There is no 2007 Sun Tracker Fishin Barge 21' Pontoon Mercury 4 Stroke 60 for sale. There are stolen pictures of someone else's Pontoon.
There is only a scammer trying to steal your hard-earned money.
The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be the "eBay Business Purchase Protection Program" or "DAS" and will demand you pay for shipping fees, in cash, and only by Western Union or moneygram. Or the scammer will want you to "prove" you have the funds by sending cash to a friend and sending him the MTCN#. The scammer then uses the MTCN# to pick up your cash and disappear.
Western Union and moneygram do not verify anything on the form the sender fills out, not the name, not the street address, not the country, not even the gender of the receiver, it all means absolutely nothing. The clerk will not bother to check ID and will simply hand off your cash to whomever walks in the door with the MTCN# and question/answer. Neither company will tell the sender who picked up the cash, at what store location or even in what country your money walked out the door. Neither company has any kind of refund policy, money sent is money gone forever
Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.
Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.
Thanks for posting up that information on a scam.
Making a scammer's scam googlable on every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find is a great way to slow that scammer down when a suspicious potential victim goes looking for information, finds your post containing the name the scammer is using, his email address, phone number and the emails themselves and then that potential victim does not become a scam victim because you took the time "get the word out".
Wasting a scammer's time legally and safely is called "scambaiting". If you google that word, you will find sites where you can read scambaits, post up the emails and email addresses of scammers, post up a fake website, read up on how to alert a hosting company that they are hosting a fake website, ask questions and learn all about the hobby of scambaiting.
SCAM
1 - Craigslist is ONLY for face to face transactions or you are always being scammed
2 - Ebay protection ONLY applies to items that are listed for auction ON EBAY, you bid ON EBAY, you win the auction ON EBAY and you pay ON EBAY with your linked Paypal account
3 - For vehicles including boats, Ebay protection ONLY applies if the item is located within 250 miles of your home address AND you pick it up in person
DAS DOES NOT ship boats. Shipping a boat would cost over $3000 so there is no way anyone would sell a boat and ship it for $2200 when they could easily get $3000 cash in hand for a local sale that didn't involve shipping
This is a scammer fraudulently using Ebay's name to gain your trust. Report this ASAP to Craigslist to get the ad removed before someone falls for it
There is now another scam on Craigslist. Reported to Craigslist, hoxever; posts continue. Pontoon boat: Could be listed as 2005, 2006, 2007. Email is portie851@gmail.com. All you have to do is google this email adress & take a look.
100% SCAM.
"Ryan" is most likely a scammer in West Africa.
The reason that the boat is so cheap is that it doesn't exist. The pictures have been copied from someone else's ad who is legitimately selling a boat.
The scammer is playing on your sympathies by saying that he is about to be deployed and needs the money.
Ultimately, the scammer is just trying to get you to part with your money.
Very clean scam. This excuse that is going to be deployed is been used before. Thank you for track that and report. We all need keep our eyes open and report things like that.
I'm pretty sure I know the answer and have seen other folks ask the same question. But, I just wanted to post this for consumer's awareness... Scam or not?
Original Craigslist Post had a pontoon boat for sale in the DC Metro area for dirt cheap: $2,200. The ad said, "For more information and pictures, email: Ryan. Reynolds @ comcast...net.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/boa/3741151623.html (I flagged this for removal.)
Here is the email correspondence I had with the guy:
Hi Ryan,
Could I receive more info and pics about the pontoon boat you listed on craigslist? I'm very interested.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/boa/3741151623.html
Thanks,
-Sarah
________________________________________
From: Ryan Reynolds
To:
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: Bass Buddy Pontoon
Hello,
I am selling this 2007 Sun Tracker Fishin Barge 21' Pontoon Mercury 4 Stroke 60 because my platoon has been sent back to Afghanistan and don't want it get old in my backyard. The price is low because I need to sell it before April 28. The pontoon is in great condition and runs great. THIS BOAT HAS A 2007 MERCURY 60 FOUR STROKE WITH ONLY 80 HOURS.
It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad US $2200. The pontoon is in Lexington, KY, in case it gets sold I will take care of shipping. Let me know if you are interested, email back.
More pictures available here: http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/2007SUNTRACKERFISHINGBARGE/library/
________________________________________
Hi Ryan,
Yes, I am very interested. Looks good. What is your phone number? Would you like to talk about the details?
Thanks,
-Sarah
________________________________________
From: Ryan Reynolds
To:
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: Bass Buddy Pontoon
Right now I`m in a military base. we are getting ready for Afghanistan. I don`t have my cell with me. We`ll have to stick to email
for now as this is the only way I can communicate.
I will ship it with DAS and will be there in 3 working days. The asking price is $2200.00 shipping included.
Because it is a large transaction we will complete the deal only using an authorized third party like eBay, using their
Business Purchase Protection Program.
If you are still interested just send me your full name and shipping
address. I will forward your info to ebay and they will send you all the details needed to close this deal.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Thank you
________________________________________
I have no problem going to Lexington to get it.
Thanks,
-Sarah
Please note that I smelled a scam the very first email and wanted to see if there was actual, follow-through. “Ryan” has not since emailed me back. Scam or not?
