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Legit buyer or spam


OnTheWater

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Hey All,

Sure seems/feels like this is spam, but he did engage in this follow up email and has some good questions that a legit buyer would ask.  Thoughts?...

“Hi, i'm a subsea engineer and currently offshore...so i won't be able to come for the inspection due to the nature of my work.i'd appreciate if you email me with more closeup pics for a better look since i won't be be able to see this in person, but i have a mover who is gonna come to your location only after payment has been made and cleared, so i've chosen to have this done via paypal as it's the easiest and safest way to pay online, i have a few questions for you below and i want you to be honest with me has the engine been replaced? is the vessel and its engine under warranty? has the boat ever been in salt water? are u the original owner? when was it last used? how was it stored in the winter?  what's your firm price? and where are you currently located? and lastly hope you got a paypal acct??

pls get back to me asap.”

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At first it sounded like spam to me.  I would recommend having him call you before you do anything else.  If it is a scam he most likely won't call and if it is still a scam and he calls you may be able toget a better feel if it's legit by talking to him.  The guy should know a fair bit about either ski boats or any sport that would utilize a ski boat so I would ask him those types of questions to verify.

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If you are going to have him call you, get a google voice number and give that to him.  You can forward that to another number.  I wouldn't give out my personal number.

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I have had spam before like this. The way they frame sentences or words they use can be a tell tale. Using the word vessel and talk about using paypal for this would alarm me.

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Paypal is the give-away. 
That's a good way to get scammed. Stolen paypal accounts, Buyers can dispute charges etc.
You end up losing the boat and the money.

Tell him you don't accept paypal as a payment, and thank him for his time.

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45 minutes ago, Vickslave said:

I have had spam before like this. The way they frame sentences or words they use can be a tell tale. Using the word vessel and talk about using paypal for this would alarm me.

Exactly.  Who says vessel these days? 

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This is a major SCAM!!!

I received a similar response when I sold my old boat last year.  Within hours of posting my add in Craigslist, I received a call from a guy in the military in San Antonio, TX (I am in California) asking if simple questions about the good (condition, hours, fun to use, etc.), afterwards he told me would would like to buy the boat and ship it to Texas using his personal hauler and would pay via paypal. This whole conversation stunk of scam, so I stopped receiving call from this person.  

Afterwards,  I located the following information online:

https://www.boatus.com/magazine/2014/june/boat-buying-and-selling-scams.asp

PayPal Variation

Recently, PayPal has become a target for scammers. The phony buyer will ask for your PayPal ID in order to send you a payment, again for substantially more than the purchase price. Shortly after that, you will receive a fake confirmation from PayPal with your user ID for more than the agreed purchase price, and the buyer will contact you asking you to send the extra money to a shipper. To make the scam look more legit, if you refuse, you'll receive additional fake notices from PayPal threatening to close your account if you don't transfer the extra money as per your "agreement."

 

 

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Also....Paypal charges a 2.9% FEE to the seller, so you lose that money right off the bat. (I just sold a surf boat via paypal....$500 cost me $15 to get from paypal)

Either way, sounds like a scam to me. If he can paypal, he can wire the money in cash.....end of story.

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12 minutes ago, footndale said:

imagine my disappoint when I thought clicking on the link was going to send me here...

http://bfy.tw/Hppa

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Without reading anything but the title of this thread I can with 100% certainty tell you it's a scam. 

The reason I know this is because of my affiliation with the Nigerian royalty who deals in these matters.  If you want to sell your boat I will gladly buy it and pay a 10% premium to hold it as I am currently working on a freightliner as a measure of national security. Just send me your banking information and social security number and I will have the money deposited into your account. As an extra measure of protection please provide to me your mother's maiden name, the name of your first pet and your favorite sport. 

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