Another scam, now for boat name "registration"

[Helmsman]

Here it is. It's an 11/25/2022 Black Friday Member Deals email.

It's your boat. Your boat name. Register it.
Register your boat's name with Boat Name Registry and protect it so no one else can claim it. BoatUS Members can join as a VIP Member and get 25% off your first year!

I received that ad too. Ridiculous. I also saw somewhere else that there were 800k new boaters since 2019. Lots of candidates for fleecing.

 

[twistedtree]

I received that ad too. Ridiculous. I also saw somewhere else that there were 800k new boaters since 2019. Lots of candidates for fleecing.

I think there are enough people who don't know the rules around boat naming (i.e. there are no rules WRT uniqueness) that they will fall for it. And I'm convinced it's the same people who are doing the highly marked up documentation renewal, and this gives them a way to harvest owner information now that the CG stopped publishing it. Plus it expands the whole scam to state registered boats.


It's really quite brilliant. Most people pay money to get lists of prospective customers. They are having people self-qualify themselves as customers, including demonstrating they will fall for the scam, getting them to pay to be on the list, then fleecing them annually for both a name registration and renewal scam.


Wow.

 

[Juggerknot]

Here's a new scam, sadly promoted by BoatUS.


boatnameregistry.com


You can "register" your boat name with them for $35/year and "protect" the name from use by anyone else. As most people in the US know, boat naming in the US is not unique, and there is no restriction on duplicate boat names. All this site does is allow only one boat name to be registered with them, with no enforcement of anything. It's like me telling you that if you tell me your name, I won't listen to anyone else who tell me they have the same name. Ok, great. So what?

They don't protect your name in any way. They only allow one name to be registered with them, a random web database of no significance to anyone.


I think the only thing sadder than people who fall for this, is that I learned about this "service" in a promotional email from BoatUS.

Wonder if "BoatUS" is taken, I'd want exclusive use of it of course with anything having to do with boating and the marine industry LOL... What shysters

 

[slowgoesit]

this gives them a way to harvest owner information now that the CG stopped publishing it. Plus it expands the whole scam to state registered boats.

It's really quite brilliant. Most people pay money to get lists of prospective customers. They are having people self-qualify themselves as customers, including demonstrating they will fall for the scam, getting them to pay to be on the list, then fleecing them annually for both a name registration and renewal scam.
Wow.

TT, I'm pretty sure that all the Owner's information is still available from the Vessel Documentation Center through a FOIR (Freedom of Information Request). So that info is still available to the renewal scammers even if they don't fall for the currently issue.

 

[twistedtree]

TT, I'm pretty sure that all the Owner's information is still available from the Vessel Documentation Center through a FOIR (Freedom of Information Request). So that info is still available to the renewal scammers even if they don't fall for the currently issue.

Interesting question whether is it or not, especially since it's all personal data, and not anything about the government or their activities. I honestly don't know. Can you request someones IRS records or SS records via an FOIR? I'm guessing no, but again really don't know.