WHAT does an oil rigger, a small fishing boat and a well-known Wagga sailor have in common?
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According to Garry Williams, not much at all.
Mr Williams, an inductee of the city's Sporting Hall of Fame, was targeted by a scammer posing as a New Zealand oil rigger.
The alleged offshore driller, who goes by the name of "Ramond Jak", wanted to purchase Mr Williams's $6000 runabout ski boat - advertised for sale in the Advertiser's print and online classifieds website.
An email exchange ensued.
"Surprised that you would want a low cost boat so far from Darwin."
- Garry Williams
Ramond Jak said he was working with New Zealand Oil and Gas on the country's billion-dollar Kupe Gas Project.
He said he could not talk over the phone.
"Regarding the payment ... please get back to me with your paypal details so I can process the payment, you can alternatively send your bsb acct name and number if you have no PayPal acct (sic)," Raymond Jak said in an email.
He later said he wanted a courier to pick up the boat to transfer it to Darwin.
Mr Williams was puzzled.
"Surprised that you would want a low cost boat so far from Darwin as the transport may be worth about 1/3 of the cost of the boat," he replied.
The former sailor reported Ramond Jak to the consumer watchdog's SCAMwatch website.
According to SCAMwatch, buyers that are not easily contactable, make up excuses for not collecting the item and a general vagueness are all warning signs of a scam.
Should Mr Williams have continued his email exchange, SCAMwatch said, it is possible Raymond Jak would have asked for shipping costs to be reimbursed.
Ramond Jak did not reply to Advertiser emails.
