Quote from Carlo on 08/02/2023, 6:56 pm

Hello everyone,

I'm Carlo and this is the email I sent to the Australian Federal Police to denounce Roderick Davis, owner of the Bigkanu vessel operating in Raja Ampat area. Take care of it!!

Enjoy:

Good morning Sirs,
My name is Carlo Castagna and I have been scammed of 15.000 USD$ by an Australian person.
His name is Roderick Davis, he lives in Sidney, mobile +61473173461 ,
email: [email protected]

Below is a brief summary of the story.
At the beginning of November 2022, I have reached through a common acquaintance the owner of the Bigkanu, a liveaboard boat.

Bigkanu is moored in Waisai and is still offered for hire and advertised through web sites.

After several phone conversations and after a long series of pictures, explanations, and reassurances that the boat could be rented, after a series of pressures to expedite the payment of the reservation, together with 7 other friends, we decided on November 14 to formalize it by sending a transfer of €14,236 in favor of the owner.
During the month and a half that followed our departure, he was constantly sending updates on the work done on the boat.
On the day of our departure, on 23/12/2022, I receive a request from the owner to pick up a spare part taking advantage of our stopover in Jakarta.
The spare part would be needed to run the engine that otherwise could not be put into operation.
Upon our arrival in Waisai we are greeted by the Bigkanu sailor who explains that the boat is not ready and advises us to go to a facility to sleep.
Through the tourist office we find a homestay available but in wooden huts, without running water and with an outside bathroom for the whole homestay.
For three days the owner invites us to wait until the boat can be operational.
On the third day I went to the Waisai police station, begin the search for the boat.
I found it moored in a stagnant lagoon, half sunk, completely inoperable and with a non-functioning engine.
The sailor confides to us that the owner insisted that he would activate a small outboard motor so that we could go out to sea and start the cruise.
He would refuse on the grounds that it would put our safety, his and the rest of the crew's at serious risk.
After seeing the condition of the boat, I went to the Waisai police to report it.
The sailor was absolutely certain that the Bigkanu could not be put to sea in the short term and ruled out with certainty that we would be able to use it during our stay.
At that point, in order not to lose the few days that were left to our vacation, we rescheduled our trip and chartered other boats to move between the islands.
After 10 days, upon our return to Waisai, I went to the Bigkanu's mooring point and found it, if possible, in even worse condition than when I had first seen it.
A wreck.

I call the owner to ask for a refund for the cruise that has not even started and to advise him that I am going to the Waisai police to update the situation and formalize the complaint, and I receive from him an offer of another cruise with the addition of 50% of the extra time.
The offer was completely unacceptable as Waisai is 3 days of travel far and 8 hours time difference from Italy.

Now our request for reimbursement must be increased by the expenses we had to face in emergency and for the moral damage we all suffered.

I still see the boat advertised on the website and this could create problems for other tourists.

Through social media (Facebook) we knew a group of Lithuanians who suffered the same scam from this man. 
There's no way he has the ability to continue scamming tourists! 

Obviously, I have all the audio, video and paper documents that can testify to what I said. 
Many eyewitnesses can testify about what happened. 
I reported the incident to the scam report at the address I found on your website but unfortunately I have not received any response.  I hope to receive your quick reply.

I wish you my best regards
Carlo