Horse advert scams

DressageCob

DressageCob

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How do they work?

A quick browse on the H&H website shows a number of horses for sale which aren't legit.

For example this one https://classifieds.horseandhound.co.uk/horses-for-sale/pony-club-pony/stunning-palomino-pony-711614

This is the pony Noble Dancer, from Australia. A quick google for palomino dressage ponies revealed his true identity. I looked it up because it was obviously at a high profile show in the photographs and wearing a double bridle, but there was no mention in the advert of a competition history and the price didn't suggest that calibre of pony.

So what do scammers get out of it? Are they just wasting time or hoping people will pay a deposit to view and then disappear off the grid?
 
Oh they kill me as well. I feel like I need to run a fee paying course for scammers on horse ad scams 101 So they can at least get a little credibility for their efforts.

They are sooooooo dumb.

The photos crack me up. The horse is advertised in the UK but the photo shows Australian outback in the background. Most of them are cutting horses and dressage horses plus they love going to the beach. Really?!
 
DressageCob said:
How do they work?

A quick browse on the H&H website shows a number of horses for sale which aren't legit.

For example this one https://classifieds.horseandhound.co.uk/horses-for-sale/pony-club-pony/stunning-palomino-pony-711614

This is the pony Noble Dancer, from Australia. A quick google for palomino dressage ponies revealed his true identity. I looked it up because it was obviously at a high profile show in the photographs and wearing a double bridle, but there was no mention in the advert of a competition history and the price didn't suggest that calibre of pony.

So what do scammers get out of it? Are they just wasting time or hoping people will pay a deposit to view and then disappear off the grid?
Click to expand...
I love the text for this ad -
he's a currenty 14.2 gelding who is quite to do and He love juming

I wonder if they lifted that complete (with some typos) from another ad or if they did a pick n mix of phrases they thought sounded good
 
cauda equina said:
I love the text for this ad -
he's a currenty 14.2 gelding who is quite to do and He love juming

I wonder if they lifted that complete (with some typos) from another ad or if they did a pick n mix of phrases they thought sounded good
Click to expand...
Also said he is barefoot and in the pics he is shod all round. Unless that was his previous job lol
 
Apparently with the scam emails (and I assume this type too), they purposefully put in typos and some mistakes because it means they don’t waste their time on people who will never call for scam- we self select out of it. It leaves people who are gullible or vulnerable contacting them, which is exactly what they want.
 
As I’ve been looking I’ve seen a number of questionable ads….a stunning Friesian plaited and prepped for dressage..in a foreign country….£3500…yeah right.
 
There's one on a driving FB page that has copy & pasted the whole text from an ad. on the same page a few days before. The legit. ad. is for a colt, Fresian x Shire . Scam has a video of a child riding a small black pony round a walled compound surrounded by exotic vegetation. Still picture is of a different pony. The Lettering on the photo is in Greek.

As has been said, they have no worries about most people seeing through it. They want to attract the vulnerable, gullible, unwell, drunk. If you spend time talking to someone who then realises its a scam, you have wasted that time. :mad:
 
They do it with cars, trailers, horseboxes, houses any high value items.

Deposits they are after. So many people fall for it unfortunately. Just look on the scammers pages.
 
I must admit that I wasn't aware of this scam, and might have been drawn in initially, but I wouldn't have parted with any money without seeing it first, so I don't think they would have got very far with me.
Luckily, I don't buy many high-value things!
 
Sadly, many folk Are guillable and are drawn into the too good to be true adverts, often as it’s the only way they can afford something.
But, an element of it in selecting the victim is also like brain washing. The victim totally believes the scammer.
I worked in banking, up to a few years ago, and saw this a lot, often the romance scams, but also with goods. The victims were so convinced the scammer was real, they often lost tens of thousands to them. Even with us, the staff, warning them not to send their money, and blocking accounts to make them come into a branch so the money wasn’t able to be sent online (if they could find an open one!), ultimately if they wanted to send the money, we couldn’t stop them.
 
DressageCob said:
How do they work?

A quick browse on the H&H website shows a number of horses for sale which aren't legit.

For example this one https://classifieds.horseandhound.co.uk/horses-for-sale/pony-club-pony/stunning-palomino-pony-711614

This is the pony Noble Dancer, from Australia. A quick google for palomino dressage ponies revealed his true identity. I looked it up because it was obviously at a high profile show in the photographs and wearing a double bridle, but there was no mention in the advert of a competition history and the price didn't suggest that calibre of pony.

So what do scammers get out of it? Are they just wasting time or hoping people will pay a deposit to view and then disappear off the grid?
Click to expand...
Can’t it be reported to H&H?
 
Unfortunately this sort of behaviour makes it so hard for the rest of us to buy anything.

I sold a small car last year to a lovely man. He came and test drove it, I said I'd give it an early MOT and resolve any advisories (it was my mum's car so I cared about this car and the man wanted it to safely transport his wife so I wanted it to be perfect).

He wasn't able to transfer the money to me for it. He got quite worked up. He went to the bank and they called the police believing it was a scam (I'd taken the ad down because I'd sold it) but there were pics on my Facebook. Police were happy me and the car were legit but bank still refused the transfer.

He took the car and had to drive it to his bank with a receipt I'd written to prove the car existed, before they agreed to send me the money. I felt so sorry for him but it meant I had to give him the car before I had the cash.

My bank called me before letting me pay for garden work I'd had done.
 
They do this with buying. Turn up to collect say they will pay by bank transfer show you a false bank payment on their phones and take your goods before you get time to check.
 
FireCracker238 said:
www.donedeal.ie

Cobs Ads For Sale in Ireland | DoneDeal

Discover 62 Ads in Cobs For Sale in Ireland on DoneDeal. Buy & Sell on Ireland's Largest Cobs Marketplace.
www.donedeal.ie www.donedeal.ie
Can I have people's thoughts on this one please?
Click to expand...

In addition to what shortstuff said, I don't think all those pictures are of the same horse. In some, it has a thick neck and throatlatch. In others, it's quite refined. In some pics, the mane is on the left. In others, it's on the right. Sometimes, it has a big whte blaze. Sometimes, it doesn't. One pic shows a horse with a sock/coronet on his back left foot. The others show no such marking.
 
Caol Ila said:
In addition to what shortstuff said, I don't think all those pictures are of the same horse. In some, it has a thick neck and throatlatch. In others, it's quite refined. In some pics, the mane is on the left. In others, it's on the right. Sometimes, it has a big white blaze. Sometimes, it doesn't. One pic shows a horse with a sock/coronet on his back left foot. The others show no such marking.
Click to expand...
Thank you, you paid more heed than me 🤦‍♀️

I've no interest in purchasing the horse, just viewed the ad cos I know someone from the forum is looking a dun/buckskin
 
Scammers are everywhere and for everything. I had a call claiming to be from Currys/PCWorld wanting to sell me a new iphone and contract, I could keep my same number and it would not cost me more than my current plan, even when I said I was sim only and paid less than £10/month. He was quite a pushy chappy but I kept him happy for nearly 10 minutes before he realised that there was no chance of getting anything out of me. I was bored and he passed some time :).
 
most of the time it’s horse adverts that are to good to be true and most of the photos are stolen what’s really missed up they look though people Facebook, steal pictures of horse that have died or scammers steal pictures from a different country for example a horse wearing a western saddle in a dry climate. They target people who are desperate for a horse but have an unrealistic/ very low budget for the horses they want. You should never pay anyone money without seeing the horse it crazy how many people believe this Scam and complain that a seller stole their money without even realising they were scammed in the first place. Scammers have gotten very cleaver it just not you basic scam phone caller anymore.
 
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