- Don't accept requests to obtain a paid boat or vehicle history report ('Vehicle Report') via a website specified by the buyer. Serious buyers get such reports themselves — scammers just want your credit card details and the fee.
- Make sure the seller actually exists. Get their name, address, and phone number. Call at different times of day to check who answers and how they respond.
- Never send a copy of your ID card to anyone you only know via email or phone.
- Ask the seller for proof of the hull and engine numbers and have the respective manufacturers verify them.
- If you're asked to pay in advance, it's usually an attempt to scam you.
- This applies to both money transfers (e.g., via Western Union, MoneyGram, escrow services) and bank transfers. Unfortunately, there is always a risk that your money could be withdrawn using forged documents — and your loss will not be reimbursed!
- If you're skeptical, deposit the money in a notary escrow account (with a notary of your choice). Only this way—and once your boat has arrived in good condition—will the seller receive the money, and you'll get your dream boat.
- If the offer seems "too good to be true", then it is.
- Be careful with cross-border transactions.
Buy and sell safely
Protect yourself and your money! Make sure you follow the rules below when buying or selling a boat.
How can I spot a fraudulent seller?
- Is someone trying to sell you a boat and asking for upfront payment before you've seen it?
- Was it suggested that you might arrange transport via a transport company and cover the transport costs?
- Isn't it possible to talk to the seller directly or by phone?
Example
A listing is posted in which the scammer poses as the seller. The listed item is often offered at an extremely attractive price. Prospective buyers who try to contact the seller by phone via the listing find that the seller either cannot be reached at the number provided or that the phone number given in the listing does not exist.
The prospective buyer can only contact the seller by email. If they ask why the seller can't be reached by phone, they usually get answers such as: "I'm deaf," "I had an accident," "I'm ill," or "I'm on a business trip and therefore only reachable by email."
Once the seller has your money in hand, you may hear a string of excuses about why the boat still hasn't been delivered. In some cases, you're asked to pay extra for transport. From the moment the money is received, the seller disappears without a trace.
How do I spot a fraudulent buyer?
- Is the interested buyer demanding that you pay for a vehicle/boat history report upfront via an unknown website they provide?
- Has someone emailed you wanting to buy the boat right away, without viewing it?
- Has anyone offered you more than the asking price?
- Was it hinted that the transport might be arranged via a shipping company and that the transport costs would be covered?
- Isn't it possible to speak to the buyer directly or by phone?
- Is the potential buyer abroad?
- Was the first contact via SMS?
Fraud cases (examples)
Fake vehicle report scam
In a vehicle history report scam, a supposed buyer contacts you about your boat listing, immediately shows strong interest and says they want to buy the boat — but only if you first get a 'Vehicle Report' (boat history report) from a particular website. The link leads to an unknown, often professional-looking domain/website. There you are asked to pay for the report by credit card; the scammer promises to reimburse you later or claims the report is needed for their insurance or financing.
As soon as you've paid (usually €60–100), communication stops: the supposed buyer no longer replies, and the 'report' is worthless or never delivered. Besides the immediate financial loss, you risk your card or personal data being misused. In short: the real deal never happens — this scam only aims to extract fees and sensitive information from sellers.
Fake companies
A shipping company is supposed to handle the transport and hold the money in escrow. A legitimate company with an address and its own website? Then you're on the safe side.
Caution: the company likely exists only virtually. Professional-looking websites are quick to build and can be deleted at the push of a button.
Phishing emails
You receive an email that claims to be from Boat24. Usually, it asks you to send your account details.
Scammers are at work here. If you share your login details, unauthorized third parties could gain access to your account and attempt fraud using your account.
Boat24 will NEVER ask you for your login information. If in doubt, please get in touch with our support team [email protected]
Check fraud/Overpayment fraud
You're selling a boat. A buyer from abroad responds to your listing. They even want to buy the boat without seeing it first.
You then receive a check for an amount well above the purchase price. The buyer apologizes for accidentally issuing a check for an amount that is too high and asks you to send the difference via Western Union.
When you cash the check at the bank, the amount is credited only provisionally. After the bank's review, which can take some time, the check bounces due to insufficient funds. In the meantime, you've refunded the overpayment, or you're asked to send the money via Western Union or similar services.
Once your money has been paid to the recipient, it is irrevocably lost.
Rip deal/Currency exchange scam
A rip deal is a currency exchange scam. The scammer uses various tricks, all with the same goal: to cheat their victims out of their money.
How a rip deal can unfold
Scammers usually find victims through listings (e.g., boat listings). Typically, a currency exchange scammer contacts a potential victim.
After initial contact, a meeting is arranged — usually abroad. At this meeting, the scammer steers the conversation away from the original topic and talks about currency exchange or cash transactions.
The victim is offered a currency exchange involving US dollars and/or euros. Sometimes the scammer makes the victim believe the cash is illicit or laundered, so the exchange has to happen in secret.
When money changes hands, a currency-exchange scammer's imagination knows virtually no bounds:
- Counterfeit money or replica banknotes instead of real money
- swap empty cash briefcases
- doctored bundles of cash where only the top note is real
- ink-stained banknotes that can supposedly be cleaned with chemicals
Key features
In most cases, you can spot currency exchange scams when
- a supposed buyer demands that you, as the seller, pay the brokerage fees and commissions in cash.
- the entire transaction should be settled in cash
- You are promised unrealistically high returns.
- that the meeting point for the handover should be abroad (Northern Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, or the Benelux countries).
- Meeting point
- the supposed buyer wants to meet you in a public place.
- the meeting point and the agreed time are changed at short notice.
- the supposed buyer accepts the price for the item in your listing without any checks and/or inspection.
- in addition to the main transaction (e.g. selling a house), you also want to handle other transactions (including currency exchange).