Victims sent to Highlands by fraudster
BY ALAN McEWEN A CON artist using the same name as Croatian football ace Luka Modric has been running a second-hand car scam.
The fraudster has been sending unsuspecting buyers to a village near Thurso in the Highlands to pick up nonexistent vehicles.
Cars including Land Rovers, Audis and Toyotas had been advertised online.
Victims travelled from as far away as Manchester, Bradford, London and Ireland after being given an address in Castletown to collect cars they’d paid for, or put down £200 deposits on.
Gianluca Trimarco told the BBC he’d been “buzzing” after spotting the advert.
He said: “I’d been saving for about nine months. I came across this advertisement for an Audi A5.”
Gianluca transferred £5700 but no car was ever delivered leaving him “gutted”.
The fraudster has used the address of Linda Bain’s son in the village. They had nothing to do with the con.
Linda said: “They’d paid money towards a car they believed they’re coming to collect.”
She fears victims may try to demand money back from her son.
Castletown neighbour John Calder, 75, said the first victim came to his attention shortly after Christmas.
He told the Record: “This man flew from London to Edinburgh to buy a Toyota Hilux, got the train to Inverness then a bus here, which was quite costly.”
John said he’d invited victims in for a coffee after they discovered they’d been conned.
The retired joiner added: “Some were annoyed. We’ve had local people coming from Thurso but some were from England.
“They thought they were buying Toyotas, Land Rovers, Audis. I reckoned they were being sold about £3000 cheaper than they should’ve been.”
The fraudster emailed fake documents to victims using the name of the Croatia and Real Madrid star.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “The key advice is not to part with any money until you have had the chance to inspect the vehicle in person.
“When a deal seems too good to be true, it often is.”