I thought about buying a caravan so looked on “Le bon coin” and found a super deal on a Hobby 540 for €1000!
Thinking that it was too good to be true, I answered anyway and the seller replied pretty quickly citing “tragic death “ of his wife and moving for job as a motive for selling so cheaply.
We corresponded and I passed over my adresse, and home/ mobile tel no’s.
He said that his brother in law could deliver the van and if I was not pleased with the condition, etc I could refuse to pay him.
I have
He wanted me to give this guy cash, €1000, for a van that could be worth 3-4K which was when I stopped being interested as it became an obvious scam.
I replied saying that my gendarme neighbour advised that any cash payment over €200 was illegal and it went very quiet!
The bad side is that I gave him my personal details, but I do that all the time so my question is, how can he make money on this scam?
OK, I will be extra vigilant that my name is not used fraudulently but otherwise how could he make significant money?
If I had accepted the van, and paid €1000 then what would have happened?
Would the law have turned up, explaining that it was stolen?
Would a finance company have claimed that it was theirs?
Would burglars have forced entry and stolen the €1000 that I would have withdrawn, waiting for delivery ?
This all seems too much trouble for a, let’s face it, not a lot of dosh, so how does this scam make money?
I am losing sleep, please help!!!
No need to lose sleep, you were simply being cautious.
As you suspect the caravan may well have been stolen.
What paperwork were they offering you with the caravan? Did it have a Carte Grise?
I can only presume that it was stolen and that by sending the brother in law there was no way to link the name on the Carte Grise to the person you dealt with. If the seller himself had turned up you could have asked to see some proof of who he claimed to be.
The limit is 1000€, not 200.
Of course that is probably why the amount that they wanted was 1000€
Don’t forget the old adage “if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is”
Hi Raymond
A French friend got ‘carried away’ by an advert placed on Le bon coin for a camping car some years ago.
Like you he made contact, gave his address where he could inspect the camping car, delivery could be made etc etc;
Another of his friends advised caution and helped out with replies. Once the ‘seller’ realised that there was someone asking pertinent questions they ‘melted away’ and no more was heard !
You were cautious so I don’t think that you will hear again, these scum depend on having replies that will enable them to arrive with said goods, do a bit of ‘honest’ pressure selling, claim that carte gris or whatever will arrive later, take maybe a deposit and then disappear. This leaves you with something that may have been stolen, no redress in law and a horrible experience.
Don’t lose sleep, just put it down to experience and thank whatever gods you belive in that you didn’t go further 
Yes I do know that, but what I said was half true as the bank will only give out €200 at a time, but thank you for giving a motive for the price!
I still need someone to come up with how this scam can make money??
By maybe taking a cash deposit to hold whatever it is you are interested in,thereby giving you a feelin of confidence !
As stated above, steal van, sell it to some poor sap for 1000€ and with a sob story about the documentation. Walk away with the 1000€ leaving the victim to explain everything to the authorities. You’d probably find that the leboncoin account was hijacked and details used to set up any email accounts fake.
The paperwork would have been immaculate, including a photocopy of his I’d, and all relevant carte grise, copies of sale docs etc, but these days, I mistrust anything without a watermark!
But how does anyone know that it was stolen?
It is too risky to find a mug whilst holding a stolen article with a gain of only €1000
I could be a wide boy who could clone a plaque d’immatrIculation,
No he didn’t ask for a deposit.
We’re guessing.
You’re looking at this from the perspective of someone who is honest, moderately intelligent and has 1000€ to spend on something.
Your average TWOCer is none of those things (at least in the UK and I daresay in France as well).
Though I am given to understand that the favoured method these days is to strip every resellable part out and sell those on. Quicker turnaround and more profit.
Why does your bank only allow you to withdraw €200 in cash?
First thing that struck me… .on reading through this thread… is that, had you followed through, someone would know that you would have 1000 euro in cash… at your home, on a certain date…
I’m quite happy for the world to know that we have only small change at home… and nothing much worth nicking… seems safer that way… 
AFAIK, it’s a bank imposed limit to avoid fraudulent use of the card. The limit is not imposed if you present at the branch and tell them what the funds are for so in that respect, you can access your own money but there is damage limitation on a potential fraudulent withdrawal of funds from your account. Not a bad idea in my view.
These days, for larger purchases, we tend to use a cheque or direct transfer with the appropriate BIC or IBAN number. 
Yes, I know that, I was just trying to see if the seller would accept another method of payment, which would uncover his bank details, or would insist on cash, which would confirm that this is a scam.
I agree that a limit is a good idea and worked to my advantage in this case.
Even though you effectively scammed the scammer
I’m understand your logic but I am just surprised that your withdrawal limit is so low. I rarely withdraw large amounts of cash but whatever my limit is it’s much higher than that. I know I have a limit for the maximum that I can use my debit/credit card for on a one time purchase but as it’s more than my annual income I don’t worry about it.
With my internet bank I can set my ‘level’ of what I want to withdraw, any more than that the bank contacts me by SMS to check it’s me. Also great security on the card for purchases, if over a certain amount they contact me to tell me a transaction has been made. Instant security
Our French bank allows us to draw up to €1500 per month and up to €500 at any one time in cash from the machine.