2002 Marlin in Key Largo - Craigslist Scam

Andrew93

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Anyone have any interactions with a seller of a 2002 Marlin with 2006 250's in Key Largo from Craigslist? It has been listed awhile and I have been watching it. Price was recently lowerred and I reached out and it get very weird very fast.

Asking $60k without trailer, said he would do $52 with trailer?

Told them to call me at their convenience where I am interested. Seller said just to send a check to a random shipping center made out to John Stewart. I said we were not at that point yet and I would not be comfortable with that. They got angry and then said price went up. Looking up the number it came back to a Tracy Lee Nelson in WI with a lot of different addresses.

I know there are a lot of scams out there and I always have my radar on, but does anyone ever fall for it? I am sure this boat was actually for sale by its real owner at some point and this person re-listed with their number unfortunately. There is a Marlin near me in Mass that was listed this past fall I saw for sale in Texas. Its amazing what people will do. Below is a link to the fake craigslist ad unless the scammer removes it.

If the real owner is here I am interested!


 

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Mustang65fbk

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I think it's entirely possible, although not very likely that the boat is legitimate. A price reduction of $20k seems quite extreme, although there are similar boats priced in the high $60k's to mid $70k's, and Florida tends to be one of the spots where boats sell for the least amount of money. So maybe it has been for sale for quite sometime and the seller needs the money? I looked for my 228 Seafarer for over a year and towards the end I started avoiding Craigslist because of all the scams involved. Like you said, they'll copy and paste the boat description of the actual seller's boat, then save the pictures as well and make a scam posting for half the amount. Oftentimes it'll be in multiple locations throughout the country where you'll see palm trees in the background of the picture for a boat that's supposedly for sale in "Chicago". With this one it's difficult to tell, the price seems a bit too good to be true but I guess is still in the realm of possibility. It's listed in Florida with what looks like Florida being in the background, but it doesn't show more than a couple of pictures of the outside of the boat and I always like looking for the numbers on the side of the hull to see if it correlates to the state it's supposed to be in. Most of the time with scams they also only have 4 pictures or less and those pictures are like a quarter of the normal size because they copy and paste them to their computer. Things that stand out for possibly being a scam would be the pricing, the phone number and asking you to text him and the 218 area code for the phone number that he's telling you to text is a phone number for the state of Minnesota. Now, it's obviously entirely possible that he's moved from Minnesota to Florida, but it just adds to the suspicion, along with the thing about the trailer being included but also being able to be purchased separately. Not sure if this ad is at all related but the boat looks similar, for the same price and close to the same location. Could be another scam as well. And finally, the 2002 GW 330 Express in Orlando is definitely a scam at that price.


 

Andrew93

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I think it's entirely possible, although not very likely that the boat is legitimate. A price reduction of $20k seems quite extreme, although there are similar boats priced in the high $60k's to mid $70k's, and Florida tends to be one of the spots where boats sell for the least amount of money. So maybe it has been for sale for quite sometime and the seller needs the money? I looked for my 228 Seafarer for over a year and towards the end I started avoiding Craigslist because of all the scams involved. Like you said, they'll copy and paste the boat description of the actual seller's boat, then save the pictures as well and make a scam posting for half the amount. Oftentimes it'll be in multiple locations throughout the country where you'll see palm trees in the background of the picture for a boat that's supposedly for sale in "Chicago". With this one it's difficult to tell, the price seems a bit too good to be true but I guess is still in the realm of possibility. It's listed in Florida with what looks like Florida being in the background, but it doesn't show more than a couple of pictures of the outside of the boat and I always like looking for the numbers on the side of the hull to see if it correlates to the state it's supposed to be in. Most of the time with scams they also only have 4 pictures or less and those pictures are like a quarter of the normal size because they copy and paste them to their computer. Things that stand out for possibly being a scam would be the pricing, the phone number and asking you to text him and the 218 area code for the phone number that he's telling you to text is a phone number for the state of Minnesota. Now, it's obviously entirely possible that he's moved from Minnesota to Florida, but it just adds to the suspicion, along with the thing about the trailer being included but also being able to be purchased separately. Not sure if this ad is at all related but the boat looks similar, for the same price and close to the same location. Could be another scam as well. And finally, the 2002 GW 330 Express in Orlando is definitely a scam at that price.


I am more just. frustrated to what these scammers actually get out of these ads. I find it hard to believe many people fall for scams on these big ticket items for the volume of scam ads there are. My thought is they are looking for emails and contact information to sell.

If that boat I listed is not a scam the seller is extremely unreasonable and will likely never sell the boat. I was curious if anyone else happened to contact that seller where it has been listed so long and their experience. If the ad is false I more so feel bad for whoever was originally trying to sell the boat. It seems the scammers are getting more cleaver, you used to see a lot of almost new stuff listed first cheap, now there is a trend to listing sought after desirable items, like used boats, cars, equipment etc.
 
