Something not quite right...?

[realslimshady]

about this email....
I have had my boat for sale on BaO for a few months now and received an enquiry on Friday in rather broken english, well, cut and pasted below is the reply after I sent more pictures to the guy.
I am sure there is a scam going on, though it's not immediately obvious (well, not to me anyway!) and it's obviously too good to be true...

Hello

Thanks for the mail,

Am very much okay with the present condition of the boat,i will be offering you £8000 for the boat.

i have a private pick up agent that we come to your location and pick up the boat after i have made payment to you via wire transfer but he insist that i should send him the shipping fee by western union money transfer but have told him that i will adding the shipping fee to your money and after you receive the payment by wire transfer then you then forward the money to the shipping agent to come for the pick up of the boat in your location.

I will be adding an extra of £750.00 for shipping fee to the boat price £8000.


Kindly send me the requested information below so that i can transfer the funds to your account.

Account Holder:
Account Number:
sort code:
Bank Name:

i will transfer the money to your account, thereafter my bank will automatically send a payment confirmation notice the moment i transfer funds to your account.

I will really appreciates your assistance.

Thanks

[Stork_III]

It is obvious to me SCAM SCAM SCAM. Leave it alone.

[AyeSkipper]

Steer well clear.

Enough said.

[Nick_H]

there's details of how the scam works on the B&O site

[Firefly625]

Thank the lord you sniffed a rat, want to know what they are upto and what the scan is all about?, well take a read!

http://www.autoshippers.co.uk/car_shipping_scam.htm

[Alistairr]

You bank the £8750, withdraw the £750 and give that and your boat to the shipping agent, and 10days later your bank comes back to you and tell you the wire Transfer was fraudulant and they won't cash it.

You're £750 down and lost your boat!!

Its maybe not exactly like that, but to me it reads SCAM and I'd forget it!

Safest buyers are ones who want too see the boat for themselves. Hope you find a buyer soon.

Cheers
Al.

[realslimshady]

Thought as much. Knew you guys would have heard or seen this before.
Cheers

[FlowerPower]

It's a timing scam - you send the wire transfer off before your bank properly has time to clear the transfer from the foreign bank.

"thereafter my bank will automatically send a payment confirmation notice the moment i transfer funds to your account" ... will most probably not be genuine.

What you need is confirmation in writing from YOUR bank that the payment has cleared. There are ways to do this e.g. Nat West offer a chargeable "Special Presentation" service.

[Firefly625]

It's a timing scam - you send the wire transfer off before your bank properly has time to clear the transfer from the foreign bank.

"thereafter my bank will automatically send a payment confirmation notice the moment i transfer funds to your account" ... will most probably not be genuine.

What you need is confirmation in writing from YOUR bank that the payment has cleared. There are ways to do this e.g. Nat West offer a chargeable "Special Presentation" service.

good point, but its not even worth going that route with these crooks... just forget all about the offer and move on.

[volvopaul]

I get many emails every day usually from Nigeria asking to buy 20 volvo engines and to send my bank details for payment, what a joke and all in poor english.

One day when I emigrate I will take there so called money and run, I suppose as long as there are zero funds in your account your on to a winner!