Shelby sale scam

[Bill Collins]

This is an alert regarding an elaborate Shelby scam posted online.

A '68 GT500KR and a '69 GT500 hardtop are currently shown on a web site for Heinrich's Vintage Car Shop in Columbia Station, Ohio. Both cars are priced well below market.

Heinrich's is a legitimate restoration business but does not sell cars. Reportedly, they allowed their internet domain name to expire through an oversight and before they could act to renew it, a scammer hijacked the site and is using it to bogusly offer cars previously sold elsewhere.

Here are the links to the Shelbys:
https://heinrichsvintage.com/listing/1968-shelby-gt500-kr/

https://heinrichsvintage.com/listing/1969-ford-mustang-shelby-gt500/

One of my customers was interested in the KR and contacted me for advice. I was immediately skeptical due to the pricing, the fact that the posted VIN on each car did not match the configuration of the one pictured, and no photos of VINs or other identifiers were shown.

In the meantime, my customer inquired to the number in the ad and was contacted by an individual who identified himself as Edward Walker, sales manager. My friend next wisely engaged the services of a reputable inspection company for an in person evaluation. The scam was uncovered when the inspector, who is local to and familiar with the actual Heinrich's, contacted them about the car.

Subsequent investigation discloses that "Edward Walker" is a serial scammer, who for some reason operates continuously under this name. Several individuals have lost tens of thousands of dollars to him. Various brands and types of collector cars have been involved.

He is known to Homeland Security, which is investigating and pursuing him on fraud charges. If you have any information regarding this individual, you are asked to contact:

Scott Mollner
Special Agent
Homeland Security Investigations

Omaha, NE
402-403-2705

[557]

Nice work sir!

[tesgt350]

Didn't Coralsnake used to own an Orange KR?

[J_Speegle]

Thanks for the foot work and sharing

[Coralsnake]

Well, a quick check of the Registry would have also been in order. Car # 3379 was a red KR, not orange.

The scammers have simply swapped around some numbers in the VIN and stole the pictures.

The car pictured is actually car # 3397 and is a special paint car. This not the first time they used the pictures of this car on a fake website.

[Bill Collins]

I did perform that Registry check and determined that the orange KR pictured was #3397. We initially thought it was a typo in the ad and so my customer proceeded to explore it further. I did not want to mention the actual number in my alert, focusing just on the fact that the web site, as it appeared, was a scam.

[Coralsnake]

If you prefer I will remove the number from this conversation. I believe Mr Liska also has additional information on a similar event, with the same photos.

Last week, I got a request to check a Mustang in Wisconsin. It was the same deal, when I looked up the businesses actual phone number and looked at the pictures of their establishment, I was confident the website and the business did not match.

They were literally located on a dirt road and the website was way too slick and polished to match the google maps images.

[shelbymann1970]

I threw this up on a couple of related Facebook groups to help warn others.