How I check a classic car advert, the way I checked a bank

I own five classic cars and spent forty years keeping criminals out of a bank, so I read a car advert the way I used to read a suspicious email. The fake classic car advert is one of the better-paid scams going, because the sums are large, buyers are keen, and the car is usually "a long way away". Here is the order I check things in. None of it takes more than an evening.

1. The photos. Put the main photo into a reverse image search. If the same car appears on another site, in another country or at a past auction, stop. Real sellers take their own photos, in their own drive, with today's weather in them. Ask for one more picture of something specific, the chassis plate, the boot floor, a particular switch, taken now. A scammer cannot supply it.

2. The seller. A phone number you can ring, a landline if possible, and a conversation about the car. Someone who has owned a Stag for twenty years will talk about it for an hour; someone reading from a script will not. Ask why they are selling and listen for the pause. Ask which club they are in. Ask to see it, and notice how hard that becomes.

3. The paperwork. The V5C in the seller's name, at the address you are visiting. An MOT history you can check free on the government's site against the registration. A history file with bills from garages that exist. For an Aceca or an E-Type, the chassis number against the club register or the archive. A price well under the market is not a bargain; it is the hook.

4. The money. Never a deposit to "hold" a car you have not seen. Never a bank transfer to a company you have not checked at Companies House. Never an escrow service the seller suggests; the escrow site is often the scam. Pay on the day, in person, by a method your bank can trace, after you have driven it. If the seller cannot wait for that, there is no car.

5. The feeling. If you are being hurried, flattered or told another buyer is on the way, you are being worked. Walk away. There will be another car. There is always another car.

The same five apply, with small changes, to parts, to restoration deposits and to the "dealer" with a stock list and no premises. The AC Aceca, E-Type, Stag, Jaguar Mk2 and MG T-Series archives each have buying guides with the model-specific checks.

If it has already happened: call your bank on 159 and report it at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. Keep every message and the advert itself.