Fraudulent boat purchasers

[HowardB]

I rec'd the following as a warning being sent round by Phil at boatsandoutboards.co.uk ...

We received the following email from a customer who highlights a cunning fraud. Watch out especially for cheques from AFRICA, often for significantly more than the asking price, even when they are cleared!!

=============================================================================

"I recently received an enquiry from someone whose written English was rather poor. I was not surprised as I have had several overseas enquiries however this person calling himself Benson claimed to be a broker who had a customer for my engines. He said he would instruct his buyer to send me a cheque for £8500 (asking price is £5500 for both engines) & requesting that I paid the balance to his UK shipping agent on collection of the engines once the cheque had cleared. This seemed rather odd & a large amount for payment of shipping & duties but I thought as long as the cheque is cleared I'm in the driving seat. This is where our banking system starts to let us down as it can take some foreign banks (usually west African) up to six weeks to return unpaid cheques or drafts but if you ring your bank they will tell you that the money is cleared & will show on your statement as cleared funds however when the cheque or draft is returned the bank will debit your account for the full!
amount so you loose your goods & you pay the fraudster for taking them away.

Perhaps you could post a note on your site to warn other users who may not be as lucky as I have been."

=============================================================================

Most such frauds come from Africa. Whilst we do not give out your email address, and we have an email fraud blocking system in place, we cannot stop everything. So do beware.

Regards

Phil

Phil@BoatsAndOutboards.co.uk

Spreading the word may help save someone some aggro!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DepSol]

Anything received from Africa should be treated with caution. There are so many fraud cases in the financial sector that they are uncountable and come through every day.

A generator firm locally got ripped off whilst sending a very expensive generator to SA. This was paid by Credit card and the credit card company returned it as there was no proof of receipt and no signature on the card receipt as it was a phone deal.


<hr width=100% size=1>Dom

Now where is that Brendan hiding?

 

[byron]

I received an email from a funny source asking where to send the cheque for Ocean Eagle. The email was a Yahoo one so I ignored it. I told Phil about it at the time.

<hr width=100% size=1>http://www.alexander-advertising.co.uk

 

[HowardB]

Scary isn't it. Or'nary folks can easily be duped by these scams, Particularly if you think that the cheque has cleared.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[HowardB]

The problem is that SA is trying to convince the world that it is a 1st world country, not 3rd. Things like that, particularly with a credit card company in the game, where you think you have security, are not going to help.

Bye the way, the boating is not that good in SA, unless you are either a raggie or fishing!
Howard

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[petem]

If it sounds too good to be true.....

.....it usually is.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.FairlineOwnersClub.com>Fairline Owner's Club</A>

 

[gjgm]

I wonder whether somewhere in your terms and conditions with your bank you accepted that they would credit your account with cleared funds, but retain the right to withdraw such funds if the cheque cannot subsequently be cleared. The option is no one gets paid for weeks and weeks each time, so in most cases it works for the better. I sympathise with the experience, but suggest the scam works , not because of a fault in the banking, but because we are less aware of this than the crooks.....

<hr width=100% size=1>