My I/O is for sale on boatrader.com Is this query a scam?

shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,536
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
"
Hi, thanks for getting back to me, i'm Project Engineer and currently offshore...so i won't be able to come for the inspection due to the nature of my work.i'd appreciate if you email me with more closeup pics for a better look since i won't be be able to see this in person, but i have a mover who is gonna come to your location only after payment has been made and cleared, so i've chosen to have this done via paypal as it's the easiest and safest way to pay online, i have a few questions for you below and i want you to be honest with me

has the engine been replaced? is the vessel and its engine under warranty? has the boat ever been in salt water? are u the original owner? when was it last used? how was it stored in the winter? what's your firm price? and where are you currently located? and lastly hope you got a paypal acct??

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Hello, Just come across your AD listed on Craigslist, I'm interested in it please get back to me if it still available for sale?"

Is Pay Pal safe - meaning once I'm paid they can't clawback? Better than a bank check, or cashier's check or whatever?
 
dmax

dmax

.
Jul 29, 2018
1,182
Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
I would be asking myself: why did this guy decide my boat was the one from an ad? It's a scam.
 
SycloneDriver

SycloneDriver

.
Jul 23, 2009
889
Beneteau 31 Oceanis Grand Lake, Oklahoma
They have hacked someones Pay Pal account. You will get paid but when the theft is discovered Pay Pal will come after you. It's a scam, they get more elaborate all the time.
 
Joe

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
8,188
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
How were you intending to do business with a potential buyer? Stick to your plan.
 
rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,557
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Classic SCAM. Anytime they say i'll send someone to come pick it up... then what happens next is they give you an extra $3000 and ask YOU to pay the pick up man. The fake pick up man contacts you a day or two later and asks to be paid (by paypal) and then never shows up. They never actually take possession of the boat. PayPal eventually claws back the payment and you (or whomever got their paypal hacked) are out $3,000.
 
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Justin_NSA

Justin_NSA

.
Jul 7, 2004
8,482
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
I sold my wife's Cadillac on EBay and never saw the buyer. He sent a transport driver to pick it up. Not until his PP payment was in my bank account. He actually had to trust me more to deliver a clean title.
 
Joe

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
8,188
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
rgranger said:
Classic SCAM. Anytime they say i'll send someone to come pick it up... then what happens next is they give you an extra $3000 and ask YOU to pay the pick up man. The fake pick up man contacts you a day or two later and asks to be paid (by paypal) and then never shows up. They never actually take possession of the boat. PayPal eventually claws back the payment and you (or whomever got their paypal hacked) are out $3,000.
Click to expand
I'm confused.... if the buyer sends you the money plus an extra $3,000....and asks you to pay the mover.... aren't you simply paying him with the money you received from the buyer? It sounds like hacking paypal is the key. How do you protect yourself from a PayPal hacker?????
 
M

markwbird

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Nov 26, 2012
1,654
C&C 40-2 Berkeley
Yes. Classic scam. I sold a boat a few years ago. Sadly I got about 10 of these scam responses to every one legitimate response.
 
M

markwbird

.
Nov 26, 2012
1,654
C&C 40-2 Berkeley
Joe said:
I'm confused.... if the buyer sends you the money plus an extra $3,000....and asks you to pay the mover.... aren't you simply paying him with the money you received from the buyer? It sounds like hacking paypal is the key. How do you protect yourself from a PayPal hacker?????
Click to expand
No. You don't actually get the money. They get it back before it is confirmed. Remember. the bank has ten days to confirm and they will take it back if it turns out not be legit
 
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rgranger

rgranger

.
Jan 19, 2010
12,557
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
He is laundering the money into cash that can't be clawed back digitally. So here is a scenario. You sell a boat to a person on eBay or Craigslist for $20,000. The buyer says something like "I'm deployed in Afghanistan right now and can't come pick up the boat... but I'll have a mover come pick up the boat." then the buyer sends you $25,000 and asks you to give the $5000 to the mover. The "mover" contacts you and asks you to transfer $5,000 into a different account. Weeks later Paypal contacts you about the fraud and informs you that the $25,000 never actually existed and now you are out $5,000.

I've had some version of this story happen to me twice... The first time was in the mid 90's. I actually got a Bank of America cashier's check in the mail. My spidey sense went off because the check was for $5000 more than the $6000 asking price of the boat. I took the check to my bank and asked the manager if it was real. She looked it over and told me that it was. I was still suspicious and asked her to try running the routing numbers and sure enough, it was a bogus account. It would have been several weeks before my home bank would have caught the fraud. The second time this happened, I got the Afghanistan version except the grammar and word choices were all a bit weird. More like "I am deploying on Afghanistan for the moment..." I just stopped responding at that point.
 
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jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
23,078
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
SCAM
When selling my boat in 2015 I had several folk from a variety of places with out water, proposing all sorts of conflated ways that they would pay for the boat. I used the “Sorry for the problems. I’d love for you to buy the boat. CASH only. Forward to me. I will have the US Treasury confirm that the cash is proper tender. Then you can pick up the boat 72 hours after approval.“ All communications were through the advertising sites remote email communications.
Never provide them a way to find you.
Use a disposable email account.
One that you open then terminate after the sale.

If they are ligit it will soon become evident. They will want to offer less than your listed price.
 
Will Gilmore

Will Gilmore

.
Oct 19, 2017
7,974
O'Day Mariner 19 Littleton, NH
Yes to all of the above, but when they send you the "extra" money, it will include an absurd "commission" fee for your "troubles". And yes, everything looks real to the bank, at first. Until it's not.

Tell them you can pay the pickup man except that your money is tied up in a fund and you need an extra $1000 cash to pay the early withdrawal fines. If they could just mail the cash, it will take only 60 days for the fund to release the money, then they can have their money back ;).

No, don't tell them that, I was just joking.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
23,078
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
The good news, after a couple of weeks the scams appeared to disappear. Then I got a few legit inquiries. These did not pan out for unknown reasons, until an earnest fellow reached out. It was a win win deal. I was pleased that the boat found a good home. A touch sad because I had good times and memories, but then excited to be onto the new boat and the adventures I am now making.
 
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shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,536
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Thanks for all the responses! Yeah, I'm agreeing it's a scam. I just want to move the boat so bad it's hard to be rational. I was stuck on the Paypal thing. I didn't know the scammers can pull the same thing with Paypal as they do with banks. I won't engage this guy any longer. I wish I had been smart enough to set up a dummy account.
 
shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,536
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Here is the second query I received. This came in a form as an email from an unknown person who said his/her father is interested in the boat. Would I pls email him at a different email from the first. Here's the text:
"Hi, thanks for getting back to me, i'm an oceanographer and currently working offshore... so i won't be able to come for the inspection due to the nature of my work.i'd appreciate if you email me with more closeup pics for a better look since i won't be be able to see this in person, but i have a mover who is gonna come to your location only after payment has been made and cleared, so i've chosen to have this done via paypal as it's the easiest and safest way to pay online, i have a few questions for you below and i want you to be honest with me

has the engine been replaced? is the vessel and its engine under warranty? has the boat ever been in salt water? are u the original owner? when was it last used? how was it stored in the winter? what's your firm price? and where are you currently located? and lastly hope you got a paypal acct??

pls get back to me asap."

Too much! I don't know if I should continue posting these but I can't help but think this is helping someone avoid fraud.
 
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