Boat Seller's Beware - Scam Alert (2024)

I have a boat listed on the SailboatOwners classifieds. I was contacted by someone who said they had seen the boat on SBO and were interested in the boat but wanted a history report from inspectzone.com/boat-superior before visiting. My bank declined the charge to the website. On checking the site seems to be a scam to charge you $63. When I recommended a boat history site I knew was legitimate, he recommended another website, procarfax.com/boat-pricing. When I checked, this site has only been online for 4 months and again is a scam.
Seller beware.

When I sold a boat via on line ads in 2005, I received several inquiry emails from a ‘buyer’ and then a final email offering ‘Full cash plus a $5,000 extra hauling fee ‘ . it was to be paid via a cashiers check drawn on ‘ Maryland state teachers credit union ‘. (Curiously , the several inquiry emails were each sent in the wee morning hours for my time zone. ) The promised check did arrive by snail Mail at my home several days after Christmas, mailed from n y c. The check was watermarked and looked very official. the Sender had given me the phone and address of the ‘hauler’ to whom the extra 5k should be sent by me for ‘ haul away ‘ of the boat . I used my beenverified.com subscription to pull up sender name , address , criminal records and phone numbers. I was quite sure it was a scam , and very amused by this time . the check was dated dec. 24, Christmas eve. (no teacher credit union in the US is open to disburse checks on Christmas eve. ) The boat ‘delivery address ‘ was a slum house in the Bronx, not a working boatyard. (The owner of the phone shall remain Nameless — but beenverified was advising me of criminal convictions on his record.) meanwhile — the boat was on the hard under winter cover, on its cradle at a marina closed til May , with no travel lift even available til then . I took the check to my bank and asked them to call the credit union. The credit union advised the bank they had suffered a burglary and a whole set of blank official watermarked credit union checks had ben stolen . the Bank was able to provide law enforcement in MD With the check And details of its transmission to me. meanwhile , I told the scammer to go to a western union store in ny c on a certain date … ‘To await the money from me. ‘ ( which of course I never sent. ) . . . It is fortunate that these scammers are so outrageously uninformed about boats. PS —since I had lost no money , neither my local city police nor the FBI internet crime dept. was interested In the crook I never found out if police in MD prosecuted the scammer . . The boat was sold to the 1st couple who looked at it .

I have received a few calls within the last 3 days from scammers wanting me to ‘pay them $29.95 ‘ for a boat listing ad ‘ that will ‘never expire’ . and one phone text inquiry from a guy in California —- Wanting me to accept his ‘ certified check’ for my boat ASAP, and pay its transport fee 3,000 Miles to LA. ‘ (my beenverified.com showed him to be a 39 yr old unemployed actor living in a walk up apartment . But of course, LA is a hotbed for catboat sailing, yes . ?. . ) so much chaff To winnow , before finding wheat.
By the way, there are scammers on craigslist who get you to provide lots of info and photos of your boat, or other expensive object . then they steal your info and post an ad with it hoping to steal the sales price from unsuspecting buyers . I d never provide a lot of info like a HIN until I verify the authenticity of the prospective buyer‘s interest and proposed terms of payment. Once that is done, I’d send a sales contract to be signed, and accept buyer’s bank to bank transfer , (not a check that might take 3 weeks to finally credit or be dishonored in to my Bank account.) a bank to bank wire can be verified very quickly by both parties. After the bank confirmations, then a title transfer can be done w proper notarization over the internet of paper work To complete the sale.

All I ever seem to get in response my boat ads are the scammers. Easy to spot if you know the clues. Big one that weeds them out right away is they ask, 'What's your final price' without really asking anything about the boat. I typically take my price and go 1.5x or 2x, tell them that's my final. Almost invariably they take the bait, then offer the extra 'for shipping and my troubles'. The last one sent me a pair of rubber cashier's checks for $16,500 on a boat that I have listed for $8K. UPS, you're welcome for the business in shipping those to me.