HORSE IDENTITY THEFT! Has this happened to anyone else?

[FionaW]

We've just found out that an advert for Friesian mare we are selling has appeared on a website we haven't used with somebody else's email address and mobile number as a contact. The advert uses our wording, and features our photograph, but the price is a silly £900 (we are asking closer to 7k for this mare who's very genuine, rideable and well bred ).

Has this happened to anybody else? We can only imagine it's either a scam from overseas to get potential buyers to transfer deposits, or it's an attempt to discredit us. We sell a very few horses each year and trade on our utterly honest approach, so obviously this sort of thing makes us look unreliable and could be very damaging.

I've contacted the website and asked for the ad to be removed, and also contacted the bogus 'seller' although I doubt I'll get a response on that front!

 

[BSJAlove]

this has happened to me several times!!! but worse, people have taken my pics and put their own adverts on. i had no idea untill my friend called saying did u sell you horse??

i called and said i was interested in buying, then gave them a peice of my mind. turned out to be people i knew!! i was not happpy.

 

[BSJAlove]

oh and adding to my other post, it was on free horse ads like the horse exchange and i contacted the site who removed the adverts. they had no good reason for doing it and because i new them and generally got on with them, i didnt take it further but were no longer on talking terms!!

 

[jhoward]

ah i may be able to help you here, it was being discussed on another forum. it wasnt just your horse is was many others, any way, i emailed the person.

its the normal scam they send a bankers draft etc. BUT if you need the email address or anything i still have it, just pm me.

 

[T_K]

This hasn't happened to me ad wise but after a search for the registered name of my Fell Pony once I came across a Dutch forum where someone was talking about her mare, with the same name and FPS reg number as my mare! We bought her from the breeder so I knew mine was the genuine pony - so I joined the forum and emailed the girl(detailing the fact that the pony had died 6 months earlier and had been registered so with the FPS).....she never replied to me but she deleted the forum post...which made me very suspicious.

 

[FionaW]

The weird thing is, adverts on this site are paid for - admittedly only £5, but still surely that means the scammer can be traced? I've asked the people who run the site.

I did wonder whether it might have something to do with her being a Friesian because they could be sold with false identities (they're all black and hairy with few distinguishing marks, after all, and we have given a lot of breeding detail about this mare both on the ads and on our website), but it seems more likely to be a scam to get money 'deposits'.

The site has removed the ad now, but I'm paranoid it's elsewhere so will have to have a trawl. If anyone else sees a photo of a ridden Friesian with a distinctive orange numnah being advertised for £900, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[T_K]

Have PMed you, the website link I sent you is selling horses in the US!

 

[GatefieldHorses]

yeah on youtube someone had a video of their amazing mare that they showjump etc etc etc.....it was MY video of a gelding i currently had for sale with a completly different name to what she had called him. I left a comment giving a piece of my mind...video was soon deleted! idiots!

 

[Donkeymad]

Not happened to me, but know a number of people it has happened to.

 

[Grey_Eventer]

i had a video of my horse on youtube and it was then on loads of showjumping sites with comments saying this is my amazing horse and stuff, ive deleted the video and have contacted the various sites!
annoying

 

[nicnag]

Yes, I've had photos from two of my horses used in adverts on Horsemart. I've complained twice and horsemart have told me there is nothing they can do about it other than pull the advert. I've contacted the sellers and got hung up on by one (surprisingly eh?!) and the second ignored all my calls. It's now one of the reasons I very rarely post photos on the net.