It sounds like a bargain. Accounts on TikTok and Instagram are suggesting cheap deals for luxury yachts. The offers look visually high-quality, and the yachts actually exist. Take, for example, the 55-meter luxury yacht "South", built by the premium manufacturer Heesen.
It is allegedly a positioning cruise from Monaco to Saint-Tropez. Because the trip is short-notice, the entire ship can be offered for 9,600 euros. The daily rate is normally over 50,000 euros plus additional costs. Booking is supposed to be done via a WhatsApp number, and more information is said to be available on a Telegram channel. There is no legal notice (Impressum).
However, if you check with licensed brokers who have access to the ship's schedule, it quickly turns out to be a scam. The ship is exclusively traveling in the Caribbean, meaning it isn't even in Europe at the time specified in the fake advertisement. Furthermore, the charter price is 53,000 euros per day, plus additional costs. The offer is "not real."
The yacht operators themselves know nothing about these illegal offers. The images and names are simply stolen from the website. On Instagram, brokers are warning about similar offers, most recently in Miami. Users would transfer down payments and never see the money again.
The story has everything a "good confidence trick" needs. An offer that makes sense to laypeople with real components (like a yacht that actually exists), a good price, and urgency due to the short-notice date. And ultimately, longing plays a role here too. Despite Telegram and the lack of a legal notice.
