info Things to watch out for to prevent being scammed.

[Reelcrazy]

As most of you know scams are rampant on Craigslist and other sites. Less likely here but it happened to me. Here are some major points I have learned along the way.

 

1. Check the users history on the site before agreeing to purchase anything. If they signed up for membership very recently and messaged you privately that they have the item you are looking for be very careful. Especially if they show no other activity on the site.

 

2. If they refer you to someone else to purchase the item through who is not a member of the site, ie "contact this individual at this email address ______________" should raise red flags.

 

3. Look at the wording the individual uses. Yes is it possible that someone who does not speak english as a first language is completely legit unfortunately many times they are not. Many scammers throw in the words like "kindly" to seem friendly in strange places that really make no sense.  The following is an excerpt from a message I received from this scammer "Okay a notification from Paypal will be sent to you kindly click yes on the notification to complete your payment. This is to ensure that you have successfully made your payment to me so in order to have them shipped to your location. Kindly let me know when you have received it and clicked it."

 

Notice how some words do not belong or out of place. In this situation I was trying to buy one downrigger but they referred to the item as "them" indicating this person does not even know what a downrigger is. They use words like "merchandise" or "goods" to describe the items you are trying to purchase when anyone that fishes would call it a "rigger" or "downrigger"

 

4. They ask for steps that are foreign to you compared to past transactions. This individual asked for a screen shot of my payment confirmation. They also insisted that they would send a notification to me through paypal to confirm the payment. This step does not exist in Paypal. 

 

5. Scammers are getting very sneaky and use American names and emails. 

 

Im sure most of this was covered already but go into each transaction with caution and do not send cash, check, or money order to anyone unless you personally know them. Do not use friends and family in Paypal unless you personally know them. 

[Lively1]

I've recently run into multiple obvious scams in the 'boats for sale - by owner' section on Craigslist recently. Typically its a nice looking fishing boat at a very nice price. The 'seller' has recently been widowed or divorced and moved out of state, and the boat will be delivered via eBay motors or some such..

 

The first question you should ask when inquiring about a used boat is 'where is it and when can I come look at it'.  That will weed out this type of scam right away. 

[MCF]

Many if not all scammers on Craigslist have a gmail account or a phone number area code listed that isn't close to the area code of the address.  Yes people can move but it is a flag.  I got into it on a transaction that I ended quickly when the woman couldn't come up with a good explanation for the area code matter and kept changing a story.

[wildman97]

I recently delt with a website
Bigfishingstore.com finally 2 months larer paypal returned a large sum of money the site is a scam out of china


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[PA Matt]

Reelcrazy is spot on with all his points. I've been lurking for several months reading and learning a lot. I decided to sign up to participate here and there. I figured I'd see if anyone was selling a Raymarine Sportpilot Plus. Geez, who knew everyone has a friend that has one for sale and ironically the seller speaks or I guess in these cases types broken english.  Hard to believe that a fishing discussion board can have so many people trying to run a scam.

[freebird18]

Typical on Craigelist and other sites offering boats for sale they  have these characteristics in common.

No Hull ID # pictured.

No background views to determine location. 

Limited photo's, usually no more than 3.

No Licence Plate Photo.

Use only email for responses.

Prices obviously way off they mark.

Flag them whenever your in doubt.

 

[MCF]

gmail email listing

[Sk8man]

I hope you aren't giving some lurker a good start on things with the details. It is always a potential problem same as some of the National Geographic programds that cover drug deals and smuggling. These guys are able to use information to develop "work- arounds" despite the original concerns and intentions of the presentors. A lot of the current telephone and other scams are now done by the cartels as they are less liable to get caught and the penalties aren't as great as for other stuff.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Sk8man

[Reelcrazy]

No one is giving anyone a good start. Unless someone’s actual account is legitimately hacked. They don’t have a chance here if the above said are adhered to. 

[tuffishooker]

Another great post site ! IMO anyone can be scammed including myself more than once ! 

[bigwalleye]

Beware the method of online payment, also:

 

Venmo - No buyer protection in case of fraud

PayPal Friends & Family - No Buyer protection in case of fraud

[Tim G.]

