Crew Wanted: How to tell who the scammers are on here?

[Thomea]

I just started within the last week responding to a few 'crew wanted' ads here, & so far 2 scammers. Men who are offering to pay for everything on the boat & a flight back to the US. (not offerings a flight to, only from) ....Offering me the world, but not asking for an interview or anything, & not even giving me any duties descriptions. Sheesh.

Any advise on what to look out for?

Anyone else getting this a lot?

[MarkJ]

Have you informed the Moderators?

Mark

[Tkeeth]

Im sorry to hear..

I believe i read you were a 30 something single female. That may be part of why some may be a little free with the offerings. They may be looking for something a little more than crew. What your looking for is difficult to find. Try looking at findacrew and stay with reviewed captains and continue to be wary of anything to good to be true.

[boatman61]

Where is the scam.. no one has asked you for money up front.. in fact they offer to pay everything.
What they hope for when you arrive is something else.. lol
Do due diligence and quit bitching

[LLCoolDave]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Where is the scam.. no one has asked you for money up front.. in fact they offer to pay everything.
What they hope for when you arrive is something else.. lol
Do due diligence and quit bitching

lol. boatie telling it like it is.

Look and see if the skipper has a blog or youtube videos. You can get an indication of their character. Look at how active they are on the forum. How many posts do they have? You can read all of their posts and get an idea of how knowledgeable they are and their disposition. Also, I wouldn't crew on a boat that asks specifically for female crew. It just feels sketchy. There are boats looking for crew all over the world. Don't jump on the first, second, or third offer. Find the boat that is right for you.

It might be a good idea to crew for a couple or a small family.

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by Thomea

I just started within the last week responding to a few 'crew wanted' ads here, & so far 2 scammers. Men who are offering to pay for everything on the boat & a flight back to the US. (not offerings a flight to, only from) ....Offering me the world, but not asking for an interview or anything, & not even giving me any duties descriptions. Sheesh.

Any advise on what to look out for?

Anyone else getting this a lot?

I can imagine a single young eligible newbie female wanting to get into sailing may draw the attention of some men with less honorable intentions. Please be careful and do your research. Regarding contacts here, I would research their profile, read their posts. If only a few posts with not much to contribute I would stay clear. If they don't have social media profiles stay clear. If anything looks suspicious or seems like they are not completely open, stay clear. Its difficult to make a decision on a person by just reading the virtual world, but short of actually meeting in real life not much more one can do. To minimize your risks I would look for opportunities locally, so you can actually meet the person (s) before committing, as opposed to flying to the other side of the planet to something unknown. Main thing is your safety. Have you considered a paid charter holiday with a reputable company together with your friends? If nobody knows how to sail a good company can provide you with a skipper.

[Thomea]

Thank you ErikFinn. Much appreciated. Yes, I've decided to look into yacht employers as well to satiate my travel thirst

[alaskaflyfish]

Other than personal safety, there are other reasons why people my not be cohesive. Personal habits may be one of them. Hygiene up to par? Alcoholic? Bad temper? There are many reasons that you cannot know till you are already committed and stuck. For instance, once I took a job as a copilot on a phone call and a recommendation from a friend. I lasted a week at the job cause the pilots breath was so bad I thought I was going to suffocate. Little things can make a big difference. Good Luck.

[cjsfsm]

You're doing a pretty good job of screening

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

I can imagine a single young eligible newbie female wanting to get into sailing may draw the attention of some men with less honorable intentions. Please be careful and do your research. Regarding contacts here, I would research their profile, read their posts. If only a few posts with not much to contribute I would stay clear. If they don't have social media profiles stay clear. If anything looks suspicious or seems like they are not completely open, stay clear. Its difficult to make a decision on a person by just reading the virtual world, but short of actually meeting in real life not much more one can do. To minimize your risks I would look for opportunities locally, so you can actually meet the person (s) before committing, as opposed to flying to the other side of the planet to something unknown. Main thing is your safety. Have you considered a paid charter holiday with a reputable company together with your friends? If nobody knows how to sail a good company can provide you with a skipper.

Further to this... women still get wierdos and worse through online dating, with their screening... so I don't know why one would expect to easily find a safe crew situation via anonymous ads or postings. I'm sure it happens, but it's a roll of the dice... To be honest, even as a guy I wouldn't seek crew opportunities via ads and posts; I'd network via clubs, races, etc, hoping to find a situation directly from the skipper, or via a personal referral ("My friend X is looking for crew, and he's a decent sort"). At our small boat club for example, there's a few members moving their boat annually on the ICW.

To the OP - build your network: join a club, take lessons, crew or volunteer for racing, and make some connections that way.

[edit - ok I see you're taking lessons. Good first step ]

[barnakiel]

All you need is just the common Internet sense. Otherwise do not use Internet search.

If YOU are looking for a ride, then anything that looks too good to be true probably is just that.

It looks like scam, it sounds like scam, it IS scam. That's how you tell things apart.

BTW Making a broader web search on the person/boat may help. But it often does not work with anything less than a one person company or a notorious cheater, rapist and fraudster.

Beware.

Cheers,
b.

[Dave22q]

A little common sense can go a long way here. Phone conversation can reveal a lot as can postings, media, profiles, time at current address, and on line background checks. Taking a job off shore is high risk by definition. Don't do it. If the captain has no roots in the local community,he will be harder to check out. Stay away.

[boatman61]

BTW Making a broader web search on the person/boat may help. But it often does not work with anything less than a one person company or a notorious cheater, rapist and fraudster.

Beware.

Cheers,
b.[/QUOTE]

You beentalking to my crew Barni...😄

[Capt Phil]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

I can imagine a single young eligible newbie female wanting to get into sailing may draw the attention of some men with less honorable intentions. Please be careful and do your research. Regarding contacts here, I would research their profile, read their posts. If only a few posts with not much to contribute I would stay clear. If they don't have social media profiles stay clear. If anything looks suspicious or seems like they are not completely open, stay clear. Its difficult to make a decision on a person by just reading the virtual world, but short of actually meeting in real life not much more one can do. To minimize your risks I would look for opportunities locally, so you can actually meet the person (s) before committing, as opposed to flying to the other side of the planet to something unknown. Main thing is your safety. Have you considered a paid charter holiday with a reputable company together with your friends? If nobody knows how to sail a good company can provide you with a skipper.

Good plan? What is this crap about social media? What is it anyway? Is this the Twitter, Facebook **** I hear about? What happens if you don't belong? Deep sixed?
My advice is to stay local, hook up with a sailing club that you are comfortable with, offer to help with boat prep, try the racing groups locally, many are always looking for crew, even newbies they can train.
I ran deliveries for a number of years out of San Diego and always had at least one female looking for hours to build her resume. I found them preferable to guys and ready to work on short notice if a last minute delivery came up. Combined with male crew, they were tidier, dependable, didn't drink or do drugs aboard and we're certainly strong enough to handle grunt work aboard. They had a moderating effect on the guys who worked for me, cleaned up their language and personal habits as well.
Long retired now but always had a soft spot in my heart for women who wanted to break out off the usual mold and go to sea. Phil

[a64pilot]

I wouldn't post my relationship status, age, sex etc. if I were looking for a post as a serious sailing crewmember.
I'd post my resume, what duties I could perform etc. and after contact when asked I'd tell them my sex, but don't lead with that unless your wanting that to be a primary consideration.

Course to be completely honest I have never sought sailing positions before so what do I know.




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