Listen to your intuition. That guy strikes me as a skilled scammer who is laying a trap.
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You could have said, “I’m not familiar with the area and my GPS is having a hard time. Let’s meet in front of the police station. I can easily find that.” Then see what reaction you get. It’s not a bad idea for any of these transactions.
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Was it in Port Orange? Or New Smyrna Beach? If New Smyrna the street view images images on Google are from 2016, the overhead is more current. Or I could totally have the wrong person but just enjoying searching.
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It’s New Smyrna Beach. The real estate sites show an empty lot too. And the last sale I saw listed was a lot sale. But maybe they’re outdated too. This could be an upstanding gentleman with a legitimate sale, and I just got spooked based on a few innocent things adding up incorrectly in my head causing me to wonder. A call to the police station may be able to settle my concerns one way or the other. I just worry about bothering anyone like that over my used canoe purchase. I had just never had this kind of concern pop up before I guess.
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Best for seller and buyer to be up-front about wanting to meet at a public place and then choosing one based on mutual agreement. I often suggest hotel parking lots; they are all but empty during the day (I only meet during daylight hours) and they often have surveillance cameras.
Bottom line? Pay attention when the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up. No harm in being cautious when it comes to safety. As has been said elsewhere on this forum, there are plenty of crazies lurking about on CL and FBM.
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Good idea about a location to meet. I once was a little concerned and suggested meeting at the local police department parking lot in front of the PD office. No problems with that transaction.
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Exactly. An honest buyer or an honest seller will never have issues trying to make each other as comfortable as possible.
I sold a kayak trailer recently. The buyer was quick to pay half with the promise of paying the second half when we met halfway between my house and his. We met in a Home Depot parking lot and we completed the deal within 10 minutes of standing around and telling stories. Our backgrounds had a bit of overlap in the paper mill industry. Cool!
Before I retired, I was our business’ audit leader. An honest employee has no issues responding to inquires. A dishonest one will often hoot and holler before (still) giving you a bad response. The closer you get to the target, the more flak they’ll give you!
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scammer account report: 9 July 2023
jamesshevonock991
replies to classified instantly
evasive response
asks for personal email
fail. beware.
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As a general rule, scammers use a first and last name followed by 2 to 5 random numbers. Always be suspicious when you get a quick and vague response to an ad from anyone using that kind of alias.
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He’s running the same game with me also. Asked for my email.
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Flag 'im.
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jamesshevonock991 hit me up for my email, too.
Don’t waste your time.
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maybe they’re color blind. 
biggest scam is 5, 10, 15, 20 year old boat only used once. 
That’s not necessarily a scam, since so many people seem to buy expensive boats and then never use them. It’s just how long they let them sit in their garage before getting around to selling.
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95% it’s a scam. i bought a Solstice 2 years old half price guy said he used it 4 times for half price. it was show condition. That’s very rare.
Looks like the scams continue.
I received two responses to my ad for a Mohawk XL-13 with similar messages. Their User IDs are
Dannyad and Jamesshevonok991
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I recently received the same exact scam message and attempt. Only now under the name James Shevenock (Jamesshevenock991)
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Spambots never die.
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