fake cl adds

jim372

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
145
seams to me that there is now
adds on cl that is fake
they just not sound right
to me.
one add on Pittsburgh cl
says free boat but boat
is in police impound lot
buyer to pay half of impound fee
have to pay $175 to get it
out and owner pay $175.
 

pikefisherman

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Messages
324
Re: fake cl adds

Good and bad on CL buyer beware with every thing now days. I wouldn't buy it to much other stuff out their.
 

Bayou Dave

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Dec 13, 2012
Messages
1,780
Re: fake cl adds

Why would an owner, that is giving the boat away, pay half the impound fee? Sounds like a scam to me, but you could contact the police to verify the info.
 

bonz_d

Vice Admiral
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
5,276
Re: fake cl adds

Doesn't sound FREE to me.

The other one I see alot now is Free Boat with purchase of trailer. Sorry but I'm not going to haul your garbage away.
 
Joined
Aug 5, 2011
Messages
15
Re: fake cl adds

The "free trailer, but take the boat" ad, isn't a scam, but it is all about getting rid of their junk. Unless it's a metal boat. You can get good cash for salvage. The old adage "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" still applies. I always demand pics and want to hear the engine run if it is stated that it does.
 

skyking897

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
208
Re: fake cl adds

One of my favorites is "the motor was just rebuilt". And I always ask to see the "documentation" showing someone rebuilt the motor, which usually ends the converstation.
 

Chef Shawn

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Jul 15, 2012
Messages
87
Re: fake cl adds

I love Craigslist, but you have to be careful. We recently had one up here on Lake Michigan that made me chuckle, "30' Boat, new engine, priced to sell" the guy wanted like $3K for it. The boats actual OWNER posted the next day "That is my boat that sat on the bottom of Lake Michigan for two weeks!" The recovery crew dried it out, threw a different motor in it and tried to sell it. Told the owner it was too deep to recover.....
 

Brian 26

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
574
Re: fake cl adds

There are A LOT of morons out there. Trying to sell stuff for way more than it's worth, trying to sell stuff without titles etc... There are a lot of normal everyday transactions waiting to be had out there but there are also a lot of time wasters, scamers, idiots too.

Why would an owner, that is giving the boat away, pay half the impound fee? Sounds like a scam to me, but you could contact the police to verify the info.

Just a guess but maybe he has personal property in the boat he wants back??
 

hall832

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
234
Re: fake cl adds

I am so tired of the idiots that email and text you as soon as you post an item for sale " Is the item you have listed still available.
 

pikefisherman

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Messages
324
Re: fake cl adds

I was trying to sell something and even though I posted my phone number, they wanted me to keep e-mailing them with info.
 

bonz_d

Vice Admiral
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
5,276
Re: fake cl adds

I was trying to sell something and even though I posted my phone number, they wanted me to keep e-mailing them with info.

So what's the problem with that? I buy and sell on CL all the time and with the odd hours that I work everyday it's usually much faster and convienant to email than to have someone blowing up my phone with stupid questions. It's those that email and expext an emmidiate response that have a problem.

The ones that tick me off are the dealers that list their whole inventory and have them listed as "by owner".
 

Maclin

Admiral
Joined
May 27, 2007
Messages
6,761
Re: fake cl adds

Regarding the original post, the Ad was real and not a fake in my understanding of "fake" ;)

If the "owner" really did want to give the boat away they probably would have to do NOTHING and the thing would just get auctioned off at some point. The "story" in the Ad only makes sense if they want help with a FINE they are liable for whether or not they pick up the boat and not an impound retrieval fee, just my take on it.

I bet what would happen if anyone agreed to the terms is one of 2 scenarios...

The "buyer" would get there and

1.) The "owner" would have some cockeyed story again and you would have to pay the whole fee if you wanted the free boat, then find out that the institution that has the boat can only release it to the person the impound documents named, bye-bye money and boat.

2.) The "owner" actually does cough up half, then the rest of the story is the same as #1, bye-bye money and boat.
 

26aftcab454

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
1,510
Re: fake cl adds

I like the adds that say:
"needs Starter replaced"
"Ran last year"
and can't spell trailer
 

Jim Hawkins

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 11, 2013
Messages
499
Re: fake cl adds

I like the adds that say:
"needs Starter replaced"
"Ran last year"
and can't spell trailer

I like those ads too. Sometimes they just don't have a clue and if you know how to check the vitals you can pick up a motor cheap when all it needs is a little TLC.
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
49,038
Re: fake cl adds

The ones that tick me off are the dealers that list their whole inventory and have them listed as "by owner".

Yeah. The pics show 14 boats and a shop with boats in it and they are selling "by owner". Lanier Liquidators used to sell "by owner" and only flagging ads by many CL'ers got that to change.
 

tomhath

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
814
Re: fake cl adds

...
one add on Pittsburgh cl
says free boat but boat
is in police impound lot
buyer to pay half of impound fee
have to pay $175 to get it
out and owner pay $175.

I would bet that if you call him he'll ask you to send the $175 so he can get the boat. Then a few days later he'll need another $100 because of extra charges, then a few days later...you get the idea.

There have always been scammers all over CL, nothing new here.
 

agallant80

Commander
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
2,328
Re: fake cl adds

Every time I have tried to sell a boat or car on Craigslist I get a message from some company offering me access to their website with thousands of potential buyers for a fee. They will even include a "marketing package" for a small fee of course. If I was going to pay to list something then I would use autotrader or boattrader not Craigslist.
 
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