My wife and I have a sailboat that we keep on the Great Salt Lake. Several years ago, the lake level dropped to the point we had to pull our boat out of the water. Fortunately it came up enough last year that we could put it back in. Unfortunately our outboard engine did not survive being out of the water and not getting used. We nursed it along last year but have decided we need a new one. The old engine was a 2000 Honda 9.9 outboard and it is so old they stopped making parts for it. Otherwise I would only need to spend $35 and replace and exhaust gasket.
I called around to a few local marine stores looking for a new engine and then I expanded my search online. I carefully picked a new engine and then found a number of places to get it. My preferred online vendor sold the motor I wanted before I could place my order. I looked around at some more vendors and late one night found the motor I wanted for a great price. Sure it was for a previous year's engine but I was sure I found the engine I wanted. I thought about ordering but decided to sleep on it. I'm glad I did.
The next morning I decided I would give the place a call and ask about warranty information. The number forwarded to a Google Voice line and eventually rolled to voicemail. The person asking me to leave a message had a British accent, which prompted me to do a search to see if it was a scam. It didn't take long to discover the truth and I am glad I never placed an order.
I eventually found another online dealer with great prices and excellent reviews. I ordered a new engine and hope it gets here before the weekend.
Here are some hints to help you avoid a scam website:
- Prices too good to be true
- They only accept PayPal or Cryptocurrency
- They list a phone number on the website but nobody answers it
- You find multiple similar sites with locations around the world
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