Does this smell fishy to anyone????

Hi guys, something about this just doesn’t feel right. What do you guys think? This is his response to my boat add. He did leave a phone number and address, but I left it out on purpose.

Hi Brian,

We are prepared to make you an offer on your boat and motor package. For your boat & motor package, advertised as follows;
2005 Lund Explorer SS
ShoreLand’r roller trailer with spare tire
2005 Suzuki 140 four stroke
80lb auto/co-pilot
3 new batt
1 Humminbird Matrix 27 on bow
Eagle Seafinder locator/Eagle Intellimap w/2007 Lakemaster
Uniden ship to shore w/8ft antenna
Sony am/fm/cd
snap out carpet
snap on cover
Shorelander trailer w/ breakaway tongue
3 seats
On board battery charger

We offer you the sum of $ 17,500.00, seventeen thousand five hundred dollars in U.S. FUNDS.

We are further prepared to send you a nominal down payment in order to hold the boat until we are able to travel to your State to complete this transaction, including final payment to then return to Canada with our purchase. Our planned arrival date is Nov. 3, 2007, assuming this date is convenient for you also.

When exporting a trailer out of the U.S.A., we are required to advise U.S. Customs of our intent to do so 72 hours prior to our arrival at the border. This policy requires us to present U.S. Customs with the appropriate title document. If this offer is acceptable to you we would ask that you fax (204-883-2288) a copy of this document to enable us adhere to this policy. We will not require that you sign the title over to us at this time; rather, only that you send us a copy of it. Feel free to confirm this requirement by visiting the following Government of Canada Web site: http://www.riv.ca/english/html/how_to_import.html#before
No prior notice is required to import watercraft into Canada.

In addition, we are also required to obtain a “recall clearance letter” from the manufacturer of the trailer, stating that none are outstanding. For these reasons, we need about one week’s notice, at minimum, between your acceptance of our offer and the date we travel to your State to acquire our purchase.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns that you may have.

Thank you.

Tom Cusitar & Lucie Durand

SKAM !!! any normal person, would not recite back what you are selling, down to the T. This is computer generated, SKAM !!! IMHO

big g

uughh..I don’t know.I don’t like the part about sending a copy of the title.Perhaps contact a marina and seek there advice?
I also don’t like the fact that there is no contact info,just a name.I’d be VERY skeptical and proceed with caution.

Big time scam – seen this dozens of times…..Tell him to FO

I’ve talked to this guy on the phone a few times. He also sent all his contact info in his email. It all sounds too weird for me though!

I was contacted too Brian about my boat, very un-easy feeling about him. I sold my boat to a local person instead.

Sell you boat only in person. Period. Tell this guy to come on over with the cash or take a hike.

Maybe do a search on Snopes.com. They have a lot of those scams identified on there.

Never sell to anyone from a different country….NEVER!!! Not even Canada. If you are priced fairly there is no reason to deal with the headaches involved with dealing with foreigners. Wait for a domestic buyer. You have no recourse if the deal goes south. By the way, this is definately a scam, no doubt about it.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON (for those of you old enough to remember that show…Lost in Space)

like suzuki said, CASH deal only. Dont wait around for that putz and tell him if it sells before he gets here, tough cookies. I would not hold a boat for anyone I havent met in person. Good luck.

CASH = BOAT

No Cash, No Boat. Plain and simple. Just my thoughts.

Keep it local!!!!! never worth it in the end to get the boat sale if it is a scam and you have handed over all of your personal info to someone…

Brian, We have recently sold several motorcycles to people in Canada, and everything they are asking for is what they will need to take it back to Canada. There are alot of Canadians shopping in th U.S because the current exchange is good for them right now, I tend to believe your Ok, but if you feel uncomfortable, don’t sell to them. Just my feeling

Him and I had this discussion about the currency difference so that’s why I wasn’t TOO alarmed right away. I really don’t care if I sell it now or later, but his email just sounded generated to me. Either I’ve been working in the jail too long, or this guy is very articulate. I still agree with you guys, I’m pretty sure it’s a scam. Here’s his latest response to “my price is firm” from me.

Thank you for your reply Brian. We were not aware that you were firm on your price, and we certainly do not expect you to give anything away. Fair enough, we will discuss it and let you know if we are prepared to meet your terms.

It is tough to evaluate these things over the phone and through emails, but that is not your problem. Thank you for your efforts thus far.

Tom & Lucie

What they give you is a very well forged check…..They know it takes time to verify…..in the meantime….Well ,you get my drift,

I just sold my boat recently and had two calls from Canada. As stated above they are looking for a good deal because of the exchange rates right now. If you are not in a hurry I’d give the guy a chance as long as he’s willing to pay in cash.

