Avoid Scams

It is your responsibility to avoid horse purchase scams.

Here is an email that was sent to us from a horsefinders.com user:

I have received a few e-mails in the last several days from a man so called boyd93535@yahoo.com . He tries to scam people out of money by sending a fake certified check for the amount of the horse and plus shipping. You have the check cashed send them the money for the shipping via western union. They have their money and you are stuck with paying for the bad check to the bank once they figure out that it is fake. I do believe I have another e-mail that is going to try the same thing. I have reported this but I can only wait until someone contacts me. The scammers are from out of the country.

I know that you have no control over who sends E-mails to the sellers and it is up to the seller about what to do on a buyer, but I just want you to be aware of what is going on, so they you may be able to help unexpected sellers.

I have had a friend whom was scammed and lost several thousand dollars.

If there is anything I can do to help, please feel free to contact me by E-mail, and I will be more than happy to help you out any way I can.

The best way to tell the seller to get the scammer to leave you alone, is to tell them they must come in person to see your horse and they must have a Vet Vet check the horse(s) in order to get a certified health certificate in order to ship them out of the country. I hope this can be of some help to your sellers.

Also, here are additional guidelines.

• While some people do buy horses that they have not personally inspected, be cautious of those that don't inspect the horse and don't ask lots of questions about the horse.
• Never let the horse out of your control until you have converted any type of payment into cash.
• Cashiers Checks, money orders, Western Union, travelers checks, purchase orders, personal or business checks or all just paper until they are converted into cash. Do not let the horse out of your control until the issuing institution has released funds to your bank with no further recourse on the funds by either your bank or the issuing institution.
• Don't let the buyer rush you for any reason.
• Neither accept overpayment nor send overpayment to a third party for any reason.
• Foreign buyers must be suspected as scams.

Here is another email that was sent to us from a horsefinders.com user:

I received an offer on my horse for sale within 30 minutes of posting my ad on horsefinders.com. It was no questions asked, said his name was Dr. Rooney Smith, he owed a farm in Hawaii that he inherited from his grandfather, and offered my full price, sight unseen and no questions asked. He didn't care about her APHA papers, her coggins cert, or anything else. Nothing happened for 6 days so I requested a deposit. He then offered the full payment by courier within 5 days. Less than 2 days later, UPS delivered a legitimate looking check from SunTrust on a company called Oil Field Services in LA, but shipped from NY. The "buyer" said to cash/deposit it right away and contact the shipper, also a yahoo address, to advise them, which I did. BOTH contacted me by e-mail the same day to require $1,500 sent immediately to secure transit .... I knew then it was a scam. I will contact my bank tomorrow and I've filed a complaint with internet crime complaint center. I will also call my Sheriff's dept tomorrow as well. I knew it was too good to be true. Nobody buys a papered paint horse and doesn't care about her pedigree, or to buy sight unseen. Thanks horsefinders.com for the scam section. This was a text book case! I'll let you know how it comes out.

Helpful links:

• Internet Crime Complaint Center
• Federal Trade Commision
• Canadian Royal Police Scam Department