1956 Cadillac Eldorado Seville Sales Folder; Scam

[jdemerson]

I am looking for an Eldorado Seville sales folder for the new 1956 model, and I posted it in the Wanted to Buy section. Any lead appreciated!

I got a call from someone identifying himself as T.J. "Jonathan" Shaw from California, who said his grandfather (a Mr. Denton) had owned the car, Shaw said that he has excellent copies of the Seville brochure available. He said an acquaintance, a CLC member named Mr. Ross, had given my name to him. Mr.Shaw gave his phone number as 510 671-4663

I asked a few questions, with my CLC Membership Directory in front of me, for the purpose of doing a little checking. It quickly became apparent that this was an effort at a scam. The caller hung up and promised he would call back.

Sellers BEWARE!

John Emerson
1952 Cadillac Sedan 5219X

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day John,

One of the problems with advertising anything to buy or sell is putting your phone number or email address in your messages.

It is easy for scammers to troll the internet and then make contact as a prospective client and as you found out, this time it did not ring true.

A general rule is to treat everyone as a scammer unless you actually personally know them, or they can provide truthfull information to corroborate what they are saying.

The International Membership Directory is a very good resource, but it is kept up to date as best it can be.   Once a member has become unfinancial, the following year, their name does not appear, so then you have to have a complete history of older directories.

The new Forum will be complicating things further as people who are not CLC Financial Members will not be able to join and access the PM system, or post messages.   They will be able to read, but that's it.   Buying and selling will be harder.

Everyone has to be careful.

Bruce.  

[jdemerson]

Hello Bruce,

Thank you for this thoughtful and informative reply. All that you have said makes very good sense. I do treat everyone as a potential scammer in the sense that I check to see that they are CLC members and I check what Cadillac(s) they own.

I've sold sales literature using both the Self-Starter classifieds and also this message board, for many years. I've done this as a service to fellow owners and enthusiasts, and all proceeds are donated to a local church. (I'm not a dealer...) I've always found CLC members and other owners of old cars to be honest people and very pleasant to deal with. I've made many friends this way over the years. If someone is not a CLC member, or at least very closely connected to a CLC member and an owner of a Cadillac, I wouldn't sell to them. I have never been cheated while selling in this way.

I note that classifieds in the Self Starter nearly always contain a phone numer or an e-mail, and usually both. I'm running an ad there this month.

I posted the message above, hoping that providing the detailed information about my recent call might prevent a fellow CLC member from being cheated. But I know that's a long shot...

I'll continue to provide my contact information is listings, in order to encourage responses from legitimate CLC members and Cadillac owners. But I also recognize the wisdom of your advice and the relevance of the information you have provided.

Thank you, Bruce!
John

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day John,

The difference between the Self Starter and the Internet Forum is that one has to be a financial CLC Member to receive either copy of the Self Starter.   That is printed or electronic.

The Forum can be seen by anyone, world wide, and this is where the problem comes.

No matter how many times the following words are printed in the International Membership Directory
"This directory is intended solely for the personal use of Cadillac & LaSalle Club members. The use of the direc␂tory for solicitation or any commercial and/or political use is prohibited. It
may not be sold or bartered within 10 years of the date of publication"

Basic commonsense, courtesy and copywrite laws don't seem to apply to Scammers.

Bruce.