I think I ran into the same thing. (I will feel horrible if this is not a scam, but it hasn’t felt right since I first saw the ad.) I saw the ad on boattrader.com for a 2007 suntracker pontoon boat for 4K. That is way too low. Seller supposed to be in Irving. So, I did the contact seller thing and asked if the boat was still available and if the price was really 4K. (Thought perhaps it was a typo and really should have been $14,000.) About 30 minutes after I sent the message, I went back to look at the boat and the listing was no longer there… At first I just figured that it had been such a steal of a deal that it had already been sold. I received this reply a day or so later from Sheila Cruz:
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in purchasing my boat. The boat is in perfect condition – like new! If you decide to buy it, you’ll receive all the papers, owner manual, keys, a buy-sell contract already signed by me and the clear title. For this transaction I want to use ebay because I want to provide you a fast and very secure way. They will handle the transaction for me. You will make the payment to ebay and they will hold the money until you receive and inspect the boat. ONLY AFTER you receive the boat and you inspect it (you have 5 days for inspection) ebay will release the payment to me. The inspection time period will begin as soon as you receive the boat at your address. Meanwhile eBay will hold the money into a trust account. So, this is not a blind transaction, you can see the boat before you decide to buy it. This way we are both protected : i will know that i have a serious buyer who has the money to pay me and you will be able to see and inspect the boat before buying it .
The final price is $ 4,000 with shipping costs and insurance included. The price is low because I want to sell the boat very quickly. My husband died in Iraq 3 months ago and I along with my daughter decided to sell the house and move to my sister. I can’t afford to take days off my work for this sale so i’m trying to sell it online.
If you are really interested in purchasing the boat please send me your full name, shipping address and your phone number. Ebay will give you all the details regarding the shipping and payment.
I will appreciate an answer as soon as possible.
Regards!
Sheila Cruz
P.S. : The pictures i have taken for this sale are below . Please take a closer look before you decide .
Scam reported at FightTheScams.com
sagent says:
Well, well, well…I am so glad that I used common sense before sending the money by Western Union to buy a 2005 Z20 Ranger Bass Boat for $3,600.00 and guess what…the letter that I got from Erin (ebailey41@msn.com) is the EXACT same wording as this! I checked on prices for this boat and found that they run about $49,500.00 brand new, and a 2005 in good condition runs about $18,000.00 to $30,000.00! Too good to be true…for sure. I contacted “Erin” and no sooner than I got the same letter, I went back to Craigs List to look at the pictures again, and the add was gone. I am so thankful for the scam sites on line and I can’t believe how many people have been scammed by this. I was almost one of them. The transaction paperwork and invoice look so convincing! I just can’t believe that this is still going on! There has got to be some way to catch and prosecute these scammers! To say that her husband died in Iraq 3 months ago and is just immoral. Oh well, what can you expect from these scammers? This is just happening, so I need to get back to looking over some of this and I will write more later. The email address on this is ebailey41@msn.com. Buyer Beware!
June 24th, 2009 at 1:22 pm