InstaScam: car leasing scam victims reveal Instagram impersonation nightmare

Victims have lost thousands of pounds and two reputable business owners have described an identity theft 'nightmare' after fraudsters advertised a bogus car leasing deal on Instagram.

Which? began investigating this case in November 2023, when we helped a victim recover £3,000. They had paid for a car that was never delivered after clicking on an Instagram ad. 

We then learned that the criminals were impersonating a genuine company based in Essex, having stolen its name, company number and other details from Companies House.

The director of the impersonated firm endured months of anguish. He received regular calls from further victims and even discovered a county court judgement (CCJ) intended for the scammers had been filed against his business.

Instagram's parent company, Meta, failed to remove the profile when challenged by Which?, and the scammers have now rebranded the same profile to impersonate another genuine firm, leaving its owners distraught.

Read on to find out more about what we found and how you can avoid similar car leasing scams.

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'An Instagram advert lured me in'

In November last year, David* was browsing Instagram and spotted an advert offering a good deal on an Audi.

As a due diligence measure, he checked the firm, calling itself 'SJG LEASING CO LTD' in its Instagram profile, on Companies House – the official register of companies in the UK. It was active, its accounts were up to date, the website worked and calls were answered courteously. The address on the invoice even matched the Companies House address.

But it was all a sham. Unknown to David, he was dealing with a fraudulent Instagram profile that had stolen details from Companies House to trick people into handing over money.

He paid a deposit of £3,000, and a contract and delivery slot followed soon after – but the slot came and went. The car was never delivered, and the 'firm' stopped taking his calls.

Copycat scam unfolds

Which? contacted the company’s registered director on Companies House, Stephen Gale, who was relieved to hear from us and showed extensive evidence of having reported the matter to the police.

He revealed his firm was being impersonated via the Instagram profile and a bogus website, and he’d been contacted by multiple victims with a total loss of more than £40,000 to date. He also explained that his company doesn't lease to the public, so the advertised deals couldn't be genuine.

Which? contacted the bogus site, sjgcoleasingltd.co.uk, using an email and webform from the website. We got no response. A last-ditch attempt at contact via WhatsApp was met with a bristling reply threatening legal action and bizarrely insisting on correspondence via WhatsApp only.

We reported the scam website to its domain host and the National Cyber Security Centre, and Mr Gale took the desperate step of registering his own rival domain with a warning message about the scam to prevent more victims.

That site went offline, though it is unclear who took it down. But Mr Gale's agony wasn't over, as weeks later he discovered a CCJ taken out against his business by a victim who had unwittingly been dealing with the impostors.

Although the CCJ has been withdrawn and scammers have moved on from Mr Gale's company, the scam isn't over – far from it.

• Find out more: how to spot a scam website

Scammers rebrand

The fraudulent Instagram profile briefly went down (we're unclear whether Instagram or the scammers themselves were responsible), but it wasn't permanently banned from the platform, despite being reported to parent company Meta by both Mr Gale and Which?. When we contacted Meta about the profile, it told Which? it wouldn't comment.

The profile then reappeared, renamed as 'jsvehicleslimited' – a copycat of J S Vehicles Limited, another legitimate firm based in Kent and registered to Companies House. In common with SJG Leasing Co Ltd, this firm doesn't lease to the general public either.

On being contacted and alerted to the news by Which? in January, one of the directors of J S Vehicles Limited immediately reported the profile to Instagram and also contacted the police. Yet the Instagram profile still wasn't removed, and remained live as this story was published.

The 'About this account' page on the profile reveals it has existed under five different names in the seven months since it was created.

When we checked in with the legitimate director several weeks later, they described feeling 'powerless' and were distraught to be receiving contact from victims of the scam – just as Mr Gale had months before when his firm was being impersonated.

We think all online advertising services should ensure there is a real business or individual linked to that business using its platform. 

We want the government to allow industry access to its data. This would allow the legitimacy of a company or person seeking to reach consumers at scale through something like paid advertising to be verified. An example of data already being used in a similar way is TikTok and Google using FCA data to check if an investment firm is regulated.

Spot and avoid car leasing scams

This is not the first time car leasing scams have been found on Instagram.

Vehicle rental trade body the BVRLA warned back in 2018 of a spate of fraudulent car leasing deals on social media – and in particular on Instagram.

If you've encountered an apparent car leasing deal on social media, it's sadly not enough just to check the corresponding entry on Companies House. You need to ensure you're in contact with the genuine firm and not a copycat.

To do this, look for the firm on the BVRLA member register and/or the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Financial Services Register. These entries will contain the phone number and contact details for the genuine firms. Use only those details to contact the firm.

You can also check the age of a website by entering its address into domain look-up service who.is to see when the site was created. Compare this against the company creation date on Companies House. A company that's existed for a decade is unlikely to have registered its website a few weeks or months ago.

*name changed