Recurring pre-wire flags from the index's case files:
- Pricing below wholesale — a seller offering used cars under Manheim-level numbers is subsidizing you or deceiving you, and charity is rare in this trade.
- Unverifiable physical presence: no yard, no lot, an address that resolves to a mailbox store.
- Irreversible-payment pressure — wires to mismatched account names, gift cards, crypto — without an invoice that itemizes the transaction.
- Title evasions: “clean” claims contradicted by the auction listing, or delivery promised “with paperwork to follow.”
- Absence of any written landed-cost figure covering fees and vehicle shipping.
One flag warrants questions; two warrant a different seller.