Schemers & Scammers

If you have been reading this blog you know I’ve been trying to sell my Boston Whaler Revenge…

I’ve had it on Craigslist over and over again. It’s amazing how fast, especially here in south Florida, the ad sinks to the bottom of the pile after posting as others flood in to take its place. I have had dozens of calls from people who say they are interested and want to see it and then never show up. Dozens. Two this last weekend alone.

Recently I put it up for sale on eBay. It was looked at 827 times according to their counter. I got one low-ball bid. Thankfully I put a reserve price on it so that 1) if I didn’t get a reasonable price I wouldn’t have to give the boat away and 2) if the reserve price wasn’t met I wouldn’t have to pay for the ad other than the cost of photos and highlighting the ad.

There are all kinds of schemers and scammers out there, too. I had one guy, johnblazer4luv@yahoo.com, who sent me several emails.

On the 18th of this month I got this email…

Hi there, i need to buy this  as soon as possible, please get back so i can know if it is still available for sale.
Best Regards,
Mr John.

I told him the boat was for sale on eBay and if it didn’t sell there he was welcome to buy it if the price was right.

The auction ended without a sale and this morning I got the following…

Hi Back, thanks for the swift response. I am actually buying this for myself and will want the shipment handled by my shipping agent but no worries as i am going to be responsible for the shipping bills. The boat is going to be picked up by my agent after i have made the full payment via commonwealth bank payment method.. All i will need is your full name and your full bank details so that i can remit the funds into your account as soon as you email me your agreement to this process. I will need more pictures of the item in your next mail as i wont be able to come and check out the product. I reside in china but i get fascinated by products from abroad and hope we have a deal. Once again, your fast response will be greatly appreciated so that we can complete the transaction sooner.
Best Regards,
Mr John Blazer.

Sure thing, John. Why don’t you hold your breath while waiting for me to send you my bank information. I replied and told him that when his shipping agent showed up with 95 hundred dollar bills he could then ship the boat to China.

John is not anything, if not persistant and sent this…

Hi Back,I understand your concern regarding this kind of situation and i can as well pay you via paypal…hope that is also safer for you but you have to understand that i am also trying to protect myself as i will be sending a huge amount of money and i dont want anything to happen..Let me know if you accept paypal payment and you can send me the total amount for the boat and also get back  i can send it to my shipper for the charges.

I don’t know if you realize that Paypal is often used by rip-off artists. These people will use all kinds of methods to try and scam you out of your money and/or possessions. Not long ago my friend, Stefan, went through a game with someone trying to buy a car from him. Stef thought it was a scam and played along to an extent. The scammer even sent a check drawn on a church’s Wachovia (now Chase) account. When he went to the bank to check fund availability he found that the account had been closed for several years after several checks had been stolen and this was one of them. The scammer wrote the check for $5,000 more than the sale price and asked that Stefan deposit the check and then turn over the five grand to his shipping agent.

I don’t have the time or the inclination to play along with this idiot and his scam. I’ll keep posting the boat and eventually it will sell.