Caravan enthusiasts in Oamaru are being warned to beware of cut-price offers for top-of-the-range caravans, after police uncovered a possible fraudulent advertisement in a local newspaper.
Community constable Bruce Dow said he started to make inquiries into an advertisement offering a 2006 Jayco Sterling Caravan for sale for $14,000, after he was contacted by a friend who had seen the advertisement, knew the real value of the caravan and was suspicious that payment was required upfront.
Senior Constable Dow said the caravan was in fact worth $40,000 and the person selling it would make contact only by email, claiming they had a contract with eBay Motors NZ & AU so the transaction could be done through them.
Snr Const Dow said there was an eBay Motors Australia but there was no eBay Motors NZ.
Requests for photographs of the caravan's registration plate were declined.
Further contact with the ''owner'' of the caravan had brought further concerns, he said.
''He was asked if the caravan has a current gas certificate. He has advised that it has. No such certificate exists for caravans.
''He has also failed to provide a registration number as requested, but claims the caravan is `all sealed and ready for delivery', and just needs confirmation that the money has been deposited.''
Snr Const Dow said the scam was also thought have been run in Australia previously.
''I, for one, do not wish to see one single local in this community scammed out of their hard-earned money.''
The advertisement did not appear in the Otago Daily Times.
Oamaru had also been ''plagued'' in recent times by various email, text and phone scams, and he advised people to not transfer money for goods they had never asked for.
