How Scammers Clone Real Dealerships — And Why the Same Car Appears on Multiple Listings

INVESTIGATIVE REPORT · CLASSIC CAR FRAUD · DEALER CLONING

It started with a 1972 Buick Skylark convertible listed at $13,900 — a price that felt like a genuine find in a market where classic cars routinely sell for far more. For a 69-year-old retired man in Greenville, South Carolina, it seemed like the deal he had been waiting for. He did his homework. He called the BBB. He asked for a business license. He did everything right.

He still lost $14,500. The car never arrived. The seller disappeared. And a legitimate small business in Opelousas, Louisiana — one that had nothing to do with the fraud — may have been forced to take its website offline as a direct result.

This is the story of how dealer cloning fraud works, who it really hurts, and what every used car buyer needs to know before sending a single dollar.

CONFIRMED FRAUD

West Landry Auto Sales is documented in BBB Scam Tracker report #1250576, filed April 9, 2026. The scammer operated under the email domain westlandryauto-sales.com — a hyphenated lookalike designed to impersonate a legitimate business. West Landry Auto Sales did not respond to the BBB complaint and made no attempt to resolve it.

TWO VICTIMS. ONE FRAUD OPERATION.

Victim 1 — The Buyer: A 69-year-old retired handicapped man in Greenville, SC lost $14,500 via wire transfer. He reported the fraud to the FBI IC3, FTC, Louisiana Attorney General, and BBB. In his own words: "This $14,500.00 is a great sum to me and my wife."

Victim 2 — The Real Dealer: A legitimate used car dealership in Opelousas, Louisiana whose business name, address, and phone number were stolen to create a convincing fake identity. Both websites associated with the business name are now inaccessible. The real dealer appears to have been forced offline by a fraud they had no part in creating.

TWO FAKE FACEBOOK PAGES — AND AN ANGOLA LOCATION THAT RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS

At the time of publication, our research identified two Facebook pages operating under the West Landry Auto Sales name.

Page 1 had accumulated 10,000 followers through what appears to be purchased followers. It used a hyphenated email domain matching the confirmed fraud. This page has been reported to the FTC (Report #201228067) and to Facebook directly.

Page 2 had 1,200 followers and listed the business address as 606 W Landry St, Malanje, Angola — not Opelousas, Louisiana. This page has been reported to the FTC (Report #201182208) and to Facebook directly.

The Angola location is significant. Facebook sometimes auto-assigns locations based on where page administrators are actually logged in from. West African fraud networks operating from Nigeria, Ghana, and Angola are well documented in auto purchase scams targeting American buyers. The Angola reveal may be an accidental disclosure of where this operation is actually running from.

If you encounter either Facebook page do not contact the seller or send any money.

THE ANATOMY OF A DEALER CLONING OPERATION

Dealer cloning is not a new fraud — but it is a rapidly growing one. Scammers identify a real, legitimate dealership. They copy its name, its address, its phone number, and sometimes its logo. Then they register a slightly different domain name — adding hyphens, changing suffixes, or rearranging words — and build a convincing fake website stocked with stolen vehicle photos.

Our research identified three domain variations associated with the West Landry Auto Sales name. The domain westlandryautosales.com is now inaccessible and was likely the real business. The domain westlandry-auto-sales.com is now inaccessible and is a suspicious hyphenated clone. The domain westlandryauto-sales.com is the confirmed scam email domain documented in the BBB report and is now inaccessible.

The Hyphen Trick: Scammers routinely register hyphenated domain variations of legitimate dealership names. westlandryautosales.com and westlandryauto-sales.com look nearly identical at a glance — especially in a mobile browser where the full URL is often truncated. Always check the exact domain spelling before trusting any seller.

THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE NOBODY TALKS ABOUT

When fraud is committed under a business name, the real business pays a price it did nothing to earn. In this case, both websites associated with the West Landry Auto Sales name are now inaccessible. The original listing URL is no longer active and was not captured by the Wayback Machine archive — consistent with sites that are taken down quickly following fraud reports.

For a small independent dealership, losing a website means losing search visibility, losing the ability for customers to find inventory, and losing the credibility that comes from an established online presence. Potential customers searching the business name now find fraud reports instead of a functioning dealership.

