They thought they had gotten a deal by buying their car on Leboncoin… but these 34 people never saw the color of it

La combine sur Leboncoin était bien rodée. MAXPPP – Patrice MASANTE

34 personnes se sont fait piéger par un faux vendeur de voiture sur Leboncoin. Le suspect a été arrêté par les gendarmes de Fontainebleau. Une escroquerie qui dure deux ans entre mai 2022 et mai 2024.

Scams on Leboncoin are rife. In Île-de-France, 34 people have been victims of a scam on the online resale site. They thought they were buying a car from a garage, but none of them saw any of it. The deception would last two years, between May 2022 and May 2024, before the gendarmes of the Fontainebleau research brigade put an end to it, reveals La République de Seine-et-Marne.

“Their strength was that they were very credible”

The scheme was well-oiled, cars were offered for sale on the website, with normal prices, and the seller was a professional, the company Globe Réseau Excellis Auto, which had a garage in Poligny, south of Nemours. The company would set up an appointment for the victims to come and see the vehicle.

People who decided to buy the vehicle then had to pay a deposit. The scammers made it appear that work had to be done to finalize the sale and did not deliver it. Buyers then had to complete the payment, to come and collect the car. However, when they arrived at the site, the company was closed.

“Their strength was that they were very credible and presented well”, a source told our colleagues. “They opened to welcome new buyers and did not hesitate to put cars they had sold back on the internet”.

Three suspects arrested

The Fontainebleau police identified and arrested three of the suspects behind this scam, including the manager of the company, a 29-year-old man. He was sentenced to four years in prison and was kept in detention. Another was sentenced to 18 months in prison without a warrant, and the last was acquitted.

220,000 euros in damages were estimated, and search warrants are still in progress against the three other suspects who have still not been arrested. The company has since been liquidated, and a new garage has been set up, which has nothing to do with the case.