'When in doubt, do not overtake'
Take
care... If you are a buyer...
Beware of aircraft that are
priced way too low Such scam advertisements are hard to detect, as their
appearance is in fact quite normal.
What's going on? Someone picks a popular,
much wanted aircraft from the register, including genuine airplane and proprietor
data, and advertises the plane for sale at a very low price. The real owner doesn't
know about this. Of course, since this offer is irresistible, there will be a
lot of inquiries from prospect buyers. If you do inquire, you will most probably
be asked to pay a deposit, say $5000, in order to have the seller "secure
this extraordinary airplane for you". After having paid, you will never hear
from the seller again...
These advertisements may look frightfully genuine,
to the point that even the seller's email address looks right. However, the email
address will be a faked free webmail account, like hotmail, yahoo or gmail. If
the real owner's name is John Doe, the scammer may have created an email address
like johndoe65@yahoo.co.uk.
Take care when being asked to pay a deposit Generally,
before paying any deposit at all without ever having met the seller in person,
it may be a good idea to ask for a copy of the seller's passport together
with a copy of the aircraft's Certificate of Registration. Thus, the seller
should prove that he is the actual owner of that airplane. If the seller's name
is not on the certificate, ask why. In case of an N-registered aircraft outside
the USA, contact the US Trust company and ask them if they know the seller.
Beware
when ordering expensive avionics or GPS systems You wouldn't be the first
victim who ordered a nice GNS430, but received a box with a brick in it. In the
past, such scammers appeared to operate from Asian countries like Indonesia, but
they may pop up anywhere.
When ordering expensive avionics from an unknown,
individual seller, it pays to resort to a bona fide escrow service, preferably
not the one that is proposed by the seller, as the seller may be involved in its
organisation.
Also, before you order, try to learn more about the seller.
Ask for references. As always: when in doubt, don't proceed. <<
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Take
care... If you are a seller...
Fraudulent inquiries Such
inquiries typically read like:
"Interested in your Dallach D4BK Fascination.
Please send current specifications and price."
"Hi, if the aircraft
is still available, kindly get back to me at earliest convenience with your lowest
price, so we can arrange a pre-purchase inspection."
"Hey, How
are you doing? I am interested in the item that you have for sale and decided
to mail you. Kindly give me your price as well as the shipping cost."
Fraudulent
inquiries often have in common: - Their content is rather generic and not aimed
at your particular advertisement; - The buyer is not overly interested in the
technical state of the aircraft; - The buyer very soon agrees with the price; -
The buyer sends someone else to inspect and pick up the aircraft; - The entire
deal is to be accomplished quickly.
What happens when you proceed, is
this:
Title Insurance scam (Andrew Fletchson) lnitially the buyer
appears to be very serious and energetically, he wants to move on quickly and
has the buyer contracts already waiting for you. Suddenly there is a snag: before
anything else he wants the airplane to be "title insured" against possible
mortgage problems. This is no big deal he says, but nonetheless he suggests that
it's reasonable that you as the seller pay 50% of the insurance premium (say 1,000
dollars) using "these wiring instructions", and oh yes: 95% of the premium
will be refunded to you when the deal does not materialize. It goes without saying
that after having paid your share of the "premium", you buyer has suddenly
disappeared from planet earth...
Uncovered cheque You will be
given a very nice, signed cheque, then you shake hands and watch your airplane
take off. However, the company (quite often Western Union) that processes your
cheque, will be notorious for needing a week or longer to verify whether the buyer
actually possesses the amount of money that is written on the cheque. As soon
as it turns out that this is not the case, your airplane and its buyer will already
have disappeared to a remote part of the world...
Fake escrow service Escrow
services work like intermediate entities: they receive the money from the buyer,
they let you know that the money is there, the buyer takes hold of your aircraft,
and finally the escrow service pays you the money. A nice and acceptable solution. Except:
in the case where the buyer controls a fake escrow service. Your aircraft will
be gone and you probably won't even receive the buyer's deposit on the plane...
Money
laundry Expensive objects like aircraft are ideal for criminals to get
rid of undeclared money. They buy your plane, soaking you in undeclared money
in the process, then they sell the plane afterwards, receiving clean money in
return. So, if money doesn't seem to be much of an object to the buyer, take care...
We
hope that this piece of advice may be helpful to you.
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