HOW THE SCAM UNFOLDED STEP BY STEP

According to BBB Scam Tracker report #1250576, the victim found the listing through a paid Facebook advertisement — not Facebook Marketplace, but actual purchased ad space. A paid ad implies an established business willing to spend money on marketing. It creates an impression of legitimacy before the first conversation begins.

The scammer, identifying himself only as Tyler and claiming to be the sales manager, provided additional photos, a video, what appeared to be a business license, and a copy of a title when asked. When the victim called the local BBB to verify the business, he was initially told it appeared legitimate.

Tyler sent a purchase agreement and walked the victim through signing it verbally over the phone. Payment would be by wire transfer. He needed the victim's bank name and routing number to generate an invoice.

The invoice arrived made out to Xenox Group LLC — not West Landry Auto Sales. When the victim's bank questioned the discrepancy, Tyler told both the victim and the bank representative that Xenox Group was the parent company. The bank processed the wire.

Critical Red Flag: When the business name on a wire transfer does not exactly match the seller you are dealing with, stop the transaction immediately. A legitimate dealer does not route payments through a separate holding company without documented written explanation provided in advance.

A delivery driver with a photo ID was identified. A photo of the car on a trailer was sent. A delivery date of March 31, 2026 was confirmed. None of it was real. By April 1st the car had not arrived. By April 2nd Tyler stopped answering. His number was subsequently blocked.

HOW STOLEN PHOTOS MAKE IT CONVINCING

Our reverse image search on the 1972 Buick Skylark photos used in the West Landry listing found the same or similar vehicle photos appearing on additional listings across multiple platforms — with different seller names and in at least one case a different VIN number despite identical mileage of 71,823 miles.

This finding independently mirrors what The Drive reporter Beverly Braga documented in February 2025, when she performed a reverse image search on the same vehicle photos and found them used in a separate fake dealer operation in Kansas.

We are not in a position to confirm whether all additional listings we found were fraudulent. Some may represent legitimate dealers or aggregator sites. However the pattern is clear — scammers steal photos of real vehicles because they work. A listing with professional photos of a real car is exponentially more convincing than one with no photos or obvious stock images.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF BEFORE SENDING ANY MONEY

Reverse image search every listing photo using Google Images or TinEye. Right-click any photo and select Search image. Identical photos appearing under different sellers, prices, or VINs is a serious red flag.

Check the exact domain spelling of any dealer website. Hyphenated variations of a real dealer name are a hallmark of cloning operations. Verify domain age at whois.domaintools.com. Scam sites are often days or weeks old.

Confirm the business name on any wire transfer request matches the seller exactly. A mismatch — even explained as a parent company — requires written documentation before any payment is made.

Never wire money before an in-person inspection or verified third-party escrow. Wire transfers are irreversible. Once sent the money is almost certainly gone.

Verify the dealer license through your state's dealer lookup tool. Every legitimate dealer must hold a valid state license. No license means no deal.

Run the VIN through an NMVTIS-approved provider at vehiclehistory.bja.ojp.gov. Reports typically cost $8 to $13. A VIN that does not match the vehicle described is fraud.

Search the phone number and email domain independently on Google. Scam operations reuse contact information. Other victims may have already reported it.

If a Facebook ad — not a Marketplace listing but a paid ad — leads you to a dealer website, treat it with extra scrutiny. Scammers purchase ad space specifically because it implies legitimacy.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE BEEN TARGETED

If you have already sent money, act the same day. Contact your bank immediately — wire recall is possible within a narrow window and every hour matters. Then file reports with all of the following agencies. Your report directly helps investigators build cases and may prevent the next victim from losing their savings.

FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: ic3.gov Federal Trade Commission: reportfraud.ftc.gov BBB Scam Tracker: bbb.org/scamtracker Your state Attorney General's office

DISCLOSURE

The confirmed fraudulent operation referenced in this article is documented in BBB Scam Tracker report #1250576. The legitimate West Landry Auto Sales business at 606 W Landry St, Opelousas, LA appears to be a separate entity whose identity was stolen by scammers — they are presented here as a victim of the fraud, not a participant. Additional listings where similar vehicle photos appeared are noted for educational purposes only. Auto Scam Guard makes no claim that those sellers are fraudulent. Two Facebook pages operating under this business name have been reported to the FTC (Report #201228067 and Report #201182208) and to Facebook directly. This article is based entirely on publicly available information. Readers should conduct independent due diligence on any vehicle purchase.