Honesty in auctions.

[jeffschevelle]

Until it becomes a common outcome for someone who actually gets caught committing one of these frauds to get some real jail time, this situation is never going to change. The potential monetary rewards if they get away with it are so much bigger than the potential risk if they get caught (which is unfortunately close to nil in most states), there is no disincentive to keep doing it.

The truth of this is shown by how many times a car is "outed" on a forum like this, yet shows up again and again in auctions after that. And how often someone does get caught, gets sued and has to buy a car back, but simply goes to a different auction and sells it again with the exact same fraud story still attached.

If someone wants to help a foolish buyer out by sharing a belief that there may be a problem with a car, but not get themselves into the middle of the stink, a good way to do it would be to say:

"I'm no expert, but you might want to research whether or not ____". Or "I'm no expert, but you might want to verify ____".

That way you are not saying you declare it IS fake, or even that you believe it is fake. You are simply saying, hey, here's a particular item or fact that you might want to do your OWN due diligence on before you buy. Then if the buyer backs out, or proceeds, its all on him (just as it should be).

Using the Canadian LS6 story above as an example, you could say:

"I'm no expert, but you might want to research whether or not they actually built LS6 Chevelles at that particular plant in Canada". Or

"I'm no expert, but you might want to have someone who is an expert verify that deck stamp."