A few words about On Line Fraud
or
Don't be conned!

Sellers:

Before you respond to an email enquiry from an individual, take the time to review the contents of the message.

It is an unfortunate fact that many unsuspecting sellers and buyers are defrauded each year by unscrupulous scam artists. In Canada, our national police force maintains a database of these scams at www.rcmp-grc.ca/scams/index_e.htm and such information is available in other countries. A list of links to many such sites may be found at https://www.recol.ca/linkspage.aspx

A typical scam is the "overpayment of goods" scheme: (quoted from the RCMP site)

Have you ever been contacted by a person offering what seems to an excessive amount for goods that you intend to sell? You feel like you’ve hit the jackpot. However, you should use caution when this happens!

Criminals will send the payment to you, usually by a fraudulent cheque. The sender will normally request that you send back the surplus funds.

You send the surplus by using your chequing account or by other payment means. By the time you realize their cheque is fraudulent, you are out the money you sent to them.

While the RCMP site offers advice on what to do when you've been conned, the best advice is to exercise caution and think Seller Beware!

• Why would anyone want to offer the full listing price, sight unseen?
• Why would they send a cheque for more than the price listed?
• Why would they ask you to deliver the vessel, especially out of the country?
• Why the urgency?

Take the time to check out your buyer. Confirm the buyer's details, especially name, address and telephone number. Confirm the cheque with the issuing bank. As a boater, you know the importance of advance planning. If you receive an offer that "seems too good to be true", it probably is exactly that. So hold off and look twice before getting involved.

Buyers:

• Never buy, or offer to buy, an item sight unseen.
• Inspect the vessel and carefully determine ownership (licence papers or ship's papers, original sale documents)
• If at a marina or yacht club, confirm ownership with the management
• Whenever possible request a recent survey and confirm it with the surveyor.