Buying a car you haven't seen in person?

You can't
see the car.
We can see
the scam.

Send us the listing. We check the photos, the price, the seller, and the story — and tell you what's off before you send a dollar.

CASE FILE — 01 OF 02
1963 Ford F100 pickup truck
1963 Ford F100 — "lovingly preserved"
$12,000
Ships worldwide · no local viewing offered
same paragraph, twice on page
~55% below market avg.
"ships worldwide," no viewing
$21B+lost to online fraud in the U.S. in 2025
41%of reported vehicle escrow scam victims lost money
3 in 4virtual vehicle scam reports come from buyers 45+
Sources: FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report; BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust

Three steps, before you wire anything

Send it before you send money — not after.

01

Submit the listing

Paste the link, upload the photos, or drop in the seller's messages. Takes about a minute.

02

We investigate

VIN check, price-vs-market comparison, reverse image search, and a scan for known scam language — automated, or done by hand at the $49 tier.

03

Get your report

A plain-language risk breakdown: what checks out, what doesn't, and what to ask the seller next.

Pick your level of scrutiny

Quick gut-check, or a full personal review — same day either way.

Automated Scan
$9
A fast, algorithm-run screening. Good first check on any listing.
  • VIN decode & mismatch check
  • Price-vs-market comparison
  • Reverse image search
  • Scam-language detection
  • Delivered in minutes
Run the scan — $9

The patterns scammers repeat

Most vehicle scams share the same handful of tells. We check for all of them, every time.

01

Stolen photos

Images lifted from a real listing elsewhere, sometimes for a completely different car.

02

Underpriced bait

Priced well under market to get you moving fast, before you look too closely.

03

"It's out of state"

Seller can't meet, can't show the car, and wants a shipping company to "handle it."

04

Wire-only payment

Refuses secure, reversible payment methods — insists on wire, gift cards, or crypto.

05

Brand-new seller

Account or listing history created days ago, with no other activity.

06

VIN mismatch

The VIN decodes to a different year, trim, or model than what's advertised.

What we don't claim

A report from Sight Unseen is a risk read based on the information you give us and what's publicly available — not a guarantee. We can't inspect a car we've never seen, and no check catches every scam. Use it as one strong input in your own decision, alongside a professional inspection and your own judgment before you pay.