Internet car scam

A Limassol businessman was cheated out of over €95,000 in an internet car deal scam last month.

Police on Wednesday said they were investigating an online scam following a complaint by a car dealer that he paid €95,475 for the purchase of used cars from Japan in July which he never received.

The complainant said he submitted the payment to a bank account indicated to him in Ireland on July 15 and 22. The amount was part of the total agreement of a €169,400 deal he made for the export of a number of vehicles, police said.

Despite the seller’s assurances that the cars had been loaded on a specific ship departing from Japan on August 1, the complainant found that this was not the case. He then informed his bank to withdraw the payment, which so far did not happen.

Police are investigating a case of internet fraud and extortion of money by false representations.