People across the United States have been calling Veazie police for weeks, trying to figure out if a classic car dealer that claims to be located in town is real.
The site, Casco Bay Classic Cars, is a scam, Veazie Police Officer Bailey Bernier said. The department issued a warning on Facebook as it works to get the website taken down.
Classic cars, like a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro RS, are listed at prices “far below market value,” and the scammers want buyers to make a payment with the promise of the vehicle being shipped after, the department said.
There are no cars and the company does not have a dealership license, Bernier said. The address listed on its site is to a privately owned warehouse.
Veazie police have answered calls from across the country, asking if the company is legitimate, Bernier said. At least one person has sent money to the company, but it’s unclear how much was lost, she said.
The scam victim isn’t in Veazie’s jurisdiction so the department isn’t in charge of investigating that, Bernier said. Police are working to get the website taken down and she’s submitted a complaint to the FBI.
No one answered the Maine phone number listed on the dealer’s site Thursday and a voicemail was not returned. The automated answering system listed the company’s office hours as Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The car dealer’s site lists a Veazie address set over a map of Savannah, Georgia. The company’s Facebook — which first posted on Feb. 15 — lists an address on Thompson’s Point in Portland.
Photos of the cars are 98% likely to be generated by artificial intelligence, according to Siteengine, an AI detection site. Using AI is likely part of the reason the scam is catching people off-guard, Bernier said.
The 27 cars listed on the site are all marked as “new arrivals.”
Bernier said she hopes the site is offline soon.
“I don’t want to see anyone else get scammed by these people,” she said.