deals
I sold over 30 Robinsons last year, and several of these were to people who sent me a deposit - and then the whole balance - without having actually seen the aircraft!
So it isn't that unusual, or "stupid" as some people think.
I've done the same myself -- both when buying aircraft and also when dealing with Opmas before the Danish VAT route closed last year. Sending an entity in a foreign country you've never seen £200,000 always makes for a sleepless night!
We've never had to give a refund and we've had a lot of repeat business.
As for the Escrow route, if it's genuine the worst thing that happens is that the whole deal gets bogged down for weeks while paperwork is done by the lawyers.
But if it is not a genuine Escrow company then you still lose your money to the scammer.
In the case of G-CERS, the scammer sends out a contract from a lawyer purporting to be the Escrow agent which is very, very convincing and re-assuring. I've seen it, and it really looks like the real thing. And if you are based in Australia or the UK, it's difficult to tell whether a USA/Canadian based Escrow lawyer is the real thing or not.
This industry is small enough to check with people you know and trust about the credentials of someone that you want to deal with.
There has to be a lot of trust involved - on both sides of the buy/sell transaction - so choose your business associates with care and remember:
"people like to business with people they like".
hope this helps,
Big Ls