BOATERS are discovering adverts for their narrowboats are being included on sites such as Boatzone that are fake.
Adverts such as the one for a boat in Pillings Lock Marina on the Soar, worth in the region of £20,000 that was illegally advertised in Boatzone for a ridiculous £5,700.
Paypal
Paul Lillie, Manager at Pillings tells us that someone enquired about the advert yesterday and was told by the conman that if they sent the money by Paypal they could pick the keys up at the weekend!
Paul points out that this advert is a fake, as the boat moored in the marina is not even for sale. He advised Boatzone that it should take more care in vetting adverts as websites that host fake adverts like this generally start to get a bad reputation amongst the close knit narrowboat community and stop being used. He believes Paypal should be clamping down on such fake transactions.
Not even for sale
The problem of course is that any newcomer to boating would possibly not be aware of the real value of a narrowboat, knowing that many over-price their boats to give leeway in knocking the price down, and though asking £5,000 for a £30,000 boat is obviously a scam to boaters, it might be seen as a bargain to the uninitiated, being a quick sale due to something like a bankruptcy or death of the owner, with the prospective buyer prepared to send a deposit, or even pay in full, using Paypal—that will of course then be lost.