I hate to admit it, but I was actually taken like this a few years ago.
I was trying to buy a 3rd Gen Camaro. Looked around for about a month, and finally came across this particular car in Indiana. I wrote him about it, he wrote me back, etc etc.... The car wasn't perfect. It had some issues, and the miles were a little high, but the price was good. Not too good to be true good, but lower than a lot of guys were asking.
Had him send me pictures. Had him start it up over the phone so I could hear it start cold, bla bla bla. LOL I even heard him yell at one of his kids for sitting on the hood.
He wanted to do a wire transfer for the money, but I wasn't so sure. I told him I would send him a deposit, and give him the rest when I got the car. Well, my wife and I didn't really talk about it, and the guy was so trust worthing (sounding) that the previous night we were actually talking about doing it. Well, he called her while I was at work, gave her the account numbers, etc... $5K went out, and that was the last we ever heard of him. :barf
His phone was disconnected. His email account came up as invalid. Everything. I filed for leave, and was going to go down there, but everybody talked me into letting the law handle it.
The extent of their investigation was to send him a certified letter, and when it wasn't returned, they concluded that he didn't live there.
A few days later was 9/11, and a short time after that I was on my way over to the Middle East. Damn that was a big "oops." It'll never happen again though, so I guess it was worth it. :dunno