Vessel Documenting Web Sites Scam

[inspectr]

Over the last year we have avoided attempted scams on the USG ESTA visa site, (friends who should have known better got scammed) and even on the Indian government visa website.
In my view Google really needs to improve their act and prevent scammers from getting first place on web searches by paying them money (maybe I just found the reason why Google is fundamentally corrupted. Irony alert BTW)

[Dehler 25]

Yes, but if you are buying with a lender they often times require the use of a third party although most people are quite capable of filling out the forms themselves. I almost got scammed on the documentation site and realized something was amiss and bailed although I had a friend that needed his documentation in a hurry and only when it did not arrive on time did he discover that he was dealing with a scam site and the CG obviously could do nothing.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Valmika

I did not misspell but I wanted anyone who is looking up documenting their boat to be careful of these criminal sites. I have seen them before but they are getting sneaker and better at spoofing actual us government sites. I will make this short as I would like this thread to go viral here. This Morning one of these "companies" almost got me for over $500. The one I went to was maritimedocumentation.us. It showed up at the top of a google search and did not say it was an ad. I got a bit confused by the dot us and thought it was real almost all the way through.



Here is more information from the real government site.

https://content.govdelivery.com/acco...letins/1a25ee8


The real government documenting web site:


http://www.uscg.mil/nvdc/

It's not a scam and they're not criminals. They are offering a service to facilitate processing the paperwork on your behalf and charging a fee to do so. You don't need to use the service if you don't want to.

This has been going around for many decades. My wife used a service to change her name when we got married 25 years ago. Should could have done it herself by contacting the various agencies herself. For the nominal fee it was a single form and done.

Yes, you can do this yourself, but engaging in Libel without proof of a scam or deception is the only crime going on here.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by Shrew

It's not a scam and they're not criminals. They are offering a service to facilitate processing the paperwork on your behalf and charging a fee to do so. You don't need to use the service if you don't want to.

This has been going around for many decades. My wife used a service to change her name when we got married 25 years ago. Should could have done it herself by contacting the various agencies herself. For the nominal fee it was a single form and done.

Yes, you can do this yourself, but engaging in Libel without proof of a scam or deception is the only crime going on here.

What do you call it when they charge you over $450.00 for five minutes work and try to convince you that they are a government agency?

It is a scam.

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "What do you call it when they charge you over $450.00 for five minutes work and try to convince you that they are a government agency?"

We call it "Free Ennerprize" FE works on the principle of "caveat emptor".

Just now there is a major foo-fah-rah about a firm in England that charges a fee for booking an appointment for a driver's licence test in B.C. (Canada), a booking that is free if you make it on the B.C. Government web site.

I think it's reasonable to expect that those among us who presume to assume the responsibilities of Skipper of any vessel, however puny, will have enuff nous to look where we tread.

But "different strokes", as they say.

TP

[Valmika]

Originally Posted by Shrew

It's not a scam and they're not criminals. They are offering a service to facilitate processing the paperwork on your behalf and charging a fee to do so. You don't need to use the service if you don't want to.

This has been going around for many decades. My wife used a service to change her name when we got married 25 years ago. Should could have done it herself by contacting the various agencies herself. For the nominal fee it was a single form and done.

Yes, you can do this yourself, but engaging in Libel without proof of a scam or deception is the only crime going on here.

I didn't say it was illegal, I said it was a scam. Just like the guys that are selling the #3M N95 face masks now because everyone is panicked about the Corona Virus. I can't count how many sites came up on ebay selling the mask for $1.99 but in the small print below charge $50 for shipping. No it's not illegal but it is none the less a scam.

[Valmika]

Sorry everyone. I did not mean to turn this into a debate on free enterprise. I just wanted to get a warning out and the actual Coast Guard website out in my 1st post in case anyone is trying to research it here. If some of you feel it is ok to pay $75 to do your COD and not go directly to the CG for $25 (mine was $450 because I was late, The CG charges $31 if you are late) that is up to you. The CG has information on these sites and warnings on their site about them. The problem is these sites come up before the actual CG site on a google search. Anyway if you want to pay the price for a private company here it is
https://maritimedocumentation.us/

[Chuck34]

I just got my letter today, but from a company I've never heard of before. Vessel Documentation Portal.
No address on the letter head, just a phone #, email address and website.

Obviously, I won't be using their services. I fell for one of these scam services 4-5 years ago. Never again.

[CaptTom]

I'm a bit torn. Yes, it's a scam. Most of their business is from people who are fooled into thinking they're dealing with the USCG. It's immoral and dishonest, and probably illegal if you had the resources to pursue it. It's not free enterprise if one party is privy to information not available to the other.

But there are people out there who really, really like the prestige of being able to say "I have people do that for me." They would actually prefer to pay more. Any business which caters to them has my grudging respect. They found a way to milk the suckers and make them feel good about it. Win-Win. That's free enterprise.

[Chuck34]

Hey, if someone willingly pays the $75 to renew, knowing they could go to the CG website and do the same for $26...go for it. I have no problem with that.

But I'm guessing at least 95% of those who pay the $75 were suckered into thinking they were on the actual CG website

[inspectr]

My mother died 6 weeks ago.
Her residency in Australia was due to expire later in the year
Today, after having diverted her emails to me as executor of the Estate I received an email offering assistance with the renewal of her immigration status.
I have no idea how this so called service provider (not apparently in Australia) could have accessed immigration records to send out emails offering vastly inflated rates for services that are cheaply and easily managed on official government websites, or indeed by her existing immigration lawyers.
Its extremely concerning that private operations appear to have access to information held by governments that we should expect to be secure.
Google appears to be fundamentally corrupted in that scam sites pay ( or have manipulated search results) to come up in front of legitimate sites
I get at least 10 emails every day offering to change my website to take me to the first page of google, called SEO or search engine optimisation, I call it cheating.

[Chuck34]

Originally Posted by inspectr

My mother died 6 weeks ago.
Her residency in Australia was due to expire later in the year
Today, after having diverted her emails to me as executor of the Estate I received an email offering assistance with the renewal of her immigration status.
I have no idea how this so called service provider (not apparently in Australia) could have accessed immigration records to send out emails offering vastly inflated rates for services that are cheaply and easily managed on official government websites, or indeed by her existing immigration lawyers.
Its extremely concerning that private operations appear to have access to information held by governments that we should expect to be secure.
Google appears to be fundamentally corrupted in that scam sites pay ( or have manipulated search results) to come up in front of legitimate sites
I get at least 10 emails every day offering to change my website to take me to the first page of google, called SEO or search engine optimisation, I call it cheating.

This sort of thing happens all the time. I just recently moved and did a quick google search to look up the US Post Office to put in my change of address, which is a free service offered by the post office. I had to scroll down the page past service companies that would do this for you...for a fee.