Ridiculous number of scammers on Boats and Outboards at the mo

O

ontheplane

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I think I will...

It's just daft really, I am sure not many people get caught, but unfortunately some will....

I've reported it to the site moderator.
 
wouldnt it be more fun if we all enquire, keep emails going for a few weeks.

If the scammers have to spend hours scamming they will give up and get a real job !

Open a gmail account and lets have a bit of fun ;)
 
Entertaining thought. Not sure I have/want to spend the time needed since it takes some mailing before the jerks get the message.

Their trick obviously is to build some trust and then talk the victims into sending money.
 
They have all been deleted already, that was quick well done Boats and outboards :)

Need to find another to play now ;)
 
Lakesailor said:
Pity they couldn't take off the advert for a boat trailer I sold last year. I've had 3 enquiries this week!
Very clunky software.
Click to expand...

two systems.

old one which you now have to phone them to remove.

new one which you can remove yourself.

if your add was placed 18 months ago you need to phone them , you are supposed to have your personal reference number which they emailed you when you placed the add but they can trace your add without.

I had the same problem when I sold a gear box, one I took off the other is still on, I keep meaning to phone them .
 
No, it's supposed to be the on-line system. I put the advert number in the panel on the "Place an Ad" or "Update your Ad" page (There is a "Cancel this ad" link at the bottom which takes you back to the same page.) but by submitting the ad number you get a page Request to Edit Advert which you fill in and they e-mail you a link to edit the ad. (It won't work if I access it on-line with my e-mail provider, I have to download the e-mail to my client programme.)
Go onto the "Edit the ad" link and there is a "Mark as Sold" link on the right of the page. Click on that and it says that it is done.

The ad is still there.
People still ring up.?? :(
 
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Yes I know, thats what I am attempting to explain as in error I had two adds, a new one and an old one.

You need to ring them to delete it manually.

If you added a new add today you can delete it yourself.

BUT as your add was started on the old system it has been copy pasted onto the new system and you can not delete it yourself, even if it looks like you can.

A quick phone call should do it.


Does your reference start with an 'F' ?

If your advert reference starts with the letter F followed by numbers (i.e - F434210)..... please call 01646 680 720
 
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I saw one advertised yesterday which I think is a scam. I had been looking at 2 virtually identical boats, but then I saw one advertised on Boats & Outboards at £10,000 cheaper. So I emailed them and I got some rubbish back about Pay Pal.
Anyway following non existent deliveries from UPS wanting me to download delivery details or FedeX., I will never use either of them in case it is a scam, will Boats & Outboards be tarred with the same brush.
Certainly if I knew how to post the details of the boat I noticed on B&A like someone has done with the three shown I would do.
Why are the Police not involved ?
 
Jim@sea said:
I saw one advertised yesterday which I think is a scam. I had been looking at 2 virtually identical boats, but then I saw one advertised on Boats & Outboards at £10,000 cheaper. So I emailed them and I got some rubbish back about Pay Pal.
Anyway following non existent deliveries from UPS wanting me to download delivery details or FedeX., I will never use either of them in case it is a scam, will Boats & Outboards be tarred with the same brush.
Certainly if I knew how to post the details of the boat I noticed on B&A like someone has done with the three shown I would do.
Why are the Police not involved ?
Click to expand...

Jim, click in the address bar at the top of your browser to highlight the website address. Press the control and C keys. Open a reply to this thread, when you want to share the address, press the control and V keys.

Control + C = copy
Control + V = paste
 
Boats and Outboards are going to seriously lose the point of their website in a mo....

Been back on there this afternoon for a browse and of the newly listed ad's, I reckon a good 50% are scams....

There are £30k - £40k boats advertised on there for £3500.....

Now I like a bargain, but pleeeeze!


Have reported all to moderators I'm sure they'll be pulled, but I can't sit here all day every day doing that - surely they need to check these ad's a bit better!
 
Perhaps Boatshed and other sites who offer a more personal service will prosper from this. After all anyone can take a photo of someone elses boat and advertise it. Mind you I was looking at a MF625 at £18,000 with a Broker and I saw one advertised on the Internet at £8000. . Strange things do happen. I once saw 2 mini-buses advertised cheap, I bought both, put the worst one in BCA and sold it for more than I paid for both, so the other one was all profit.
 
The scams also seem to be targeting legitimate sellers. This seller told our local news site of his scam 'attempted' purchaser and I have heard of two other sellers who had exactly the same emails!

http://eastcoastboating.co.uk/wordpress/?p=1499

Article reprinted below with authors permission


Selling a boat brings many worries, not least of all whether a tentative offer will become a water tight deal. However, sometimes, an offer may sound ‘too good to be true’ – in which case it probably is.

Local Norfolk boater, Mark Bird, is advising fellow boaters who are advertising boats for sale to be particularly vigilant after he had an enquiry as to whether his boat, advertised privately on popular sales and auction sites, was ‘still available for sale’ from a prospective buyer calling himself Brine Collins.

Mr Bird takes up the story;

“I was originally sent an email saying ‘Hello seller do you still have it and in good condition, get back to me with the final price? – To which I replied that I had*and as well as telling him more about the boat, advised him that*it would be shortly going to a brokerage site.’ ”

“I then received the following reply;

‘Great. am glad to read from you ,will appreciate more pictures… i am a marine engineer, i am at sea right now.I am buying this for my son as a surprise promise Gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don’t have access to my bank account online(i don’t have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payments, and if you don’t have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay . I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted.’ “

“At this point I became very skeptical about the authenticity of this prospective buyer.

“To be offered money for a boat that the buyer has not yet seen is a bit unusual.*Nonetheless on the outside chance that it may be a genuine enquiry I duly sent some further photos but replied*outlining that obviously the boat would not be released until payment had cleared from my PayPal account to my personal bank.

“This is when I received the most outrageous reply.”

‘I appreciate the pictures, I have get the in contact with the pick up agent that will come for the pick up,before we proceed i will like to let you know this , i had this little problem now with the picking up, I got email back from my agent.. which i taught i included that in my previous message. he said, he won’t come for the pick up unless i pay him the agent commission fee first in order be able to schedule a pick up time ,and all commission payments made for pick up, from anywhere in the world is sent to their head quarters and the only form of payments they accept is western union money transfer and i tried to do it online but i will need a credit card which i didn’t bring along, so i want you to help me with the pick up fees, i will include the £900 they charge me for the pick up and delivery to my son home, to the payments i will send through PayPal. After i have made the payments and it has been confirmed by PayPal, i will need you to help me send the £900 to the pick up agent through western union money transfer………

Let me hear back from you so that I can proceed with the total payment of £ XXX once now’

Mr Bird added; “This was now obviously a scam and at that point I replied to the prospective purchaser that apart from having terrible English, it was obviously a scam and would be reported to the Trading Standards Office. It is no surprise that I never heard from him again.”

Although this isn’t the first time this scam has been reported, it is certainly worth remembering that some have been taken in with these promises previously and lost great deals of money.

If you are selling any luxury goods it always worth being aware that scammers are trolling sales sites looking for opportunities to strike!
 
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