A buyer agrees to your car’s price, then says the payment includes extra money for a transporter. They want you to send the difference elsewhere before pickup. Stop the transaction: an apparently generous payment can become a request for you to spend your own money.
This guide is for private sellers and dealership staff handling an unexpected overpayment or refund request. U.S. FTC sources were checked on October 19, 2026. It is a practical fraud-response workflow, not a guarantee about a payment method or a substitute for your financial institution’s instructions.
1. Recognize the request—not just the payment’s appearance
The FTC’s fake-check guidance describes a familiar pattern: a stranger sends more than they owe and asks you to forward some money. Counterfeits can resemble personal, business or cashier’s checks. A professional-looking document is not authentication.
Record the agreed vehicle price separately from the amount allegedly sent. Then identify the requested action: refund the buyer, pay a shipping company, pay a release fee, or send money to a different account. A plausible transport story does not explain why you should become an intermediary for an unfamiliar person’s payment.
The FTC advises against accepting a check for more than the selling price. Do not deposit a suspicious overpayment to “see whether it works.” If it has already been deposited, contact your bank’s fraud team and explain the entire request before moving money or handing over the vehicle.
2. Keep four payment states separate
Use these editorial labels in your notes. They are not banking or legal definitions:
| What you have | What it does not establish |
|---|---|
| The buyer says “paid” | That your own account received anything. |
| A screenshot, email or text receipt | That the message is genuine or belongs to your transaction. |
| A deposit shown or funds available | That a check is genuine and cannot be reversed. |
| Instructions from your independently contacted bank or provider | A universal promise that every transaction risk has disappeared. |
The FTC explains that deposited funds can become available before a fake check is discovered; discovery can take weeks, and the depositor may have to repay the bank. Do not invent a “safe after three days” rule or rely on the word “cleared” without explaining the suspected fraud to your bank.
3. Verify through a channel you choose
Do not use the buyer’s support link or telephone number to investigate the payment. Open your established banking or payment-provider app yourself, or use contact details from your own card or statement. Ask the provider about this specific transaction and the appropriate process for a suspected fraudulent deposit or mistaken payment.
The FTC’s online-selling alert warns about fake payment notifications, claims of accidental double payment and verification-code requests. It also advises against accepting mobile payments from strangers. Seeing an account entry is not a reason to ignore those warnings.
Keep the inquiry narrow: “Someone buying my car says they sent too much and wants money sent to another account. What should I do with this transaction?” Do not ask only whether the balance is available. Never give a buyer a login password or one-time verification code to prove that you are a real seller.
4. Use one firm reply, then stop negotiating the workaround
A fictional response you can adapt:
The agreed vehicle price does not include money for me to forward to anyone else. I will not send a separate refund or pay a transporter from an unexpected payment. I am pausing pickup and will contact my financial institution through my own verified channel about the payment. Please do not send further funds.
This message does not promise to keep money that belongs to someone else. It avoids making a new outgoing payment based only on a stranger’s instructions. If there is a genuine error, let the financial institution or payment provider explain its proper correction process. Do not improvise a refund to a new recipient or different payment service.
A pickup appointment is not permission to skip verification. If necessary, send a short cancellation of the pickup while the issue is reviewed; our appointment-confirmation guide explains how to keep logistics explicit.
5. Example: the “extra transport money” request
Consider a fictional sale agreed at $14,000. The buyer sends an image of a $16,000 check and asks the seller to transfer $2,000 to a transporter that afternoon. No actual vehicle, bank or customer is represented by these figures.
A useful incident note separates the evidence:
- Agreement: $14,000 for the identified vehicle; no forwarding arrangement agreed.
- Claim: buyer says $16,000 has been paid.
- Material received: an image of a check, not independent confirmation.
- New request: seller must send $2,000 to a third party before pickup.
- Action: no deposit, outgoing payment or vehicle release; preserve the message and consult the relevant institution if any payment has already reached the account.
The arithmetic balances, but that is not the test. The issue is the unsupported incoming payment being used to justify a real outgoing payment. Do not try to solve that problem by requesting another screenshot.
6. If you already sent money or shared access
Act promptly. The FTC’s scam-recovery guidance says to contact the bank, payment app, card issuer or transfer service involved, report the fraud and ask whether reversal or recovery is possible. Recovery is not guaranteed.
If you shared a password, change it and any reused password, and enable two-factor authentication. Follow the provider’s account-recovery process if you cannot sign in. For exposed identity information, use the relevant FTC recovery steps rather than sending more documents to the buyer.
Retain messages, transaction references, dates and the provider’s case number privately. Report the attempt to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and through the marketplace’s available reporting channel. If the car or title has already been taken, promptly contact local law enforcement and the appropriate motor-vehicle authority for situation-specific next steps. Do not confront the person or attempt to recover the car yourself.
7. A short dealership escalation checklist
For a small dealership, make the exception visible instead of leaving it in one employee’s inbox. This is an editorial operating checklist, not a required compliance form:
- Record the stock identifier, agreed amount, claimed amount and requested recipient.
- Keep payment evidence separate from the buyer’s narrative.
- Assign one manager to contact the financial institution independently.
- Tell delivery staff that release is paused; do not mark the sale completed from a screenshot.
- Keep sensitive financial details out of shared sales-chat notes.
- Record the provider’s actual instructions and reference number.
- Require a documented review before changing the release status.
- Preserve the incident record without labeling an unresolved payment “verified.”
For a handoff between employees, use a concise buyer-conversation handoff record. AutoDream is not being represented as holding funds, authenticating payments, providing escrow or guaranteeing reimbursement. A listing and an inquiry are not payment protection.
Ready to list your car?
Put your vehicle details and photos together, then start your listing on AutoDream.
Create your listing