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I am more just. frustrated to what these scammers actually get out of these ads. I find it hard to believe many people fall for scams on these big ticket items for the volume of scam ads there are. My thought is they are looking for emails and contact information to sell.

If that boat I listed is not a scam the seller is extremely unreasonable and will likely never sell the boat. I was curious if anyone else happened to contact that seller where it has been listed so long and their experience. If the ad is false I more so feel bad for whoever was originally trying to sell the boat. It seems the scammers are getting more cleaver, you used to see a lot of almost new stuff listed first cheap, now there is a trend to listing sought after desirable items, like used boats, cars, equipment etc.
I used to be a 911 call taker/police dispatcher for the county that I live in and I will say this, scammers aren't in "business" because they don't have any success or because people don't fall for the scams. We would get people calling in multiple times every single day because they fell for a scam and either sent people money or gave the person their SSN, bank account information or some sort of other credit card/financial information. One guy called in saying someone approached him in the parking lot of a Home Depot, gave him a sob story about making a cross country drive from Florida and lost everything along the way except for, go figure, $5k worth of gold. The guy told my caller to give him $5k for the gold, so the caller goes to his bank, withdrawals $5k and gives it to the guy. The exchange is made and as the caller is driving to the local pawn shop to verify that the gold is real, he finally realizes that there was something suspicious about what just happened so he calls 911. He goes to the pawn shop, go figure the gold is fake and he just lost the $5k. I think the 50 ended up finding the guy who sold our caller the fake gold, and I believe he got some of his money back? But I'm not positive.

There's also a ton of scams with people in other countries wanting you to buy them gift cards or deal with crypto currency, or they'll pay you more than what your item is worth to then have you send them the balance in cash or something similar. Other scams involve calling the elderly to tell them their "grandchild" got arrested and is in jail, and they need to pay them X amount of money over the phone or else their "grandchild" will be in jail for the night, or weekend or whatever. As with a good deal of elderly people, their memories aren't what they were before and they can be a bit too trusting of others whom they don't know, and will fall for it all the time. Long story short, scams happen multiple times everyday and continue to happen because they make money off of people.

I replied to a boat ad on Craigslist last year before I bought my boat and it seemed to be a bit lower on the price than normal, so I figured it was likely a scam. I always use a "burner email" or "burner phone number" so that they don't get my actual information if it turns out to be fake and did that with this Craigslist ad. I used an email address that isn't my main one and replied to their ad, then all of a sudden I was getting dozens and dozens of spam email every single day after that when I hadn't before. Every email had links to it that they wanted you to click on, probably so that they could try and track your phone or computer or put some sort of malware or something on it. I'm not too familiar with computers or phones in that regard to tracking and so forth, but I had to end up deleting that email address because I was completely inundated with spam emails dozens of times a day. So yes I agree with you, I think a big part of it is to get your private email address and/or phone number, or as much personal or private information about you that they can in order to sell it off or get some sort of incentive out of it.

There's an app called TextNow that's free to download and they'll give you a free "burner phone number" that isn't linked to you in anyway that I'll use just for instances like this. Or you can always put *67 in front of the phone number that you dial and it'll show up as blocked or restricted, but then if it's a legitimate sale then they might not pick up and in order for them to call you back you'd need to give them a phone number in the voicemail. This is why I generally always prefer to do business with dealers or businesses because it tends to bring the risk level down considerably with regards to the item being a scam or so forth. Obviously, always do your due diligence and have any boat surveyed or inspected, but at least the boat is generally always real and the dealership actually exists, even though a shady dealer/business can and unfortunately oftentimes will list something that doesn't have the accurate condition of the boat in it. Even still, a simple Google search can tell you about the reviews of the dealer or business and at least give you a little bit better peace of mind as opposed to dealing with a private party, especially one that's out of state. I've even seen private party listings on BoatTrader.com where they do the same thing, they'll copy and paste a boat description, save the pictures of a previous boat and then pay to add the listing to BT but will list it for half the price. Then people call up, they'll get their email address/phone number and probably ask for $500 down to hold the boat for them or something and then will get $500 as well as their credit card information.
 

family affair

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Fire, I probably came across 6 or so of these looking for our Islander. One common thread was all of the hull numbers were deleted. Also boats would be advertised in places where the backgrounds didn't match. For example, Florida add with deciduous trees in the background. Unfortunately people fall for it.
My closest call ever: seller asks for a Carfax on a truck I was selling. He included the link in his email. The link takes you to an excellent fake Carfax site. Enter your CC info and you are on the hook!
 

