What was your first car?
We all remember it and what we had to do to earn it.
One Valley teen thought she was getting a heck of a deal.
Newyear, yes, like the holiday, spotted her car on Craigslist.
The 19-year old worked all day, most every day, styling hair at Studio 602 Beauty Salon in West Phoenix.
She finally had $1,000 saved up.
That's what the seller needed for this older car.
She claimed to be in the military and needed to sell it fast.
And the email Newyear received looked legit.
It said Ebay Motors with all of its protections and refund policy highlighted.
Newyear sent the money per instructions- load up ebay gift cards, send the pin numbers and photos to the seller.
She did that.
The seller wanted more, another $1,000 for "shipping."
Newyear wanted a refund. The seller blocked her.
She lost everything.
Through a teary interview, Newyear told me she just wanted decent transportation so she could get to work.
She couldn't understand why anybody would do this to another person.
Now Newyear can see some of the red flag warnings about this deal.
It was a price too good to be true, from someone using the military for legitimacy and they wanted gift cards.
They are sure signs its a scam.
Ebay has a full page of warnings about this rip-off.
They say they ONLY deal on ebay.com, not on any other site or with anyone who uses a different email address.
And they never ask for gift cards.
Newyear contacted Ebay and filled out an FBI report.
Unfortunately, this scammer could be anywhere and is very hard, if not impossible to track.
It's an adult lesson this teen had to learn.
She's down, but not out.
And I know, she has the determination that soon enough, she'll be getting that first car.
This time, I told her to contact me so we can go through the steps together.
