Description

I bid on an online auction for a 2023 Caterpillar 299D3XE Skid Steer Track Loader and won the auction for $25,500 on 9/29/25. I was then contacted by phone from "Karen" at Alpha Luxury Drivers who said I had won the auction. She said they will be emailing me an invoice with wiring instructions to Timonix Auto LLC, per the routing info and account number provided by me earlier. She then called me about 2 hours later to check on the status of the wire transfer. I told her I was working on it and that my Merrill Lynch advisor told me the address for Timonix Auto LLC was incorrect. I then gave the Merrill Lynch (ML) advisor their phone number (509-800-7107). He called Alpha Luxury Drivers to get the correct wiring address. When I told this to the Alpha Luxury Drivers person, she responded that she had already straightened this out with my ML advisor. I told her she could expect the money that afternoon, 9/29/25. Today, 9/30/25, I was notified by ML of multiple cases of fraud with Timonix Auto LLC. They said the owner of the account was trying to close the account. The owner was subject to multiple fraud claims. ML tried to "get my money back" but the wire transfer had already gone through. There were multiple emails sent back and forth to and from [email protected] with respect to the auction and to arranging shipping of the skid steer. At one point, Karen said their physical mailing address was 821 Second Ave, Seattle, WA 98104. When I called her back at 3:00pm today, I asked for a suite #, since I googled the address and it is a large building with multiple tenants. The Federal reference number is 20250929XXXXXXX from Merrill Lynch for the wire transfer. The employee, Karen, from Alpha Luxury Drivers said she would text or email me their physical address info and more information on the shipping arrangements and timeline at around 3:15pm on 9/30/25.. She said I would receive the skid steer by this coming Wednesday, October 8th. Based on online research, Alpha Luxury Drivers, Inc. does not exist. I have no hope for receiving this skid steer.