What do you reckon is this a Scam?......

RobWales

RobWales

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 Sep 2006
Messages
1,963
Location
Gran Canaria
www.3ksengineering.com
Guys,

I emailed an enquiry via an advert on the boatshop24.com website (european version) yesterday for a boat which by my reckoning and knowledge should be worth circa 15 to 20k on the market UK....boat is said to be in uk....(not going to say which boat just in case it does turn out to be a bargain but I doubt it)
Tried to ring the mobile number on the advert but it was a dead line.

Below is the email reply I just received....Looks like and smells like a SCAM to me! Do you concur Gents?

I removed the photo link for obvious reasons as stated previous, the supposed vendor has not signed his name either but the email address the below came from gives an outline of his Christian and Surname which ends @gmail.com.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,

The boat is still available,very good condition, no damages. The price of the boat is £7,500. I had to move to Luxembourg, due to my company's decision. I have other things that are a priority right now so the boat has to go. Due to the fact that I am very busy with my work and I don't stay too much at home, we left the boat in the United Kingdom to a shipping company so it can be delivered to the new owner. If you are interested, I need the post code of your delivery address so I can calculate the shipping cost (I agree to support the transportation charges 50% if that is suitable for you).
Here you have the photos of the boat :

Best Regards

--

ArcelorMittal International
19, Avenue de la Liberté
L-2930 Luxembourg
G.D. of LUXEMBOURG
 
I had something, similar when recently enquiring about a boat for sale I was offered it at about a 3rd of the asking price delivered to my address, I didn't bother with replying as it was obviously a scam and they had just copied the real advert for a similar one just sold.
 
It doesn't look good....

Price - too good to be true, poor use of the English language, far more interested in shipping than the product.... go figure...????

BUT, If the name is not English that could be explained, if the circumstances are genuine, that may also explain the rest. I would be tempted to do a little more digging. A few questions about performance, fuel economy, safety systems should be easy enough for a genuine owner to explain/describe. Even if English is not their first language.
 
Several times, I have had to move countries in a hurry, leaving chaos in my wake. (makes me sound like an international criminal, but no, just a new job in a new country, where they ask if you can start straight away).

It takes months to sort things out; moving belongings, selling houses, cars etc during which times you are staying in hotels and don't have good communications. It could be genuine, but follow it through, tell the guy to give you a phone number that you can reach him on, get proof that he is the owner in writing (receipts for purchase, servicing, parts etc he may not have these to hand, but people can usually get someone else locally to dig them out). Talk to him about the boat and you will get a feel for whether he knows it. Has he got friends family locally that you can meet?

Due diligence should get you to the answer.

I must say that leaving it with a shipping company to transport to the new owner, is a bit of a slick answer for someone in chaos though....oh and of course caveat emptor.
 
RobWales said:
Guys,

I emailed an enquiry via an advert on the boatshop24.com website (european version) yesterday for a boat which by my reckoning and knowledge should be worth circa 15 to 20k on the market UK....boat is said to be in uk....(not going to say which boat just in case it does turn out to be a bargain but I doubt it)
Tried to ring the mobile number on the advert but it was a dead line.

Below is the email reply I just received....Looks like and smells like a SCAM to me! Do you concur Gents?

I removed the photo link for obvious reasons as stated previous, the supposed vendor has not signed his name either but the email address the below came from gives an outline of his Christian and Surname which ends @gmail.com.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,

The boat is still available,very good condition, no damages. The price of the boat is £7,500. I had to move to Luxembourg, due to my company's decision. I have other things that are a priority right now so the boat has to go. Due to the fact that I am very busy with my work and I don't stay too much at home, we left the boat in the United Kingdom to a shipping company so it can be delivered to the new owner. If you are interested, I need the post code of your delivery address so I can calculate the shipping cost (I agree to support the transportation charges 50% if that is suitable for you).
Here you have the photos of the boat :

Best Regards

--

ArcelorMittal International
19, Avenue de la Liberté
L-2930 Luxembourg
G.D. of LUXEMBOURG
Click to expand...


Its difficult to know what scammers want and how they can use it these days, but requesting your postcode does look very suspicious - at least its not your bank account !

I received a spam e.mail about 12 months ago from a "Princess whose wicked Uncle had taken away her families fortunes after the death of her father etc etc" and thinking I was clever, responded to it with a four letter rant about finding better things to do etc etc, and coincidentally within 6 hours someone had hacked my e.mail address and I received a warning from my ISP that I was sending out something like 20,000 e.mails a minute and they were going to cut me off... so I can only deduce that particular scammer was harvesting live e.mail addresses - and my response confirmed he had hit a live one.

We all have a level of suspicion of online activity, but I assume if he has left it with a shipping company and he is genuine (unlikely) his storage costs will be mounting up and he may be glad to get shot of it, but usually most things that are too good to be true are just that.

Nigelmercier has a good response however ...
 
99% sure this is a scam - offering to pay 50% of the shipping cost, their next step will be to ask for an advance on the shipping amount. You can play along and ask to see the boat but be super suspicious!

There are deals to be had out there - my boat was for sale by the son of its one elderly owner from new, and was overseas, which sounded suspect but everything (and the seller) checked out and I bought it. The above does not sound right though to me.
 
Yup have to go with your gut and see it is a scam. Author isn't mother tongue English speaker, clearly, and the postcode/delivery 50% thing is a clearly smellable rat

Nice touch using Mr Mittal's steel company in the Grand Duchy as the address, but easily googled of course. As a keen boater himself, Mr Mittal would smile.

I don't know what the scam is. He already has your email address so it isn't that, and postcodes aren't secret. I guess this is the first of a series of emails, if you were to go along with it, and at some point he'd transfer you the 50% money for shipping but would transfer too much and ask you to return some, then his money would bounce. The shipping element of the scam is too much in the forefront of his mind, and Freudianly he has mentioned this too early and made the rat smellable
 
jfm said:
I don't know what the scam is.
Click to expand...

Perhaps he will claim to have paid the shipping company and request 50% back ?

What ever the scam Rob IMHO its important to go along with it.

If everyone replied and messed them about for a while they would soon give in.
Because only gullible people respond they are on maximum profit for minimal input.

Respond asking lots of number questions, while they are responding to you they are not earning off anyone else.

In any event they deserve such a response just in case they are genuine.
 
DAKA said:
Perhaps he will claim to have paid the shipping company and request 50% back ?

What ever the scam Rob IMHO its important to go along with it.

If everyone replied and messed them about for a while they would soon give in.
Because only gullible people respond they are on maximum profit for minimal input.

Respond asking lots of number questions, while they are responding to you they are not earning off anyone else.

In any event they deserve such a response just in case they are genuine.
Click to expand...

Like your thinking - If it is uncovered as a scam, perhaps the OP could share some or all of the details with us and the tables could be turned ....
 
RobWales said:
If you are interested, I need the post code of your delivery address so I can calculate the shipping cost (I agree to support the transportation charges 50% if that is suitable for you).
Here you have the photos of the boat :

Best Regards
Click to expand...


I bet he's such an honourable guy he'll even ship the boat to you before you have to pay for it!

Now if you'll just send him your half of the £2,000 shipping costs first, he'll make the arrangements... :D
 
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