Man Loses $8,100 in Triumph Motorcycle Scam

A Yekaterinburg resident named Anton wanted to buy a cool Triumph Bonneville motorcycle and lost 727,000 rubles ($8,100) on it. The young man told E1.RU that he found a company offering to import the bike from England.

The website was called Bromoto. Its owners claimed to be based in St. Petersburg and specialized in motorcycle importation, working with major marketplaces in Europe, the USA, and Japan. In reality, according to Anton, he dealt with tricksters who disappeared as soon as they had coaxed his money out of him.

«They had their own website and hundreds of ads on popular online platforms. I picked a motorcycle, and their manager contacted me right away. He suggested signing a contract to deliver the bike from Europe through customs in Brest,» Anton said.

Alexander, as the manager introduced himself, sent high-quality photos of a black 2019 Triumph Bonneville. He promised a 3% discount off the full price of the bike (1.2 million rubles, or $13,300), but said a down payment would be needed during the customs clearance stage.

«The scheme was like this: they offered me a tripartite agreement. The parties were me, a certain real Moscow company (the supplier under the contract), and some individual entrepreneur,» Anton explained. «And the money had to be transferred specifically to the individual entrepreneur as a payment agent. I suspect it was a drop who immediately converted the money into cryptocurrency after the transfer.»

During the purchase, Anton tried to check the motorcycle through the Federal Customs Service portal to verify it was actually being cleared in Belarus, but he could not find any data on the Triumph Bonneville. Alexander, in turn, reassured him that the bike had not yet been imported, so data only existed on foreign platforms.

In June 2026, Anton paid a deposit for his dream motorcycle. He was assured that the Triumph was already in the queue for customs clearance. Then came a string of promises: on 17 June, manager Alexander said there were «minor delays», a couple of weeks later he insisted that the Bonneville would definitely clear customs on 4–6 July. After that, he vanished and stopped responding. The trap snapped shut.

In early July, Anton filed a police report stating he was a victim of fraud. He also managed to find other buyers in a similar situation. All of them were from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

«These people (the scammers) were prepared on all fronts. They sent excellent photos and fake documents, hiding behind a real company. Everything was set up to collect deposits and disappear. They even had an office in St. Petersburg where a girl handed out supposed customs documents. We managed to find out something important: this outfit kept changing its name, and I realized that all of us [victims] got ripped off!» Anton concluded.

The E1.RU editorial office requested comments from the city police department.

«Information on this incident has been registered at Police Department No. 4. Currently, officers from the local precinct«s community policing unit are conducting verification measures, based on the results of which a reasoned decision will be made,» the Yekaterinburg Police Department reported.

It should be noted that at the time of publication, the Bromoto website was intermittently working and then became unavailable. We attempted to contact its owners via email but received no response.

Auto lawyer Oleg Taratukhin advises developing a critical attitude toward resources offering profitable vehicle purchases abroad. It is safer to buy goods that are already imported into the country and physically presented to buyers by the seller.

«If you give someone money to buy a vehicle, there is always a risk of losing it,» Oleg Taratukhin noted. «I would look for time-tested platforms that have been operating for years and value their reputation. You can check sellers« honesty through indirect signs, such as customer reviews. But even that does not give a 100% guarantee that the deal will be honest.»

«In correspondence with such sellers, you need to pay attention to every tiny nuance. Any evasion of a direct answer can be suspicious — for example, refusing a video call,» the auto lawyer concluded.

For instance, earlier we told the story of Yekaterinburg residents who tried to buy a German crossover at a very good price. The owners of a certain Telegram channel offered to import the car from Europe. But in the end, they, like the Triumph Bonneville sellers, disappeared, pocketing the deposit money.

Also read the story of a serviceman whose Skoda crossover suddenly ceased to be a vehicle. The car«s documents were revoked due to an unpaid customs duty. This happened two years after the Skoda purchase.