A woman who faked a Yachtmaster certificate in order to charter a yacht has been cautioned by police in Bournemouth. The woman hired the yacht in the summer of 2007 on the strength of a certificate which she had downloaded from Facebook and altered.

Police decided against prosecuting the woman as she was of previous good character and had paid for the charter in full, but the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have warned seafarers against posting such certification on the internet and advised anyone who has posted such documents to remove them.