Story Created:
Mar 8, 2010 at 11:24 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Mar 8, 2010 at 11:24 PM CDT
MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY -- Vanessa Blanks has it all, a loving family, a new home and even the dogs. What's missing is the car.
"We've been out of a car for six months," said Blanks.
A couple weeks ago she thought she was buying a 2004 Nissan Altima, but an online scammer took her for a ride of $3,000.
"Once we got our income taxes we looked so hard to get a vehicle," she said. "Then we got completely ripped off."
Here's what happened.
The car was originally posted on Craigslist but the seller sent Blanks a link to what she thought was a new ebay page selling the car. What she didn't know was the link led to a spoof website posing as ebay.
"Everything looked legit. I read all the the fine print on all the ebay stuff that was sent," said Blanks. "It was just a fake ebay."
The fake page told her to send the money to Las Vegas even though the car was supposedly in New York.
"The Western Union was a big red flag, but I've never got anything off ebay and the only thing I knew was that they did paypal," said Blanks.
E-mails show Kalan received the money. But a month has gone by and still no car.
Local 6 tracked her down to a cell phone out of Texas.
When asked about the car she said, "I no longer have a car for sale." Before hanging up she said the car was sold to someone other than Vanessa Blanks.
Apparently the same person is targeting others, not only in Kentucky, but across the country, leaving innocent victims and law enforcement with hard to follow leads.
"A lot of the places that the money is being sent are large cities, metropolitan areas, so it's really hard to identify the person," said Detective Darrin Frommeyer.
When it comes to online deals, he says it's "buyer beware," especially when wiring money.
"When it comes to money transfer services, the best thing to do to protect yourself is not to use them at all," said Frommeyer.
It's advice Vanessa Blanks now knows all to well, and information she's sharing with others.
"I'll never use the Internet for anything again," she said. "I want to see the person face to face. I want to know who I'm dealing with."
