Looking to Buy a Used Lexus IS 350? Beware this Craigslist Scam!
Photos of a third-gen IS 350 just the tip of an iceberg of multiple Craigslist postings with different stories, ill intents.
Whenever shopping for a Lexus IS 350, you’ve got a few options. There’s your local dealership, of course. Then, there’s our Club Lexus Marketplace (which you should visit every day, by the way). Next is eBay or your favorite auction house, like Mecum or Barrett-Jackson. Finally, there’s Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, where things could get sketchy.
Such is the case with a “2012 IS 350” we found on not one, not two, not three, but around 20 Craigslist postings across the United States. Alas, it’s not a single owner casting a single net, but likely a scammer trawling for cash from unsuspecting buyers.
We stumbled upon this IS 350 while looking through AutoTempest for some wild and crazy Lexuses to share with you. The only thing wild and crazy here, though, is the many stories of the car.
For example, this Craigslist ad in Memphis says the car is for sale on a Florida dealer’s website. We looked, but only a 2006 ES 350 for $7,350 was in the inventory. Another ad in the Akron-Canton area says the IS 350’s logged over 273,000 miles, while two in Richmond and Roanoke, Virginia claim 83,000 miles.
The IS 350 certainly comes with some odd features. In Knoxville, for example, it has three-row seating for eight, with “optional” Lexus badging “because [the owner] never liked the Toyota logo.” In Miami, the paint is White Crystal Pearl, which it clearly isn’t. It’s also front-wheel drive, which it never was, and isn’t now.
Of course, there are two things these ads all have in common. First, it’s not a 2012 IS 350. It’s a current-gen IS 350.
The second is the price tag: $1,600. All of the ads are asking $1,600 for what appears to be a fully functioning Lexus. At that price, you’re bringing a trailer, and are already ordering body and engine parts from your local Lexus dealership.
What’s going on then? A revamp of the Craiglist housing scam. According to an August 2019 article in the Detroit Free Press, scammers act as landlords who are “out of town,” but are more than willing take a $450 or $500 deposit on a rental property in exchange for a lease agreement that never comes.
Thus, if you find a “2012 Lexus IS 350” in your Craigslist, and it looks like the examples in this post, report and run away.
Photo: Lexus
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