Fraud Prevention Tips for Boat Sellers
Fraud Prevention Tips for Selling a Boat Safely
Boatsville cares about our users' internet safety. Please consider the information provided below before making any transactions with the buyer of your boat on this site or any site.
Some Important Tips To Protect Yourself From Being Scammed
- Buyers who intend to commit fraud show little interest in the actual boat or its features. They are more interested in how to do the transaction.
- Always check out the persons or companies FIRST before you conduct any transactions with them. This includes getting a phone number that is listed and details on the transaction-Where the boat is going, when and for how much.
- If they give you an email address, test it. Make sure they reply back to you.
- If they don't give you a phone number or refuse to provide one they are probably running a scam.
- Be cautious of anyone that uses a free email service that does not require a credit card at account creation.
- A buyers phone number is out of service or rings to a fax machine.
- Get good contact information for the individual or company you want to do business with and test it.
- Be cautious if they want to send a cashiers check for more than the worth of the boat. This is done to get you to send back via WesternUnion the difference, leaving you on the hook for total amount. See our How Do You Lose below for more details.
- If dealing with a company, check with the Better Business Bureau from their area.
- If the person you are selling the boat to uses broken english, or has poor e-mail grammer, this is an indication that you are entering into a scam.
- Always try to get the buyers physical address and be wary of buyers that only use a p.o. box.
- BE VERY CAUTIOUS OF MAKING ANY TRANSACTIONS WITH INDIVIDUALS OR COMPANIES THAT ARE OUTSIDE YOUR OWN COUNTRY
- Try to get the buyers drivers licence number or other traceable information.
- A great way for both buyers and sellers to protect themselves is to use a LEGITIMENT 3rd party escrow or payment service. Boatsville recommends Escrow.com because it is a well established, fully liscensed service. If you use another service, be sure it is a reputable one.
If You're Selling A Boat, heres how the scam typically works
Please be aware of the following scenario:
- A buyer either e-mails or calls you with an offer before they even discuss any details of the boat. This is usually a red flag. They often say that they represent another person and are doing the transaction on their behalf. This gives them the out on why they aren't asking any of the right questions.
- They usually will offer to send a certified check or cashiers check for the price of the boat plus extra money to cover the cost of the shipper which they will send to pick up the boat.
- The buyer ask you to give the excess cash to the shipper, who will take the fees and ship the boat
- Once you cash the check, the pressure to send the balance back to the buyer intensifies. Rather than giving this to the shipper, he will pay the shipper instead, so he will ask you to send the differnce via WesternUnion.
How do you lose? First of all, certified checks are NOT guaranteed. A counterfeit cashier's check may not be discovered for up to two weeks later. Your bank, however, will honor the check and give you cash on it. When the forgery is discovered, you will be held responsible whatever money was drawn on bogus check.
So, not only do you lose the money, but you have may have also shipped your boat to a foreign country, and it is very doubtful that you'll either be able to prosecute the con artist or ever recover your boat.
If you suspect an offer for your boat may be fraudulent, please report it to us so that we can investigate and/or report it to the proper authorities.
Disclaimer
Boatsville cares about our visitors and our customers safety and is actively doing everything in our power to prevent fraudulent activity on our site. Since the transactions are between the buying and selling party, with no intermediaries, we cannot be held liable for any fraudulent act perpetrated through this site. Please report any suspicious activity so we can investigate and ensure that The Boatsville Network remains a safe place to buy and sell boats.
Please also be aware that many scams will try to use an e-mail address that looks legitimate. We have seen many that use Boatsville in the e-mail address. You should be very cautious when recieving an e-mail showing Boatsville in the address. Since we DO NOT Sell or Buy boats, we will not be asking you for money, other than through a boat transaction to list your boat. Do not respond to these type of e-mails that look like they are from us. Do not give credit card information over the internet to one of these addresses. If you suspect that someone is trying to get money from you using an e-mail with Boatsville in the e-mail forward it to us to report any suspicious activity
Visit the sites below to learn more about Internet fraud.
Internet Crime Complaint Center
Practical Tips to Help You Be on Guard Against Internet Fraud