Is this a Blag ???

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

1st e mail
am interested in your boat advertise on
http://marinedirectory.ybw.com/
please get back to me with your last asking price
and the present photo

My reply

Hi

All the pics of the boat are current here

www.beneteau393.co.uk

I am looking for a offer around £ 82,000

But am open to discuss offers

Regards

Mark

2nd e mail

Thanks for your response, meanwhile I believe first to
secure the boat through a deposit before any arrangement is to be
made. I am impressed with the property, I should love to call you
to discuss with you but am on a field assignment in new jessey
and would like to know the followings details concerning the
boat:-

1. What’s the bottom price of the property? Is the boat still on
it’s originally paint?
2. What major repairs has the boat undergone? How the boat has
been maintained.
3. Are you the original owner? Is the boat under insurance
policy?
4. When did you buy the boat and why do you want to sell it? Are
you a UK citizen?
5.. The property and the ownership are on whose name?
However, I would like to know your last price (non-
negotiable) from that of the net price for onward transaction,
if your price is ok then I can arrange for a deposit while my
agent will call you to arrange for the property inspection and
other necessary renovations if any will be taken care of by him.
Do get back to me immediately as I have limited time to conclude
this transaction.my offer is £ 81,000Thanks and have a nice day.


Doesnt feel quite right to me

 

[Racecruiser]

It's almost certainly a scam (looks too good to be true and it is as the saying goes) and it goes something like this:
Fake buyer sends deposit.
But it's not cleared funds.
Buyer asks for deposit back as will be paying in full when deal sealed.
You send deposit back but you never had it in the first place.
Buyer vanishes.

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

As it only takes 3 banking days for cleared money in account, it's quite simple to wait for confirmation of cleared funds before offering to send back any money..... as long as you're always in control of your funds, then shouldn't be a problem....
BTW: I agree that it does seem not quite right, but these days I come across many Brits who cannot adequately express themselves in the verbal or written form, that I'm not surprised at all that an 'American' cannot do so, as they have an even bigger problem with the language! Especially if he's from Noo Jarsee as he seems to indicate!

 

[leomagill]

It's often a fake or stolen check that appears to clear but the funds get snatched back when the fake/theft comes to light a month or so later, by then you have either lost the boat or a load of cash or both.
Tell him to foxtrot oscar!

 

[fisherman]

[ QUOTE ]
As it only takes 3 banking days for cleared money in account,


[/ QUOTE ]

Nooooooo! haven't you seen the horror stories? Bank unclears funds much later:
quote:
If the cheque hasn't bounced and been debited to your account by the end of the sixth working day, the bank or building society will not be able to debit it to your account unless you give your permission or unless you are a knowing party to a fraud.

Sixth WORKING day could be, instead of payed in monday cleared on thursday, payed in monday, cleared following tuesday, 8 days.

 

[footsoldier]

leomagill is right. I was always under the same misconception - once a cheque has "cleared" in three days or so, you're OK. The reality is different, banks can discover a con weeks later and then cancel the transaction.

Somewher on the web is a site called scambusters or similar. Lots of stories about people who have had great fun leading these people on, putting them through all sorts of hoops in the belief that they are about to get your money. Worth a look if you have the time. You might want to out-con this guy for a laugh.

 

[knewboater]

If you want to follow up the offer made arrange for him/her to do it through your solicitor,that way you are sure that you will end up with the money and he will end up with the boat, instruct your solicitor to this end, your solicitor will be insured against his own mistakes.
I bought my first boat through a solicitor it cost about£1k.
But it does sound a bit iffy.

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

Obviously a scam.

Probably the 'Electronic Refund Scam'.

http://www.nedbank.co.za/website/content/crimeawareness/scams.asp

 

[nimbusgb]

Send an email to the 'buyer'.

A refundable deposit will be accepted only on the basis that it will be refunded 60 days after initial deposit.

If the buyer disappears you have your answer.

But sight unseen and as good as asking price, scary!

The next thing he'll be asking for is your bank details so that he can deposit the money. Now he has about 2/3 of your 'identity'. My tactic is to use a throwaway savings account specially opened for the purpose of a single large transaction.

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

[ QUOTE ]
Send an email to the 'buyer'.


