Is This A Scam

[zerubb]

Has anyone had dealings wth this company? CheapBoatsStore.com They advertise on CruiserLog web site, supposedly operate out of Florida and offer free delivery of purchased boats within US and to many parts of the world. It all seems too good to be true, so probably is!

Regards

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by zerubb' date='01 May 2010 - 03:40 PM

Has anyone had dealings wth this company? CheapBoatsStore.com They advertise on CruiserLog web site, supposedly operate out of Florida and offer free delivery of purchased boats within US and to many parts of the world. It all seems too good to be true, so probably is!

Regards

Hi Zerrub and thanks for your quiery.

I have no experience of CheapBoatsStore.com but can assure you that they do not advertise on CruiserLog. As you may have noticed, there is an advertisment bar at the top of the CruiserLog pages underneath the main banner. These ads are not placed there by CruiserLog but, as it clearly states in the lower right-hand corner, by Google. They are neither approved nor sanctioned by CruiserLog.

The only ads which CruiserLog places on this website are those of our sponsors. In these, it is clearly stated that the page concerned is sponsored by XXXXXXX.

In general, I agree with you. If it seems too good to be true then it almost certainly is but do not let this blind you for the odd fantastic deal which crops up from time to time.

Aye // Stephen

[JeanneP]

I wouldn't buy a car without seeing it, I wouldn't buy a boat without seeing it and having a survey. Having had experience in shipping our boat across the Atlantic to Finland I also don't trust time estimates, not to mention the cost for shipping a boat!

So, is it too good to be true? I think so, but I've never heard of this fellow or his company before. I wonder if he has any references; does he have a track record that you can research? I guess if I found a bargain boat I'd want to "kick the tires" and have a survey, then take it away myself.

I'd love to hear somebody's experiences with this group. Who knows?

[zerubb]

Hi Jeanne

Tried to research this guy on the web and drew a blank. I have sent an e-mail to them explaining that "I am interested in a particular boat and asking for details of where I may see it".....I will update this post with any info I receive.

Regards

[JeanneP]

I have read a bit more on the web site, and the payment section raises red flags. First, I can't believe that any sane person would send this fellow cash money without having a bill of sale and possession of the boat, so I figure that the Escrow Office would be the only way to consider payment. since Cheap boats store says they are the only ones who will approve the Escrow Office, I would hope that it is an independent, bonded operation. Problem is if you're from out of state, how do you check their bona fides?

Yes, I am looking for all the things that can be wrong or twisted. When it's my hard-earned money, I need to be reassured four different ways that everything is on the up and up.

I just don't have a good feeling about this outfit.

This is an absolute scam. These people hack advertiser's Google accounts and spend thousands of dollars under other peoples accounts. They create their own ads and send clicks to their website using other people's credit cards. This site should be shut down and dealt with by authorities. I've been in touch with Google and they are in fact investigating the site and may involve the proper authorities in the country where the activity is coming from (Not the U.S.)

[stephenjones]

I have personally been on this website and was interested in purchasing a boat.

I found it a little sus myself as the company (cheapboatsstore.com) wanted the payment to go through an organisation called 'Clear secured transaction Law' on this website http://www.cst-law.b...ct/contact.html

This website is 'apparently' located in Florida. As you may see from the link this website looks very unprofessional and sus. The boats are cheap but it's still a reasonable amount of money to risk on a scam. So i decided to look further into this.

Turns out the website for cst-law.biz is actually registered in france (i looked it up on on the following website) http://whois.domaint...com/cst-law.biz

Here is what showed up on domain:

Domain Name: CST-LAW.BIZ

Domain ID: D38897050-BIZ

Sponsoring Registrar: ENOM, INC.

Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 48

Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited

Registrant ID: 8A64C54FAF144210

Registrant Name: loloum tristan

Registrant Address1: 2 route de la barde

Registrant City: julienne

Registrant Postal Code: 16200

Registrant Country: France

Registrant Country Code: FR

Registrant Phone Number: +33.545816243

Registrant Email: ordnitor75@04arc.com

After reading this, I then decided to look up cheapboatsstore.com (again, on the follwoing website) http://whois.domaint...pboatsstore.com

and found the following information:

domain: cheapboatsstore.com

created: 23-Mar-2010

last-changed: 23-Mar-2010

registration-expiration: 23-Mar-2011

nserver: ns61.1and1.fr

nserver: ns62.1and1.fr

status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

registrant-firstname: Christel

registrant-lastname: Blom

registrant-street1: 2bis rue des Myosotis

registrant-street2: Rue Billet

registrant-pcode: 71600

registrant-city: Paray le Monial

registrant-ccode: FR

registrant-phone: +33.385811983

registrant-email: anchoa63@aim.com

As you can see 'cheapboatsstore.com' is registered to France also.

Therefore SCAM!!!!!