The “VIN Check” Scam Targeting Campervan Sellers
Quick Summary: If someone enquiring about buying your campervan insists that you go and pay for a ‘VIN check’ or history report on a specific website before they’ll commit, you’re being set up. Don’t pay. Don’t even visit the site.
How The Scam Plays Out
The people running this have a script, and they barely deviate from it.
You list your campervan for sale and within a day or so, you get a message from someone who sounds keen. Keener than most, in fact. They don’t seem to do the usual haggling and ask for a lower price. They don’t even want to see more photos or arrange a visit to see it in person.
They may ask some basic questions, like checking if the MOT is valid and if there’s any rust you’ve not included in the photos but that’s about it. Basic but common questions.
It seems like you’ve found the perfect buyer.
One slight issue on their end.
They “just need” a history report to be 100% certain it’s the campervans of their dreams, but it has to come from one very specific site that they know.
They’ll even send you the link to be helpful.
You click through to the website they suggested. It’s not a website you’ve ever heard of before but the site looks plausible enough. A pretty good-looking website, some information about how important VIN checks are and a convenient box to drop your reg or VIN into. Submitting your details leads you to a checkout page wanting twenty or thirty quid to get a detailed report.
Perfect. Just what the buyer wanted, so you purchase the report.
What you get back is a PDF that tells you absolutely nothing you didn’t already know, or sometimes nothing at all. You send over the PDF to the potential buyer, as they eagerly asked you to… and nothing.
The potential buyer has disappeared.
They Were Never Interested In The First Place
The report was never the point. They never had any interest in what the report did or didn’t say.
The site they sent you to exists only to take a small payment off you and grab your card details while it’s at it. Some of them go further and hold on to your name, address, phone number and vehicle details to use later or sell on. That’s the bit that can cause you bother long after you’ve forgotten the listing ever existed.
The scammer who you thought was a potential buyer either owns the ‘VIN Check’ website or earned a commission if you bought one.
The Tells
- They named a specific website – A real buyer who wants reassurance runs their own check or takes one you already have. There’s no good reason for them to insist you use one site they happen to have picked out.
- They won’t take the free option – Anyone in the UK can pull a vehicle’s full MOT history for free at gov.uk. If you offer that and the “buyer” brushes it off and pushes their site instead, something fishy is going on.
- It’s a site you’ve never heard of – Often a recently set up domain with a slightly off name. A quick search usually turns up other sellers complaining about the same thing. They constantly change domains/business names, which makes it impossible to block.
What To Do Instead
If a buyer genuinely wants the history, point them at the free MOT check on gov.uk, or tell them they’re welcome to run their own HPI style check through a known provider such as HPI or MotorCheck. You don’t need to pay for a VIN/HPI check to sell your campervan, and no honest buyer will make you.
If they’re a genuine buyer, ready to pay and they feel like they need a HPI check to continue, let them pay for it themselves. A basic check will only cost them around £9.99, and if they’re not willing to pay that themselves, it’s unlikely they have a true interest in purchasing
What To Do If You’ve Already Paid
Ring your bank or card provider straight away, tell them it was fraudulent, and ask about a chargeback. Keep an eye on your statements and notify your banking provider if you see any further suspicious payments.
As the websites are often run by the scammers themselves, we recommend freezing your bank cards at a minimum and asking your banking provider to issue you a new credit/debit card.
Never feel daft if you’ve fallen for this scam. These people are professional scammers who know exactly how to manipulate trust and create a sense of urgency. They often sound convincing, appear knowledgeable, and use tactics designed to make their requests seem reasonable