Scammer Alert !!!!

[drk]

Posting this for reference for everyone !!!

I had a surprising message on my phone when I got home today!

It was from a lady from Alberta, Canada and she said that she thinks a scam is going on with my Leopard Appaloosa Stallion TOYLAND TINO TRIX. She said he was up for sale on a classified site called KIJIJI in Alberta and was listed for $3000 in December before Christmas. She said my pictures of him were used. She did not know about my farm and thought the ad was real. She emailed this person and and said she wanted him and to mark him as sold. The seller wanted her to send the money. She told the seller that since the horse was only about 4 hours from them that she would just take the trip with her trailer and pay in full when she picked him up. After telling the seller this, she tried to make contact numerous times after that to get directions and schedule the trip. The seller didn't respond for a couple weeks. After numerous emails to the seller they finally replied saying Tino had been sold.

She was very disappointed but went on to find another leopard stallion elsewhere.

When she received her MHW magazine this month she saw Tino's picture in the Stallion Showcase ad I placed. She said she was shocked to see "Her Leopard Stallion" she had wanted so bad and proceeded to look up my site. After browsing Tino's information on my site she realized he must not have been in Canada after seeing he had been breeding mares at my farm in 2009 and thought at that point this must be a scam. She was kind enough to call me and let me know this happened.

It's unbelievable what people will try these days. I did go on that classified site to look for it but the ads only went back to the posting dates at the end of December. On Monday I will contact that classified site and let them know this happened.

I will get the email address of the scammer from this lady in Canada.

I thanked her and said thank goodness she didn't send them money.

Then I proceeded to tell her that $3000 was QUITE A DEAL for him

Se told me this was one of the pictures on the ad...

 

[Miniv]

Scary stuff!

We've been notified over the years about people using pictures of our horses too.......We've never been able to track down the users, though.

You were SMART with how you handled it. Other people should also do some homework on who has placed the ad, etc. It's frightening to think how many folks may have been scammed, while YOU weren't!

 

[WhiteTailsMinis]

Wow, that is pretty scary to say the least. I'm glad that woman didn't get burned and glad she was nice enough to contact you.

It's amazing what people will do these days and how clever they are in their scams.

I'm thinking it might be wise for all of us to protect our photos on our websites - not sure you can do it in your ads though - but we are forced to try to protect ourselves from those vicious people out there.

Thanks for passing on the info to alert all of us and remind us just what evil lurks out there on the internet.

I've heard of that classified site here in our area - I posted puggle pups for sale christmas of 2008. LOL I'm glad this had a happy ending for the horse and you!

 

[drk]

When I get the email address of that scammer I will post it here for everyone to beware

 

[HGFarm]

Oh no Diane, so sorry to hear that happened!!! But so glad that lady did NOT send them any money, but how many people will get sucked in on a purchase by this latest scam thing!!! The scammers are certainly making it more difficult for folks nowadays. It was nice the lady called you, but I am sure glad she is not out her money too!!!

 

[krissy3]

sad situation, I wonder if this is the reason why horses are stolen? make an add, sell the horse , then go steel it . Maybe not , but it seems like the 2 would be connected somehow. I hope you can track down that add , and see for yourself what happened there and share it with us , so we can all be aware of this sort of nasty behavior.

 

[Connie P]

Wow! I am amazed at what some people do............I don't know why, but I am. Some people have WAY too much time on their hands. I sure wish people like that would spend more time looking for a job or helping out a friend or doing something more productive. Ugh. Yes Diane 3,000.00 would be quite the bargain for Tino! Hugs friend.

 

[Sterling]

Unbelievable what some people will do! I'm glad this turned out good for the "prospective buyer" and no money was exchanged.

Diane, I have a question for you. Did this person say whether the photo she used had the logo on it as you show in the pic of your stallion? The reason I ask is that I am an amateur photographer and love working with photo editing and graphic arts. I have a website and try to protect my photos as much as I can.....I know I've heard there are ways to get around a watermark, but am thinking this person had to be doubly bold to set up your stallion on the listing site and to discard the writing on the photo as well.

 

[targetsmom]

Thank you so much for alerting us of this scam. How scary!!!! This should be a wake-up call to all prospective buyers and anyone with a website. Perhaps buyers should do a Google search for images of the horse for sale and see where they turn up?? I also find the Stud Book worth its weight in gold when checking out prospective horses.

I am so glad that we just listed our stallion in the MHW Stallion Directory. Even though he doesn't stand at stud (and we have nothing for sale at the moment) at least it lets people know where he lives!

 

[ruffian]

Horse trailer scams are great ones too. Friend of mine called all excited, found a 4H Alum GNLQ for $5,000. Had photos and everything. First the trailer was within 30 miles, then, hunh, she had hauled the trailer to a "transport" company in Arizona, and they would deliver it FREE anywhere in the US. Just send her the money!!! I see the trailer is up on Craig's list again.

 

[Riverdance]

I had someone on this very sale board post a picture of one of my yearling colts a few years ago, saying it was for sale. Said it was one of her horses. She had copied the picture from my web site. When people got after her, all of the sudden a picture of her (not so great colt) showed up on the add.

I get e-mails all of the time from one of the web sites for selling puppies. People are trying to use my pictures and web site of my dogs, but then use a different e-mail then what I have.

It is really scary what is going on out there!!