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This is the moment two brazen scammers attempt to con an unsuspecting car owner into selling his BMW on the cheap by sneakily tinkering with its engine.
Video shows the pair pouring engine oil into the coolant of Bikramjit Kooner’s BMW in order to make its engine smoke.
The shameless scammers – who push ahead with their con despite twice clocking Mr Kooner’s CCTV cameras – attempt to convince Mr Kooner that the engine is broken.
The pair – who were left alone with the car for just 30 seconds – then make a brazen bid to buy the ‘broken’ vehicle for a third of its price.
Luckily for My Kooner, the pair’s sleight-of-hand tricks were caught on camera by his home CCTV system. He has now reported the incident to the police.
Video shows the pair pouring engine oil into the coolant of Bikramjit Kooner’s BMW in order to make its engine smoke
The shameless scammers (pictured) – who push ahead with their con despite twice clocking Mr Kooner’s CCTV cameras – attempt to convince Mr Kooner that its engine is broken
The incident took place on the driveway of Mr Kooner’s (pictured) home in Norwich. Mr Kooner, 52, had put his 10-year-old 520D M Sport up for sale for nearly £6,000 on online marketplace eBay
The incident took place on the driveway of Mr Kooner’s home in Norwich. Mr Kooner, 52, had put his 10-year-old 520D M Sport up for sale for nearly £6,000 on online marketplace eBay.
The two men responded to the advert and came to inspect the car last Saturday. At first, nothing nothing seemed amiss.
Courier Mr Kooner said: ‘They looked normal. They said they had a similar car but had an accident and it was damaged in the front, and that’s why they were buying a new car.
‘They looked around the car, asked a few things and then for the papers.
‘I had my car papers in my van parked on the driveway round the front, and in less than one minute they opened the bonnet.’
In the CCTV footage, Mr Koomer is seen talking to one of the men as he inspects the inside of the vehicle, while the other man walks around to the bonnet.
As he walks around to the front of the car, the man looks up, seemingly clocking the CCTV camera looking down directly at them.
Mr Kooner than leaves the pair alone with the vehicle as he goes to his van to grab a set of documents – sparking the conmen into action.
With Mr Kooner’s back turned, the men quickly enters the car to pop the bonnet, before making their way to the front of the vehicle.
One of the men, wearing a grey tracksuit, also makes a quick glance at the CCTV camera before beginning to unscrew the coolant cap.
The other man reaches into his blue bomber jacket and then appears to squeeze something into the engine.
The man in the grey tracksuit then screws the cap back on before Mr Kooner returns.
As Mr Kooner walks out of the house, the pair then attempt to make out as if they are innocently checking the bonnet.
The two men then go out for a test drive, during which the car starts to smoke – with video showing the men encouraging Mr Kooner to look at the back of the vehicle.
Mr Kooner than leaves the pair alone with the vehicle as he goes to his van to grab a set of documents – sparking the conmen into action. With Mr Kooner’s back turned, the men quickly enters the car to pop the bonnet, before making their way to the front of the vehicle
Courier driver Mr Kooner said: ‘[They] put engine oil into the coolant system and poured used engine oil on the side of the engine.
‘They pulled the air filter off so smoke could go straight inside the car before the test drive.
‘I was thinking all night about when I left them alone to get the paperwork, but it was only 30 or 40 seconds.
‘But luckily my camera was on record.’
‘When I came back with the papers they quickly start talking about bumper and bonnet.
‘One man stayed in front of the car and the other went behind it to open the boot and called me over.
‘He started talking about the rear bumper and, in that time, the man in front tightened the coolant cap and poured more engine oil on side of the engine to make smoke.
‘He also opened the top cover of the engine and lifted the air filter from the clips.’
Unsuspecting Mr Kooner then hopped into the car with one of the men for a test drive, but after a few minutes smoke started to fill the car.
He said: ‘I was scared because a few months ago we had to change the coolant seal and I thought it had failed.
‘They wanted to stop and I said, ‘no carry on, otherwise I have to tow it!’
They quickly returned home and popped open the bonnet to be blasted with more smoke, before the two men told the shocked salesman that there was oil around the engine.
They apparently popped the cap off the coolant to reveal a layer of oil sitting on top of the fluid.
Bikramjit said: ‘They said, ‘oh it’s oil in water so your car engine is gone and the timing chain will break if you drive any more’, and I thought same thing.
‘He said ‘your engine is f**cked!’
‘Then they tried to buy the car for as scrap for £2,000.’
Unsuspecting Mr Kooner then hopped into the car with one of the men for a test drive, but after a few minutes smoke started to fill the car
He refused to accept the offer, and they renegotiated to £3,500 before calling a couple of friends to check that this was still a worthwhile deal.
The friends told him that they could probably fix it for cheaper, and noted that something suspicious was likely going on.
‘Everyone was asking me ‘were you there all the time with the buyers?’ he said.
‘So I didn’t accept their offer for scrap but they did try their best. I noticed there was oil on the side, cover and the top of the engine.
‘I told them at the time that I could see it on the bottom, but how is there oil on the top?’
With his friends’ words echoing around his mind, Mr Kooner decided to check the CCTV footage from the encounter the next day.
This is when he saw the two men allegedly tampering with the vehicle while he was retrieving paperwork, and when one of them distracted him by having a conversation in front of it.
He then tried to call them back but the phone was off, and so far has received no response from eBay after contacting customer services.
‘I thought I was lucky I didn’t take their offer,’ he said. ‘They tried hard, twenty minutes to half an hour, they wanted to take the car.
‘If I didn’t know I would have done the deal for £2,000.’
Bikramjit has since taken the car to a mechanic who he said confirmed that the liquid was engine oil, but fortunately none of it had entered the car’s mechanism so it was able to be flushed out.
Norfolk Constabulary have confirmed that their enquiries are ongoing.
‘I want to save other people, I know a little bit about cars but in 20 minutes I was almost brainwashed,’ he said.
‘I was lucky I didn’t sell it then. My friends said there’s a lot of kind of people doing this stuff
‘I thought ‘my God, how many people are doing this?’
- Do you know these two scammers? Contact: james.robinson@mailonline.co.uk
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