My brother, David, received the following email this morning:
He forwarded it to me, assuming it was intended for me. That made sense, but 1) I don't know anyone named Jon Patterson and 2) Stone is such a common name that it would be virtually impossible for someone to find "David Stone" when they were looking for "Jim Stone," especially given that it went to his work address and not a generic Gmail or other email account. So, I did a little Googling of Mr. McDowall and found this on a Ferrari site: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/warning-of-fishing-scam-by-auto-broker.591959/
So, while not quite a scam, it is certainly an unethical practice. And that is assuming that someone else hasn't co-opted the idea and is using it for a different, even less scrupulous purpose. Which is possible, given that the phone number the Ferrari guy got wasn't on my brother's email.
Just in case anyone else gets one like this. I might well have been fooled if it had come directly to me. It was only the fact that my brother got it that tipped me off.
So, while not quite a scam, it is certainly an unethical practice. And that is assuming that someone else hasn't co-opted the idea and is using it for a different, even less scrupulous purpose. Which is possible, given that the phone number the Ferrari guy got wasn't on my brother's email.
Just in case anyone else gets one like this. I might well have been fooled if it had come directly to me. It was only the fact that my brother got it that tipped me off.