I've read about this scam as well - unbelievably, a lot of people can't see beyond the end of their nose and will do this. Why on earth anyone would want to shell out 10k to view an aircraft is beyond me
. If there is a situation that requires an up front deposit with an unknown third party (not necessarily connected with aviation), you should always use a solicitor to set up a trust account or place the funds in escrow.
Big Ls - if a scammer could find out about PPruNe, set up an account and kick off this thread, surely they would have known (or could have easily found out) about G-INFO?
TTB