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Protect Yourself

This website is to raise awareness about the fraudulent activities of Lee Christopher Rowland, who preys on yacht owners with false promises of Volvo Penta Marine diesel engine repairs or replacements.

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Daniel Clist
Lee Rowland Portuguese ID

About Lee Rowland

Criminal Information

Yacht Owners Beware

 

If you own a yacht in Portugal or Spain and have engine problems don’t fall for these professional scammers.

 

They specialise in offering to sell and repair Volva Penta Marine engines and other makes for low prices. The gang is based in Faro, Portugal, and work marinas in Albufeira, Vilamoura, Marbella and elsewhere in the Med.

 

The English gang have been swindling individual boat owners of £10,000s of pounds by offering to fix marine diesel engines.

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Their basic scam is to offer to supply new marine engines or repair kits for yachts of various sizes. Then ask for a deposit and after then disappear after banking it.  

 

The principal scammer, Lee Christopher Rowland, claims to be a former employee of Volvo Penta with privileged access to discounted prices and hard to find parts. He also offers to install them but after taking a deposit, he disappears.  

 

In more elaborate scams, he eventually reappears and repays most of the deposit as a way of gaining the confidence of the victim. This is if he thinks that he has a gullible victim who will keep falling for his lies and pay up front for supplies or labour which in the end he somehow never delivers.   In no known instance, has Lee ever delivered or fixed an engine.

 

But he has a convincing air of knowledge about engines and boats and can plausibly explain why he never turns up or delivers the engines. You see he has wealthy clients who require his services in far flung places where unfortunately the phone signal is poor. Or there are unforeseen delays from his suppliers or the customs.   

 

Lee Rowland is 39 year-old British passport holder (No.535283175), born in Dumfries, Scotland, who tells people that he joined Volvo Penta in the UK as an apprentice mechanic. However, the company denies any knowledge of him.  He had previously lived in Fareham (Hampshire), in the same house at 97 Hill Park Road, with his father, Graham Frederick Rowland (born 16.12.1955), a former boatyard manager, and his mother, Linda Rowland. Graham Rowland often accompanies his son on trips to yachts.  

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All three were shareholders in a marine chandlery company,  Rowland Marine Services Ltd, registered at that same address.

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Lee Rowland has lived in Portugal since 2014 and shares a house with Helen Louise Smith. They live in some style in large villa with a swimming pool at  Vivenda Raposa, in Faro. He drives a grey Daewoo car and a blue BMW series 640 CI Cabriolet.

 

Lee Rowland also claims to own a Portuguese company, Lexmoto, based in Quarteira which had once rented out mopeds and motorcycles. This company has a Portuguese bank account. In general, Lee uses a German on line bank account and a Bank of Scotland account linked to an address in Lockerbie and several phone numbers from Portugal and Britain.  

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Another of his associates is Daniel Thomas Clist, a 29-year old British passport-owner, living in Portugal. 

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He was born in Southport but previously lived in Fareham. He later moved to Portugal.   

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If you have been a victim of scam by Rowland, and wish to share information, please reply to: greekyacht@pm.me

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