Andrew93

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Fire, I probably came across 6 or so of these looking for our Islander. One common thread was all of the hull numbers were deleted. Also boats would be advertised in places where the backgrounds didn't match. For example, Florida add with deciduous trees in the background. Unfortunately people fall for it.
My closest call ever: seller asks for a Carfax on a truck I was selling. He included the link in his email. The link takes you to an excellent fake Carfax site. Enter your CC info and you are on the hook!
I feel like I am usually pretty good about picking out the scams. This one was interesting where the ad looked so real with relevant information and requested text message, and I was watching this particular boat for awhile too. The way the text conversation went was odd even for a scam.

I once fell for the fake carfax thing too. They actually took paypal and I use paypal whenever I can, so all they got was my $25. Still a win for them I guess.

I do a lot on craigslist and marketplace. With boats I have always been more successful on Craigslist than any other platform for buying and selling. Once before we were looking for a particular boat and was willing to have one hauled but ended up finding it local. I have never done a long distance purchase, but some guys I know banks offered escrow services, if I find a Marlin long distance I plan on doing something along those lines. Where we know the boat we want I am good with a survey at my expense and having it hauled and save on the travel expenses.
 
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Mustang65fbk

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I feel like I am usually pretty good about picking out the scams. This one was interesting where the ad looked so real with relevant information and requested text message, and I was watching this particular boat for awhile too. The way the text conversation went was odd even for a scam.

I once fell for the fake carfax thing too. They actually took paypal and I use paypal whenever I can, so all they got was my $25. Still a win for them I guess.

I do a lot on craigslist and marketplace. With boats I have always been more successful on Craigslist than any other platform for buying and selling. Once before we were looking for a particular boat and was willing to have one hauled but ended up finding it local. I have never done a long distance purchase, but some guys I know banks offered escrow services, if I find a Marlin long distance I plan on doing something along those lines. Where we know the boat we want I am good with a survey at my expense and having it hauled and save on the travel expenses.
Did you try texting or calling the phone number provided to see what happens? If you download that free TextNow app you can text the phone number provided and find out pretty quickly/easily if they're legit or not. Most will ask you right away for personal information like bank account info or payment of some kind, which is always a huge red flag. I've done 3 different cross country boat purchases over the past 5 years, of which two have been from a dealer/business and the third was from a private party. All three went according to plan, and I did a pre purchase boat survey/inspection with a surveyor on two out of the three, of which the third I'd already flown out and didn't have 2-3 weeks to wait for a surveyor to show up. But I had a forum member come and look at the boat with me, which is always nice to get a second set of eyes on the boat as well. If you do call/text the guy with the boat in Florida, I'd push the issue of you wanting to have a surveyor come out to inspect it. If the boat doesn't exist or he's full of you know what, then he'll come up with some sort of excuse or reason why the boat can't be looked over in person... because it doesn't exist. I'm always somewhat hesitant about the guys that leave their phone number on a Craigslist posting because that's visible to the entire world, and I don't want someone knowing my phone number that I don't know. You also don't get much of this kind of stuff on Boat Trader, Boats.com or Yacht World because they're typically dealers or businesses as opposed to dealing with a private party. Which is why I use those sites much more than Craigslist, and the amount of scams is significantly fewer as well.
 

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I'm in Islamorda for the next two weeks. Call his bluff and tell him you are sending someone over to look at the boat. The next few days are best for me.
 
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Andrew93

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I'm in Islamorda for the next two weeks. Call his bluff and tell him you are sending someone over to look at the boat. The next few days are best for me.
Thanks for the offer, but I am done with this one. I was mainly curious if anyone else had any interactions with this ad where it was listed for awhile and I know there are a few people here looking for a Marlin. It was just a strange conversation even as far as scams go, if its not a scam the owner is the worst salesman ever!
 

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Seriously, look elsewhere.

The advice of P. T. Barnum. applies I suspect
'There's a sucker born every minute'
 

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I text'ed the guy:
I’m interested in the boat. What do I need to do to arrange to see it?


And this was his response:
Good Morning,

Let me know when you are available and I’ll try to arrange. I’m not there so I’ll have a friend show it to you. Please give me a couple of time options so I can find something that will fit his schedule.

Thank you for your interest,
Tracy

I talked to Fire93Medic via private message. We both think it's still some kind of scam. Just going to let it go.
 
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seasick

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Yup.
" but before I go through the trouble of having my friend show you the (a) boat, to make sure you are sincere, I need a small deposit first."
 
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If you go to a website called SpyDialer.com you can look up someone’s phone number and oftentimes get their name as well as approximate location. When looking up the phone number in the ad, it says that the phone number does come back to a Tracy Nelson near Big Pine Key, FL. Again, this isn’t saying that the guy is legit or anything but I say that you should play a little more Devil’s Advocate with the guy to know for sure one way or the other. Especially if you’re in the general area already.

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