BoatBuys actively monitors all e-mail leads for typical scams and frauds. We also block access to our sites from countries like Nigeria, whose national sport seems to be online advance-fee frauds. The scams also originate from the UK and unfortunately, also from North America. There are numerous methods that can be used to mask their true location and callerID, however, there are several common components to all the scams we see.

The typical scam is simple. Somebody with a throw-away email address (from yahoo, hotmail etc) contacts you and offers you more than you are asking for your item. They want to buy it now (and usually ask you for your "last best price") and may want to send over their transport agent to pick it up. You will also notice that their written english is poor and if you manage to get a phone number, you will be calling somewhere in Africa to a guy's cell phone. Nobody in another continent is legitimately going to buy your boat. Sorry.

Quite often, they purport to be an agent for some rich business man (they like the term 'business man' since this scam is perceived as business for them), they might say they represent some foreign leader, monarchy, or anyone else who they think might impress you enough to let your guard down. They rely on Google Translate to turn their native tongue into english, which is why their emails look so ridiculous. There will often be a sense of urgency, like any scam or con, encouraging you to keep the transaction a secret so you don't get your friends and family involved.

If you fall for the con artist's bait and reply to them, you will ultimately be forwarded a worthless and counterfeit cheque for more than your item is being sold for. You take that fake cheque to the bank, deposit it, withdraw the difference between the selling price and the fake cheque (this is now your hard-earned REAL money) and either wire it to the scammer or give it, along with your item, to their 'agent' and kiss it all goodbye.

For goodness sake, don't even reply to these 'what is your last best price' emails. We try to help by showing you the location of the visitor in the email lead you get from us, which will usually tell you where they are. You should be suspicious of anyone who wants to buy your item sight unseen and wants to offer you more that you are asking.

If they want to overpay and get you to give them the difference back, it is a fraud. What is worse, is that it is originating out of the country (or continent) and your local police will not be able to help you.

You will NEVER see your money back and you will OWE the bank once they determine the cheque is a fake. They have up to a couple years to charge it back to you so even if they initially 'clear' it, it is really only 'clear' until they get it bounced back them. (ask your bank about the chargeback policy).

If in doubt, setup an empty bank account and tell the buyer to wire YOU the funds. Wiring funds requires that they exist at the originating end and it cannot be reversed. Funny how they will make up stories as to why they have to send you a cheque.

We see all kinds of scams and have intercepted many of them and alerted our sellers. We cannot catch them all and you need to rely on your good sense and judgement to see something that is too good to be true. We know you want to sell your boat. We want to help you sell you boat, but the likelihood of you selling it to someone outside of North America is slim to none. There are plenty of boats for sale around the world that be far less expensive to acquire than to ship yours overseas.

If you get a suspect lead from our sites, don't be afraid to forward it to us for our thoughts. We have seen almost every scam out there in the past few years and can give you our opinion of the situation.

Don't just take our word for it. Read all about advance fee frauds and scams at Wikipedia

Happy Selling. Safe Selling.

Your BoatBuys.com web team