[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think this is a great idea, unless the OP wants to have fun with them, it has all the hallmarks of a typical and well known scam. If there really is a buyer so desperate for this boat that he's prepared to buy it unseen he's hardly going to be put off by not hearing back from the seller.

Ignore it.

If the 10 million to one chance comes off and he's genuine he'll be back.

Incidently AFAIK bank details (account and sort code) can be safely distributed to someone who wants to pay into your account or anyone else for that matter - indeed all your bank details are written on a cheque and debit card both of which you'd happily hand over to a stranger in a shop/restaurant or any time you make a non-cash transaction.

 

[jwilson]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As it only takes 3 banking days for cleared money in account,


[/ QUOTE ]

Nooooooo! haven't you seen the horror stories? Bank unclears funds much later:
quote:
If the cheque hasn't bounced and been debited to your account by the end of the sixth working day, the bank or building society will not be able to debit it to your account unless you give your permission or unless you are a knowing party to a fraud.

Sixth WORKING day could be, instead of payed in monday cleared on thursday, payed in monday, cleared following tuesday, 8 days.

[/ QUOTE ]

Much much worse than 6 days, particularly with foreign transactions - think 3-6 months for the bank taking the money back from you (or having a legitimate claim against you for a bounced cheque/draft).

Try asking your bank (find someone senior) to give you IN WRITING a date by which money deposited by cheque or draft is totally, irredeemably, yours. You will find surprising reluctance. My bank told me six months was "about" the worst case scenario.

 

[leomagill]

For some good humour relating to these scams go to 419eater.com 419 is the nigerian penal code for fraud and this lot take great delight in 'scambaiting' I had a dabble at this once and after a bit of good entertainment my email box got well and truly mailbombed, good job it was an anonymous one set up for the job.

 

[Csail]

I'm going through the same thing....how can you guarantee getting paid? I guess cash is best option.

 

[Norman_E]

If it looks like duck, and quacks like a duck.....

One trick a lot of people do not know is that if you go to your e-mail inbox and right click on an inward message, the click "properties" and click on the "details" tab, you can find out a lot about the inward message, including in most cases which country it originated from.

This extract from the details of a spam message I received reveals that although the senders address ended "@hotmail.com" it actually came from Singapore. (Country code sg)

Quote:
Received: from emtec-group.com.sg (mail.emtec-group.com.sg [202.136.20.94])
by mwinf3203.me.freeserve.com (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 68F8D1C000A1

A list of country codes is here.

If you see this:
Received: from User ([71.125.60.186] RDNS failed) by emtec-group.com.sg with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);


The "RDNS failed" part means that although the message was sent from (in this case) from emtec group in Singapore, which is probably a local internet service provider, the actual originator has concealed its identity and prevented reverse DNS lookup. That is typical of servers being used to generate masses of spam, though not of individual con artists, who usually just use web based mail programs like Hotmail.

 

[charles_reed]

Next step will be

"Give me your bank details so I can arrange to credit the deposit..."

 

[ebbtide]

[ QUOTE ]
If you want to follow up the offer made arrange for him/her to do it through your solicitor . . .
I bought my first boat through a solicitor it cost about£1k.

[/ QUOTE ]

I bought several boats privately after instructing a broker to a act for me and handle the paperwork for a fixed fee. It cost peanuts.

 

[harryb1]

Without doubt a scam!

Had several of these when selling my boat. Even had one when I posted an add to find partners to buy and share a boat, had an offer for a boat I hadn't even bought!

See Here

Scam 2 seem likely in your case.

Did you get out yesterday?

H

 

[Billjratt]

I added the phrase "No Phishing" to online adverts. Seemed to cut it down a bit.

 

[Daipal]

Hi Mark,
I am sure it is genuine. However I will offer a counter bid of 1,000,000 Zimbabwe Dollars. I'll even throw in the wheel-barrow I need to carry them.
PS this is at todays exchage rate of
1 British Pound (GBP) = 53,334,732 Zimbabwe Dollar (ZWD)

 

[curve]

I can't see why somebody would even question why this is a scam. If you would be happy to buy a boat in this way yourself then you have nothing to worry about. Genuine buyers don't really do this sort thing. Avoid.