Desert Hot Springs woman avoids getting scammed while selling car online

The car listed for sale by Desert Hot Springs resident Susan Pranauski was a 1993 Subuaru Outback wagon for $3,000.

She posted an ad on Craigslist.

“I’m in a really tough financial spot right now and I need to sell the car to make ends meet,” said Pranauski.

After posting her ad, Pranauski received an email from someone using the name “Lucas Robert”, indicating he was interested in the car.

In following emails, he asked for information about the car, which Susan had already included in the ad, and that caused her to become suspicious.

Eventually, Lucas informed Susan he wanted to buy the car.

“First he asked for the pictures, and then all of a sudden, he is buying the car,” said Pranauski.

Lucas sent an email to Susan, which appeared to come from his Paypal account.

The email indicated he was paying her $3,000 for the car, and $1,500 extra to cover the cost of shipping the car.

In the email, Lucas instructed Susan to use Moneygram to send $1,500 dollars to a shipper in Georgia.

But Susan remembered a recent “Stands for You” report on CBS Local 2, which included the warning to “never use Moneygram to send money to someone you don’t know”.

She did not.

“When I head the part about wanting money up front with Moneygram, it just made me think of the things you guys said on the news,” said Pranauski.

Wondering about the email featuring a Paypal logo, Susan called the online payments company, and a representative told her the email did not come from Paypal.

That was the last contact Susan had with Lucas Robert.

The car is listed on Craigslist once again.

Describing herself as a “very trusting person”, Susan says the whole experience has her very disappointed.

But, she is glad she didn’t get ripped off.

“That is my biggest problem in life. I am too trusting, and it makes me feel good I was able to figure out it was a scam,” said Pranauski.

After listing her car on Craigslist a second time, Susan she was targeted again by someone else trying to pull the same scam.