Anytime you put a boat or vehicle for sale online, you can believe you’ll run into more than a few of these scammers. I think they all need a death sentence, myself, for what they do to some people.

I, like The Grump, have had dealings with the Canadians involving sales. They do require a copy of the title at the border 72 hours in advance. If your customer wants the boat, have them send you a certified check in U.S. Funds. Either that or you can do a wire transfer bank to bank. It seems a little fishy that he wrote everything in your add back to you. Then again, maybe he did that just to protect himself. He doesn’t want to pay 18G’s for a 12 foot paddle boat. Either way, he shouldn’t leave your driveway until you are comfortable. If you a leary of an International buyer, tell him thankd but no thanks. Otherwise, get the funds in advance.

Use your banker. When, and only when, your bank confirms that the money has been successfully transferred would I sign any documents or take the padlock off the trailer.

Good Luck.

Pete

Go back and re-read your opening sentence, then think back to what you were told from childhood….if it don’t “feel” right then it probably isn’t. Trust your gut, another buyer will come along.

You can wire-transfer money from his bank to yours. Work with your banker to do it. There will be a small, acceptable fee from your bank to do this.

I would offer to hold the boat in storage for him untill the 72 hours passed, then he can take his new boat home.

There is no reason that you (the USA Seller) should have to bend, bow, give, and take risk due to Canadian laws (foreign country laws). If the buyer (Canadian citizen) doesn’t like Canadian laws, then he needs to lobby to change them, or suck it up and sit in the US for 72 hours until his new boat title clears.

Here is my reply if it was me……….

Thank you for your past interest in my boat. Thought I should let you know I have an interested buyer locally who has put money down. If my deal should go bad I will get in touch with you again.

Thanks again for your interest.

Ok? Here is his response.

Brian,
We wouldn’t dream of asking someone to hand over their boat or sign over any titles before they got paid.

Our intention is to pre-pay our mastercard the amount of the purchase, so that we can visit your bank and make a payment directly into your account for the full amount of the purchase with our mastercard. This is about the only way that we can think of where the funds will clear immediately. We would verify in advance that your bank would able to process the transaction. Our bank has indicated that this would be the way to go, and Mastercard has indicated that this will work just fine.

A certified cheque would still take some time to clear and I don’t have the time to wait around for that. I don’t think we would make it through the boarder carrying 18 grand in cash, and I don’t feel like bending over.

It would be possible to meet you at a different branch of your bank and complete the transaction their, they could transfer the money to your account, I would cover any fees. If you are heading north anyway, and we could meet during bankers hours, then that works for us.

There is no risk here, no scam, you are holding the goods and we don’t expect you to hand anything over before you get paid.

We are offering to purchase your boat package for $ 18,500. This amount reflects your asking price, we would assume that you would be happy and willing to work with us to get this done, just like any other buyer. Just like any other buyer, we intend to be standing their with you to complete the transaction.

What date works for you, either in northern Minnesota or at your bank.

Thanks for your time.
Tom & Lucie

Sounds to me like you have your boat sold. If they are willing to meet you personally at your bank, and you feel comfortable with the deal, call up your banker explain the situation and get his/her thoughts on the deal, If the buyer is standing there with you, your bank should be able to confirm that the $ is actually there and then you should be safe to sign over the title and release the boat to them.

I think that many Canadiens are doing this right now in order to take advantage of the exchance rate.

I would talk to my banker and if they are comfortable with the deal, do it.

If you just don’t feel comfortable, be honest to the buyer and tell them the truth.

As I read all of this prior, it sounded workable. I too sell many things out of country and have very few issues. BUT……this last email was a huge, huge, huge red flag to me. If they make payment via Mastercard, they can have the charges reversed once they get the merchandise. If they insist on paying with Mastercard, have them draw the funds out in cash at the bank and pay you with cash. Do not accept a direct payment via credit card!

Wire transfers from bank to bank should cost 50 dollars or less and once the funds are received in your bank account they cannot be taken back and they are the quickest way to move funds. I would insist on a wire transfer, as long as you are comfortbale with all of the other issues.

WOW!! Well, I told him that the only way this deal will fly is if he wires the money directly into my account, well he did! Talk about ME not feeling comfortable? This guy just sent $18500 to someone he doesn’t know, for a boat he’s only seen in a few photos. I’m meeting him in Mcgregor on Nov 2 to give him the boat. Crazy Canadians!