British Dragon Association

Sue Pennison of GBR 281 Seahorse, has been in touch this week to let us know that a commonly occurring, but very nasty, boat purchase scam has sadly now arrived in the Dragon Fleet.

Sue asked us to urgently publish her story on the web site so that other Dragon owners who put their boats up for sale are aware of it and can avoid getting caught out. Please spread the word on this far and wide. Here is Sue's story:-

I am writing as a concerned owner of a Dragon that is currently for sale on the BDA website (Seahorse).We have been approached by a guy who is trying to operate a scam and has targetted other boat classes in the past (namely International canoe and Sprint 15).

The scam is that he is an American who appears to be wanting to buy your boat. He will offer you the full price and will also pay to you, in addition, the money for "shipment". You are asked to then forward this additional money to the shippers.

You receive a cheque in excess of the asking price and cash it through normal banking procedures. The money appears to be in your account and you are asked to forward the shipping money by Western Union transfer (which makes money instantly available to the recipients). The money in your account is not then there (we are waiting for details from the bank on exactly how this happens but it seems to be a product of the clearing system) and you have paid out the "shipper" money.

Luckily we got somewhat suspicious before we have incurred any losses but it looks like this scam has been going on since 2003 on other classes and we wondered if other Dragon owners were being targetted. The BDA website is the only place we have advertised Seahorse so we know he must be watching…

The scammer goes under the name of James McHenry - e-mail address: jamchenry_01@yahoo.co.uk so please watch out for anyone purchasing boats using that name or asking you to pay for shipping on their behalf.

Sue Pennison Seahorse
GBR 281