I was nearly car catfished - but a bizarre detail let me know something was up with the dealership before I was scammed

A FAKE online classic muscle car dealership has scammed people into paying tens of thousands for a car that wasn't available.

Ohio's Better Business Bureau is warning locals to pay special attention to online car dealerships advertising on Facebook after a costly scam involving classic muscle cars.

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Scammers made a business Facebook page for a classic muscle car dealership, Amherst Classic Cars, in order to hook people into paying for a car that doesn't exist.

The scammers were stealing photos from a legitimate classic car dealership in Colorado, called Cars Remember When.

New Mexico classic car enthusiast Maria Valles and her brother almost bit the bullet on a 1967 Camaro Rally Sport, advertised for $32,000.

“We come from a classic car family, mostly Camaros, and he was really excited he found this really nice car," Valles told WEWS-TV.

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"But then the salesman started hesitating, pressuring us, telling us it’s going to be sold pretty soon, we’re talking to some other people, go to the bank."

Sue McConnell, president of Cleveland, went on to provide more details on the scam, and what people can do to avoid being scammed.

McConnell said that the salesman couldn't provide a lot of crucial details about the car, and refused to make time for an in-person walk-around.

Another red flag in McConnell's investigation was the fact that the dealership was asking for the car to be paid for in full, and via a wire transfer.

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Then, McConnell found that the site was registered to a person in Lithuania.

Not long after McConnell's investigation took place, the website was quickly taken down, though the fraudulent Facebook page is still active.

“This scam, it works, unfortunately, and scammers love this type of ruse," McConnell said.

“You definitely don’t want to pay up-front for the entire price; you don’t want to wire money; we recommend consumers use their credit cards so that if there is a problem with a purchase, you have recourse through your credit card company.”