A classic motorcycle is expensive, rare and easy to describe over the phone. That combination attracts fraud. The good news is that almost every scam follows the same pattern: you are asked to send money before you have the bike. If you know the pattern, you can stop it.
The rule that prevents most losses
Do not release money to a person you have not met, for a bike you have not seen, by a method that cannot be reversed. Any two of those three can be survivable. All three together is how people lose money. Fraud guidance from marketplaces and consumer bodies says the same thing, and Epic Motor Trading's own fraud alert page says it plainly: never pay a seller directly by bank transfer, cash, Western Union, MoneyGram or any other method outside the platform, even when the seller says it will "save on fees".
How escrow works
With escrow a neutral party holds the money until both sides have done what they promised. On Epic Motor Trading the winner pays within 48 hours through the checkout (cards and Bancontact), and the payment is held. The seller does not receive it until the handover is confirmed by both buyer and seller in their dashboards. In practice that means:
- You pay. The money is held, not sent to the seller.
- You collect the bike or it is collected by a carrier, and you check it against the listing.
- Both parties confirm the handover, and only then is the money released.
If something is wrong, there is a dispute process, and the money has not yet left. Read how it works and shipping and pickup for the details of each step, because the confirmation rules differ depending on whether you collect in person or use a carrier.
Bank transfers outside a platform
If you buy privately, outside any platform, a bank transfer is the usual method and it is final. A few ways to make it safer:
- Pay when you collect the bike, at the seller's address, against a signed bill of sale.
- Compare the account holder's name with the name on the registration. A seller who says "the account is my partner's" is the opening for a fraud.
- Transfer a small deposit only if you have seen the bike or someone you trust has, and write the purpose of the payment in the transfer.
- Do not pay by cash for large amounts without a witness and a receipt.
Scams that come back every year
- The bike that does not exist. Nice photos, a price below the market, a story about why the seller cannot show it. Photos that appear elsewhere on the internet are a clue: reverse image search is free.
- The seller's escrow site. The seller proposes a "safe" escrow or shipping company. The site is theirs. A real escrow service is one that you choose yourself, from your own research.
- The overpayment. A buyer sends too much and asks you to return the difference. The first payment turns out to be fake.
- Pressure. "Another buyer is on the way", "I need to leave the country", "the price is only good today".
- Hijacked listings. A real listing is copied by a fraudster, who contacts the people who asked about it.
Signs to stop
- The seller refuses a video call, a viewing or a pre-purchase inspection.
- The listing text is vague or copied, and the photos show nothing of the frame number.
- The seller wants to move the conversation to private email or a messaging app straight away.
- You are asked to pay outside the platform where you found the bike.
If it goes wrong
Stop paying immediately. Call your bank at once, because an early report gives the best chance to block or recall a transfer. Report the fraud to the police and to the platform. In the Netherlands, the Fraudehelpdesk gives advice and takes reports, and in Belgium there is a national reporting point. If the purchase was across borders in the EU, the European Consumer Centres Network may be able to help with disputes with a business.
