleep in thanks to its size and workhorse engine.

Social media is flooded with videos on how to convert on a shoestring budget.

But that popularity has also alerted fraudsters.

In fact, VW Transporter fraud is now so common that a special Facebook page with 3,500 members has been set up to track down untrustworthy advertisements.

According to fraud expert Jack Buster, who leads Action Scam, a group that helps victims recover money, many of the fake VW Transporter ads are recycled and used countless times.

He says vans with the same license plates appear repeatedly on eBay and Facebook Marketplace, hooking dozens of buyers at once.

“Some of the photos used in these ads are often eight or nine years old,” he says. “They’re a con man’s goldmine.”

Happy campers: The VW T5 is a popular choice for DIY campers with social media full of videos on how to convert them on a shoestring budget

Victims are encouraged to send money – or at least an initial deposit – via wire transfer before collecting the vehicle in person.

The seller then either turns cold and ignores further messages, or provides a fake pick-up address to give their ruse the appearance of legitimacy.

The series of strangers who showed up on Rebecca and Simon’s doorstep had all been brought in by the same fake eBay listing. Collectively they lost a whopping £40,000.

The pair say they had to break the news to the victims over and over again. “With some people you could tell by their facial expressions that they couldn’t afford to lose that kind of money,” she says. “It was really shocking to us.”

Last year, online vehicle scams referred to Action Fraud, the reporting agency, rose 21 percent. compared to 2019.

And the VW Transporter dominates the scam lists, says Mr Buster.

It often came out on top in polls ranking the most popular pre-owned vans.

Its popularity boomed during the pandemic as travel restrictions made more people feel the desire for motorhome holidays in the UK.

A second-hand VW T5 in good condition can easily sell for more than £10,000 after prices have risen by £1,294 in a year, according to online car marketplace AutoTrader.

False advertising, where scammers usually offer vans for a much lower – but still plausible – price, can attract dozens of buyers who think they’re getting their hands on a bargain.

Elliott Boddy, who runs Travelin-Lite, a company that sells Transporter parts, says: ‘It’s often people new to the VW scene who fall victim to these scams.

“People who buy their first are the most vulnerable.

Telltale signs are that the vans are being offered too cheaply for the model being sold. In recent years I often see the same vans in advertisements.’

Kim Rees and Tim Barrett, both 51, paid £2,650 for a VW that turned out not to exist after seeing an ad on eBay.

Fraudsters favourite: VW Transporter fraud is now so common that a dedicated Facebook page with 3,500 members has been set up to track down untrustworthy ads

The 2006 T5 model was listed as having 77,000 miles and could be collected from an address in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

The couple, from Shaftesbury, Dorset, wanted to use the van for Tim’s job as a self-employed carpenter. After registering their interest on eBay, they spoke to the “seller” on the phone and were persuaded to pay a deposit via wire transfer.

Kim says: ‘The seller sounded so sincere on the phone, so we paid the £1,000 deposit.

“But then he called to say he would have to refund the money because he had found another buyer who would pay the full amount.

‘So we paid the full £2,650 for fear of losing. As soon as we arrived at the address, I knew something was wrong. The house didn’t look like the advertisement.’

Kim and Tim’s bank, NatWest – with whom they have been clients for more than 30 years – has refused to cover their loss, as the couple insists they were ‘negligent’ in buying a vehicle without seeing it first.

If the couple had paid through eBay — rather than direct bank transfer — they’d be covered by the site’s money-back guarantee.

Facebook doesn’t offer a built-in payment service, which means shoppers are forced to send money directly via wire transfer.

That leaves them without the fraud protection offered by PayPal or credit and debit cards, where the payment provider may be forced to step in and cover losses.

Mr Buster of Action Scam, who fights banks on behalf of victims of fraud, told Money Mail about a case where a man suffering from cancer was scammed by a Transporter advertisement.

The man was often treated overnight at Leeds General Infirmary despite living 150 miles away in Blackburn, Lancashire. He wanted a VW Transporter T5 so that his immediate family could travel with him and stay in it while he was being treated.

He lost £10,000 after falling for a bogus advert and paying in full.

Mr. Buster’s Facebook group is full of victims turned sleuths to help others avoid the same fate, sharing scam ad details and trying to get them shut down.

Mr. Buster says, “EBay and Facebook Marketplace stand head and shoulders above the rest because of the sheer volume of fraudulent vehicle ads.

“These platforms need to shut down the ads faster.”

He says the best way to avoid becoming a victim of vehicle fraud is to never buy anything you haven’t seen in person.

If that’s not possible, he recommends asking the seller for a video call — via Zoom or FaceTime, for example — where they can give you a live tour of the vehicle. “It has to be a live video, because pre-recorded videos can be stolen from real sellers and used by fraudsters,” says Mr. Buster.

Facebook says if a user sees signs of suspicious activity, they should immediately cancel the transaction and report the listing to the site as fake.

An eBay spokesperson said: “Thousands of our users safely and successfully buy and sell vehicles on eBay every day.

Always view the vehicle in person before handing over money.

“If any of your readers have become a victim of fraud, they should immediately report it to eBay, Action Fraud and their local law enforcement.”

h.kelly@dailymail.co.uk