Car Flipper Meets Up with Buyers Interested In F-150 For $13K. Then He Catches Them Trying to Scam Him

"I was like, ‘Okay, let’s make it happen.'"

Car flipper meets up with buyers interested in F-150 for $13K. Then he catches them trying to scam him

Photo by: carflipping101 & Nadine E

JT Wilson

By: JT Wilson

Aug 23, 2025 at 5:00pm ET

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Car flipping can be a lucrative side hustle, but the risks include fraudsters who prey on sellers using well-rehearsed con games. One TikTok creator learned this lesson the hard way when potential buyers nearly pulled off a well-known scam.

TikTok user @carflipping101 shared his close call with scammers in a nearly six-minute video posted on Aug. 21. The car flipper, who’s made 43 similar videos since starting his channel on June 29, was trying to sell his 2018 F-150 for $13,000 when he encountered what he now recognizes as a well-worn trick targeting vehicle sellers.

The incident began innocently enough when buyers contacted @carflipping101 through Facebook Marketplace about his Ford F-150.

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“So these people contact me, Facebook Marketplace, and they’re interested in the truck,” he explains in the video. “They negotiate the price like crazy. Get me down, honestly, a little bit more than what I was wanting. But to sell it quick, I was like, ‘Okay, let’s make it happen, right?’”

When the buyers arrived, they at first seemed impressed with the vehicle’s condition. “They get here, they’re like, ‘Oh, man, it’s a clean truck. I love how clean it is, like inside and out,’” @carflipping101 recalls.

After a test drive that included hard braking and acceleration to check the transmission, the scam unfolded.

The Scam Revealed

The shorter of the two buyers asked to check the oil dipstick, which @carflipping101 gladly showed—he’d recently changed the oil with full synthetic. But then came the red flag.

“So then he goes and he pulls the cap off of the coolant, which is not necessarily what you’re going to do after test driving a truck,” the seller explains. The buyer unscrewed the coolant cap, stuck his finger in the hot liquid, burned himself, then made his pitch.

“And then he’s like, ‘oh, man, this is all oily. And you got oil in your coolant. And oh, man, that means, you know, the head gasket. And oh, man, you’re going to have to buy a whole new engine,’” @carflipping101 recounts. The scammer even Googled engine prices, showing him that a replacement would cost around $7,000.

Despite being relatively new to car flipping—according to him this was only his second truck purchase—@carflipping101’s two decades of car ownership kicked in. Something felt off about the whole situation.

Expert Knowledge

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After the scammers left without a deal, @carflipping101 reached out to his mechanic friend, who cast serious doubt on their claims.

“So oil doesn’t ever get into the coolant because cooling is pressurized and oil is not. So it goes the opposite direction. So if you had a head gasket issue, you would have coolant in your oil, not vice versa,” he explains, quoting his mechanic friend.

(It’s possible that he garbled his mechanic friend’s message a little. According to experts and forum users, while it’s normally true that oil doesn’t get into the coolant, it can happen when there is sufficient oil pressure to push past a bad gasket or seal.)

“So these guys were saying, ‘Oh, yeah, man, you need a whole new engine.' When in reality, they’re just trying to steal my truck, essentially, right?” @carflipping101 concludes.

A Well-Known Scam

This type of fraud isn’t uncommon. Similar incidents have been reported across the US and UK, where buyers deliberately contaminate coolant systems to create the appearance of major engine problems, then offer to “help out” sellers by taking the supposedly damaged vehicle off their hands for a fraction of its value.

The scam relies on sellers’ lack of technical knowledge and their desire to avoid costly repairs.

As @carflipping101 notes, “I guarantee you that that scam has worked with other people who are trying to sell their cars.”

Community Response

TikTok viewers shared their own experiences and technical insights in the comments. Some offered corrections to the mechanical explanation, with user Shoestrang_LSX noting that “oil pressure is 30-80psi depending, coolant pressure is listed on cap usually around 12psi or so. Oil will most definitely overpower the cooling system.”

Others shared similar stories. “This happen[ed] to a friend and he let them take it,” wrote merl1958, while Jesse commented, “The orange coolant. I’ve heard this one before.”

User jorgeoxoa2 advised, “I used to buy and sell a lot of cars when I was young and when I had these people come up to me with these crazy statements I always told them maybe this car isn’t for you but the price is what the price is.”

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At the time of reporting, @carflipping101 still owns his F-150 and hasn’t dropped his asking price despite the encounter. His experience serves as a valuable reminder for anyone selling a vehicle: if potential buyers start pointing out expensive problems during their visit, especially mechanical issues that require immediate diagnosis, trust your instincts.

Motor1 direct-messaged @carflipping101 for comment. We'll update this if he responds.