Rustington man’s ‘buyer beware’ warning after BMW fraud

Bernard Sands, of Old Manor Road, thought he had found the perfect car when he spotted a black BMW 3 Series on the website of online motor dealers, Netcars.

He saw a contact number in the windscreen of the car pictured on the site, telling him to call the owner directly to arrange to purchase the motor, something which administrators at Netcars have since warned prospective buyers never to do, but advice that Bernard, at the time, was unaware of.

Now, weeks after agreeing to pay £3,700 for the car, while Bernard was on an overseas holiday to Gambia, the freelance heavy goods driver has seen neither hide nor hair of his BMW and said that both his hard-earned cash and the mysterious seller, known only as Jenna Lamprou, had vanished.

“I was completely knocked for six when I discovered I was a victim of fraud,” admitted Bernard, “It’s a massive sum of money that has just been flushed down the drain.

“I was a total wreck when I heard because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get any of the money back.”

Bernard is now warning people to be cautious when hunting for a new car online, in an effort to stop them suffering the same fate.

“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” he added. “It’s very frustrating. I had no reason to suspect a con, everything seemed very legitimate.”

He said that when he contact the woman, Jenna, she informed him she had recently emigrated to Australia and was leaving the sale of her BMW in the hands of Netcars.

She gave him the supposed email address of the Netcars sales team dealing with her car, [email protected] – an address which officials from the company say doesn’t exist.

Bernard then provided his bank details to someone on this email, believing it to be authentic.

The police force’s national fraud squad, Action Fraud UK, is now investigating the crime.