Jeff Smolinksi was in a recent car accident that totaled his beloved 1955 Chevy 3100 truck. He felt more upset by the loss of his truck than the other factors of the crash, so he quickly scoured the internet for another one.

He was careful to avoid scams and had multiple people examine every listing he found.

“My search was a very slow process,” Smolinski told ABC 5 Cleveland. “I didn’t jump into it. [I talked to] a friend of mine who has several cars because I’m new to this process of buying online.”

Smolinski finally found the perfect truck in Alabama. It had 8,945 miles, the original 350 V8 engine, and an automatic for just $22,000. Cautiously optimistic, he and his friends did their due diligence before wiring the $22,000 to the “reputable” dealership.

His efforts were in vain, though, as the truck never showed.

The scammer was clever in their deception

Smolinski, pinned against a wall and out of $22,000, called the media. Reporters called the police in Alabama and discovered an active investigation was gaining traction against the dealership.

Sue McConnel with the Better Business Bureau in the state said the scammer was posing online as a legitimate business with the same name and recreating their listings online as theirs. It helped keep them under the radar, as people like Smolinski would Google the dealership’s name and find a legitimate listing, which built trust.

“It’s not uncommon for these types of scams to use the name of a legitimate dealership,” McConnel told the outlet. The only thing buyers like Smolinkski can do is add a few more steps to their research before paying that much money.

“You could go to the dealer license website of the state where the dealer is located and see if there’s even a license that exists,” she said. She said to be wary of any business that says a wire transfer is the only way to pay. Wire transfers typically can’t be reversed or canceled, making it easier for them to disappear once they’re paid.

The scammee was scammed before

Smolinski had been scammed before, with a thief posing as him to get $9,500 cabinets installed. He was able to get his money back when the news got involved, and he feels hopeful the truck money can be recovered, too.

“To this day, I still can’t believe it, that this happened,” he said, referring to the cabinet scam. “I thought I was a sharp guy and this would never happen to me.”