Description

My associate and I had been looking for a 1966 Volkswagen Beetle for quite some time. An ad for one surfaced on Facebook, caught my attention, and I made my associate aware of it. We were delighted to find it, as it "checked off many of the boxes" she had been looking for. My first contact with this company was by phone. I asked several questions about the car and found them difficult to understand due to a language barrier. I later noticed that they had a "Chat" feature. Using this, the questions and answers were better, but still a bit confusing. (The answers more so than the questions.) I questioned why the vehicle, in presumably such good overall condition, was offered for sale at $7,000.00. Beetles in my area in similar condition were offered at higher prices. The response was that they acquired their inventory through bank foreclosures and sometimes through auctions. Those answers did not make sense because the car was shown on their site with an Oregon registration plate installed. The plates are always removed from vehicles before they are offered at either of those venues. I advised my associate, who was really buying the car. She then called the company, and in short order, they knocked a thousand dollars off the price, making it $6,000.00. Both buyer and seller agreed to the terms. They offered to deliver the vehicle for an estimated $600.00 to $700.00. We thought it better for me to drive to their location with a trailer and bring the Beetle back. This way I could lay eyes on the car, test drive it, and make sure it was as presented on the website. They asked for a sizable down payment of $1,000.00 to "take the car off the market, to draw up the Bill of Sale paperwork, and to make it legal." They indicated that they preferred cash, but they would accept PayPal, Venmo, or some kind of "Cash App." My associate offered a Certified Check, a Cashier's Check, and to wire the money directly. They insisted on cash, PayPal, or this "Cash App." I offered to use my PayPal account because my associate did not have one. At approximately 9:30 on the morning of 12/9/25, I requested the vendor's PayPal credentials. At around 10:00, with them in an open "chat" conversation, I reluctantly began to process the transfer $1,000.00. Immediately, a "problem screen appeared in my PayPal app, indicating that the vendor was not accepting PayPal transfers at this time." I now feel that this was either God or PayPal warning me that something was very wrong. I sent them a screenshot of the failure and questioned them as to why, when they were requesting money just five minutes prior, they did not accept the money transfer. I was given no excuse but was asked to give them my PayPal credentials so that they could request the funds, and "all I had to do was authorize the payment!" I made it clear that was not going to happen! They then asked me to "go to a Walmart, buy two $500.00 gift cards, and text them snapshots of the front and backs of the cards." I refused that, and they suggested that "I contact PayPal again and have them convert the currency to Bitcoin Units and try to send it that way!" I knew now that there was something very illegitimate about this whole deal. I told them that the deal was off! They then called back and attempted to give me another set of PayPal credentials and suggested that I try them. They approached my associate with the same ideas of gift cards and this "Cash App. business." She and I had spoken via the phone in the meantime, both agreeing that it was not in our best interests to proceed with this deal. Sometime later that evening, around 7:00, another person from that organization called to try to smooth things over and offer excuses for all the earlier calamities. I insisted that the deal was off, that I do not deal with disreputable people, and that I no longer trusted him. I went as far as to call him a scammer! He tried to talk over me, so I hung up on him. He tried to call a couple more times, but I did not answer. I'm sorry, but I cannot remember the names of the specific people that I talked with. They were very difficult to understand. They all, however, answered to the name "Danny." They have my name, address, cell number, and email address. They also have my associate's name, address, cell number, and email address. They apparently operate a second business, under the name Danny's VW Parts. It is also presumably located at 5339 Rainhill Church Road, Morganton, NC 28655. A second phone number is 828-584-1819. These are the first set of PayPal credentials they gave me. Cesar Franco Blackburn [email protected] Tag: @Cesar Franco 18 In their second attempt to secure the money from me, they forwarded the following information. "Send to [email protected] Sanchez Johnson @chezturntfr. I have retained most all, of the online "chat conversations" as proof of what I have described herein.