ACTION Fraud officers are warning that online shopping websites are being utilised by con artists to advertise vehicles for sale which don’t exist.

After agreeing to buy the vehicle via e-mail with the fraudsters, buyers then receive e-mails purporting to be from Amazon Payments and/or Amazon Flexible Payment Service stating that their money will be held in an ‘escrow account’ – a bank account held by a third party and used as a temporary holding account during a transaction between two parties for a seven-day ‘cooling off’ period.

Once happy with the purchase, the e-mail indicates the money will be released to the seller, therefore offering “buyer protection”.

In reality, the e-mails are fraudulent and don’t come from Amazon. The bank accounts are controlled by fraudsters.

In order protect yourself, police advice is remember that Amazon does not provide an escrow account to purchase items, meet the seller face to face and view the vehicle before parting with any money, be vigilant of e-mails that purport to be from genuine companies and check the domain name of the e-mail address for any inconsistencies, check feedback online by searching the associated phone numbers or e-mail addresses of the seller, and if the vehicle is below market value, consider whether this is an opportunity too good to be true.

To report a scam, call 0300 123 2040 or visi www.ac tionfraud.police.uk