You are all probably aware of this but it may save one person a big problem so that's why I'm posting.
I answered an ad on Craig's List for a 2014 170 Dauntless for $19,000. The boat was priced under what it should have been, so it looked like a good deal--but one that was not outrageous.
I wrote [to the seller] asking for more pictures. When I got the reply I was sure [the offer] was a scam. The seller said, "I'm selling because I don't need it, got in in the divorce." The seller said the boat was now "in the possession of eBay Motors and to go on eBay and use the Buy-It-Now button to buy the boat, delivery will be free."
The eBay page link looked very real but there were a few things that didn't seem right. I did a chat with eBay to confirm that [the page the fraudulent seller sent was not a link to the] real [eBay website].
I wanted to investigate further and clicked on the link that took me to what looked just like an eBay auction page with a few little differences. There was a line that said "private sale, cannot be seen in public search." I've never seen anything like that on eBay.
I like to check the seller's feedback. It was all as a buyer. When I clicked on feedback as seller the page would not change. When I clicked on the eBay logo at the top it did not take me to the eBay home page, instead it took me right back to page I was on.
The mistake I made was log into my eBay account from that page to try to investigate and it hit me that I should not have done that. I immediately changed that password and any others I use that were the same or similar.
I went to eBay though my short cut and engaged in a chat with them about the ad. They assured me it was a scam and hoped I had not sent money which I never came close to doing. eBay did give me an email address to forward a copy of that email to them which I will do now.
Fraudulent Boat-for-sale Offer
- southshore fisherman
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 7:30 am
- Location: North east Ohio
Re: Fraudulent Boat-for-sale Offer
Don't even think of buying a boat you (or a trusted Whaler owner) can't inspect in person.
1992 Outrage 17
2019 E-TEC 90
2018 LoadRite 18280096VT
Member since 2003
2019 E-TEC 90
2018 LoadRite 18280096VT
Member since 2003
Re: Craig's list and eBay scam
There have always been con men posing as sellers ready to exploit buyers who think they are exploiting the seller.