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Boat Buyers and Sellers: Don’t Get Scammed
Here’s how to
spot the email warning signs
The boating
season is drawing to a close, but the cold weather buying season will heat up
soon. On snowy nights, potential boat buyers will hunch over computers and
cellphones looking at boats for sale, dreaming of sugarplums and their first
boat, while current owners with two-footitis seek a larger boat and look to sell. Nearly all boat buying and selling scams
involve emails and they often contain clues to alert you. Boat Owners
Association of The United States (BoatUS)
offers these common email warning signs to help prevent you from being scammed.
Warning
signs for boat buyers:
- The
boat is priced well under value. Despite lots of pictures and a
good description (likely swiped from a real ad), the boat doesn't exist.
If a boat you're seriously interested in is an out-of-state vessel, send a
local accredited
marine surveyor or someone you trust to verify there really is a boat
and that the seller has the actual title and registration. Bottom line: If
it seems too good to be true, it likely is.
- Cobbled-together
email addresses. Scammers constantly change their email addresses to
avoid detection, and they may have to get ones with fairly normal-looking
names but lots of numbers.
- No
phone contact. Scammers will go to great lengths not to talk to you
and give reasons ranging from being out of the country to being in the
military.
- Demands
to use a specific business (escrow or shipper) and won't accept an
alternate. If you chose to use an escrow service to settle the transaction, suggest
your own after visiting the BBB site and verifying it's a legitimate one.
- The
buyer wishes to pay a different amount from the selling price. If any mention is made
of paying you anything more than the agreed price (and then typically
asking for you to refund the overage or send the money to a third party),
walk away.
- Showing
no concern over title/documents. If there's no interest in
discussing titling the vessel or in verifying the registration information
or hull-identification number, the person has no real interest in the
transaction.
Warning
signs for boat sellers:
- No
reference to what is being sold. Scammers create a generic email to
send to thousands of people, so they tend to use general language that
could apply to anything such as "item," "merchandise,"
or "what you are selling.”
- Poor
grammar, spelling, punctuation, and language use. Internet scams
usually originate from outside the country. A couple of errors shouldn't
worry you because no one is perfect, but a dozen is a red flag.
- Changing
names and locations in emails. It can be difficult to keep all the
details straight when scammers are working multiple scams. If the person
doesn’t remember who or where he is supposed to be, or exactly what he’s
selling, you’re being scammed.
- No
interest in seeing the boat or haggling over the price. Whether buying or
selling, scammers are amazingly unconcerned about the price of the boat.
Who wouldn't negotiate? And if buying, they'll often say they accept the
boat "as-is," won't mention a survey or inspection, and won't
hold you responsible for its condition. Anyone willing to buy a boat sight
unseen after a few emails should be regarded with suspicion — and if
they're also not concerned about price, it's a good bet you're being
scammed.
For more
information on buying or selling a boat, visit BoatUS.com/Buying-And-Selling-Advice.
Attention Sailing Organizations & PR Agencies:
Add us to your distribution list, contact us today
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