A NEW international fraud scam targeting anyone advertising and selling a car has been discovered by Worcestershire County Council's Trading Standards Service.

The fraudsters, who target both private sellers and car retailers, contact the sellers claiming to be brokers from abroad and show an interest in buying the vehicle for the export market.

They offer to pay for the car with a cash for more than the asking price, claiming they have been gazzumped in the past and say they will send the sellers a cheque so they can deposit it themselves and after it is cleared the difference can be sent back to them and the car will be collected.

When the cheque has been cleared, the seller sends the difference back to the broker. The fraud becomes clear when although the cheque initially clears it is later proven to be forged or stolen.

At best the seller will lose the difference between the asking price and the value of the cheque, at worst the car will already have been collected and the seller will have lost the car as well.

Phil Whitehouse, of Worcestershire County Council's Trading Standards Service, said: "This is a very cleverly thought-out scam and there may be a number of variations."