Yep I had a guy text me yesterday saying he had a one year old fish hawk more than half off. Lmao. I asked him if I can call him to chat and he said he would probably  be busy. Also had a Chicago area code but gave me an address from Maryland. Definitely  a scam. And his wordings in the text were repetitive.  Also when. I asked for how  it performed for him. He gave me a word for word description off the website. Beware. People. Pieces of Sh#t are everywhere trying to scam 

Edited April 2, 2021 by Tim G.

[Fireredcannon]

Just got a phone call from the publishers clearing house, fellas I won 2.5 million!

Sent from my moto e (XT2052DL) using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[digitroll]

You need to talk to a live person that ask legitimate questions!  The scammers avoid talking on the the phone.  They just text back and forth.  They want you to take care of the shipping so their phony certified check doesn't cost them a dime.  

[freebird18]

Boat scams. Most often only include few pics, have no Registration # on Hull. Blocked oLicense plate. Palm trees and a Michigan address. Unreal the number of Center Councils being sold in the Northeast.  

[Turboal]

I am so tired of scammer. My car was on Craigslist and I had 5 scammers the first day! 

1. they direct you to a website for paperwork on cars history 3 different web addresses sent to me lol my computer told me it was a scam when I punched in the address LOL

2. ask you for you email address -- they emailed me this request

3. Pay you full price without even coming to look at car and will send a agent to pick it up.

4. Asked me when I bought the 2014 chev cruise one owner car -- REALLY

four of them all had basically the same MO or maybe it was the same person using 4 different names -- went like-- I will have to take tomorrow off and come with a friend at 2 o'clock I work nights so it will cost me money to come see car so just go to this web site and get the needed paperwork.

 

[WindKnotGuy]

Good post. There was a Sage X rod for sale here with a Lamson reel.  Mine was stolen in a house break and enter, and sure enough the seller directed me to a friend who used some odd language and simply ignored my questions.  But promised to have it shipped by tomorrow morning as soon as Paypal payment was confirmed.  I asked to speak to him, no reply.  Asked where he was located, very evasive.  Multiple red flags and I did not get scammed.  This time!

[ri rory]

hi folks

 

i placed an add for a wanted a cmc trim unit, 

i was referred to an email of someone who had one.

we even spoke on phone

result —i got scammed for $200 in Dec

 

lesson learned!!!

[SemperFish57]

Biggest scam that I have seen is people not interested in purchasing anything and just asking where you are located?   

[Gator]

I'd want to know where my seller was located, so that I could perhaps arrange pickup rather than shipping. If they won't say, then it's a no go, particularly if the seller isn't a known entity on the board.

 

I had a guy ship me an empty downrigger box once (from Louisiana) - I had filed an initial complaint with PayPal  after not receiving anything, and the guy started sending pictures of the box ready to be shipped, waiting at the post office, etc... Eventually, he quit responding and PayPal refunded my money. It is amazing the lengths people will go to perpetuate a scam.

[greenhornet73]

Maxwelll—-Do not buy from this person. Says he is selling off his tackle because he has stage 3 cancer.  I just read this warning after wondering if I had been scammed and basically everything went down that they warned about. He contacted me about an item I was looking for, told me to pay Venmo or PayPal -Friends and Family and was a newly created account with no history. I expect that garbage on Craigslist but my guard was down on this site since LOU members aren’t out to screw anybody.  Probably out $200 but hopefully this loser doesn’t get anyone else.  Home with Covid  this week so I’ll have time to shop my woes away.

[emitt1]

well i hate to say it,,, but that hunk of crap just got me,,,,   said he had a fish hawk and needed the money for surgery.  dammmm    maxwelll was the name.   this guy needs baned.  

[greenhornet73]

Sorry to hear. Looks like he finally deleted his account, now beware of his new log in. 

[greenhornet73]

Well you know Karma. We may have lost out on a couple hundred bills but that’s nothing compared to what he has coming. Pray for him.

[JJBat150]

Sorry to hear about this.

 

Maxwell hit me up a few weeks ago via private message.   A quick google search of the email address and photos they provided showed that it was a scam.   (Email/Venmo account was on a few other forums reporting it's a scam).   I reported the IM to mods, and it was deleted.  Not sure if the account was disabled / deleted or not.