Selling Boat Online? SCAM ALERT!

Just wanted to throw this out there for anyone trying to sell their boat online. I had someone try to pull this on me, but fortunately I smelled Rat and broke off contact.

The scam is someone will email you making an offer on the boat. When you accept they respond and ask for address to send payment to and name, the usual stuff. It is usually someone out of the country (for me it was an agency brokering the deal for their "client"). They said they would be arranging to have a shipping company picking up the boat.

A few days later they email and say that their "client" had a deal that went bad that they had already put money on. In my case they said that a bank owed him money and that they would only print one check. In the interest of time they had the bank put my name on the check. The check was in an amount about 4200 more than what we agreed upon on price. They said I was to wire the difference upon reciept.

Well that sent my rat radar off and I did some investigation and found several articles about a scam similar to this that many people were becoming victims off. So I called the local consumer protection agency and explained what was going on. They said that it was more than likely a scam, and that I should just break contact with them. What they do is send you a money order or certified check. You then goto the bank and cash it, and wire the difference to them. Then a week or so later the bank finds that the check is a fake. So they deduct the full amount of the check out of your bank account, and the money that you wired to them is gone!

The protection agency told me that I should just ignore them and they will go away after a few attempts at contacting me because they are not out anything since it is a fake check. They also said that when the check does show up, just disgard it.

If you do become a victim of this scam, you are out of luck because more than likely the scammers are from out of the country and the feds are the only one that can go after them. And since it is relativley a small amount of money (to the feds anyways), they will not persue it.

Moral of the story is:
1. Never accept payment in excess of the agreed upon price.
2. Never do anything with the boat or money until the check has CLEARED.
3. Only do business with customers from your country so that you do have some protection and actions to take if something does go wrong.

Consequently my boat is still for sale, anyone want a 94 Rinker 180?

I got the same response when I was selling a truck last year. I simply told the guy to meet me in a dark alley one night and we would work out the details (or rather I would work out my fists on his head). Never heard from him again.

Be careful selling anything online. The same thing is happening to people selling everything from motorcycles to homes.

I had similar contacts (ie more than 1) about my motorcycle for sale online. I didn't do anymore research, but we broke contact quickly, with no harm done. Hopefully you'll be able to sell locally like we did, makes things very simple and quick.

I have a friend in Arizona who was sellinga a Mercedes and was approached in the same way. He obviously didn't get involved with these people.

When I sold my bus I got about 5-6 of those emails. They are all scams and there are various renditions of them.

Has anybody tried to get them to have a representative accompany you to the bank. Have them deposit the check in their account, and give you cash. That would be a quick way to stop the scam and relieve you of the liability.

The quickest way to stop it if it is a scam is to instruct them to wire the money to a new bank account with a couple of bucks in it.

I am in the works with someone right now they said they would send the cheaque this week. what should I do.

i had the same thing happen trying to sell my pwc, and i told them to shove it. dont let the shipping company take it untill you have the cash in your hand.

Something similar happened on another site I go to.The guy totally played these dorks,and asked for naked pics of there wife.Then he put the comments back on the site,good stuff.

chachi:suicide self now!

Ask them to wire theirs with Western Union. WU is as good as cash. They won't do it. Part of their scam is they send you a bogus check that bounces and then ask you to send the diff with W.U. before the check clears. You're out the diff. If you ask them to WU it, it reveals them and you wont hear from them again.

Should I just forget about them and if they call or e-mail me then should i tell them to western union the money.

In my opinion if i am going to do business with someone i want to leave a paper trail. That way no one can pull a scam on you. If you WU the money there is no proof of what was paid for and for how much. If theres a paper trail then youve got some evidence to fall back on. But that is mainly to protect the buyer, In your case if they are going to WU the money i would go for it. Like Scott said thats as good as cash

Chachi,
Seriously, tell them you don't do business internationally. Tell them to bring cash and pick up the boat in person if they want it. That or WU the money. If they are saying to give them back money in return it's BS anyway.

I hope you're just trolling here.

I was selling a car last year and came across the same problem. It's all about asking questions! The more you ask the sooner they will leave you alone, if it is a bogus deal. I asked them who was going to absorb the cost of the Money Gram (there not cheep) and I never heard form them again. Good luck and be cautious

Just mention using a Legit Escrow service, They never reply back after that.

same thing happened on my Porsche. I told them they could take possession after the check cleared and I never heard from them again.