Report: Louisville woman loses her car and $17,000 in Craigslist scam

Update: KMOV reported Thursday that a St. Louis County police officer spotted Uhter's Camaro in Scott County, Missouri. The keys were found sitting in the center console, and Uhter drove from Louisville to Missouri to pick up her car, which was in "good condition." No additional details were reported on the suspect.

A Louisville woman reportedly lost $17,000 and her Chevy Camaro when a Craigslist deal with a Missouri man turned out to be a scam.

KMOV reported Tuesday that Brandi Uhter had posted her 2010 Chevy Camaro to Craigslist after not having luck trying to sell it elsewhere.

Several days after posting the car ad on Craigslist, Uhter said she was contacted by a man from Imperial, Missouri, who agreed to make the roughly 300-mile drive from the St. Louis area to Louisville to buy the Camaro.

Uhter said the buyer asked legitimate questions, signed paperwork and paid her $17,000 with a cashier's check that seemed authentic with bank information on it.

"They were asking me questions that any normal buyer would ask, about the specifics of the car, why I was selling it, what was wrong with it," Uhter told KMOV. "(The check) had security codes on it that weren't supposed to be bypassed. It had an embossed stamp on it as well."

Before leaving, Uhter said the man asked her several times to remove the Craigslist ad with the transaction complete.

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Uhter, a former military police officer, told KMOV she cashed the check, but three days later, it bounced.

"I felt violated because I let these people into my house," she said. 

After filing a police report and investigating herself, Uhter discovered two ads that showed the buyer was reselling her car on Craigslist in the St. Louis area.

Uhter told KMOV no one picked up the phone when she dialed the numbers listed on the ads, but she was able to trace a photo of her Camaro in the new listing to an H&R Block in Indiana.

She said that surveillance footage from inside a gas station near the H&R Block had captured the man inside the store with the Camaro parked outside.

But Uhter has still not been able to find the car or suspected scammer.

"I would love to have my car back," she told KMOV. "I know I am not their first victim. I hope I can be their last."

As KMOV reported, the Craiglist scam is a reminder that police departments advise sellers to only accept cash or go to the bank with the buyer to ensure any checks clear.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com or 502-582-7030. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.