Rolex Yacht Master for RM9,500?!

A fellow reader pointed me to the attached advert and informed that he was interested to make the purchase.

I looked at the advert and alarm bells started ringing. A 2013 Yacht Master with a retail value of over RM50k and under warranty, going for RM9,500?! Heck, if the seller needed the monies urgently, he could just walk into a pawnshop and he could have gotten the RM9,500 easily with that watch, so why the need to advertise and sell like that?

I informed the reader that it was too good of a deal, and if it was a genuine deal, he could just take it fast. But I had 2 reservations as per the following :

1) Watch must be verified at an authorised Rolex service centre or vide a competent watchsmith (in case it was a well-made replica);

2) Likelihood that the seller would just ask for monies to be bank into his account (in case there was no actual watch on sale), so a COD deal must be agreed upon preferably at the RSC.

The reader later contacted me that the seller agreed for the watch to be verified at a watchsmith; BUT the reader must deposit RM3,000 into the seller's account first. The reader then wanted to put the seller's NRIC on the bank-in slip but the seller did not seem to know his NRIC no. The seller persistently asked the reader to bank in first, then only could he view the watch.

Alarms should be ringing like a cat's tail on fire, so I advised the reader to just stop wasting his time on this deal. There are lots of such dubious adverts going around, so fellow readers do take note and always exercise caution.

Wear your watches in good health, mates.