The dealer that cannot be named

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Apizz2019 said:
I can see the difference, and I would never buy an animal only on the pretence of being able to return without quibble.

You've hit the nail on the head with one word though - 'psychological'.

This, I believe, is where SWSNBN preyed on her buyers weaknesses. An animal is an emotional investment, we all know that, she knew that. It's not merely a financial transaction, and I think that's an element she used to great effect when manipulating buyers.

Interestingly, not one of the posters on the Facebook page, that I have seen anyway, has referenced the trial and return process as being a motivating factor for their purchase. This is only mentioned when they have tried to get their money returned. In fact, most appear to have been devastated that they had to return the horse, some were seriously injured, others persevered, and one I've seen had the horse pts.

It apppears that SWSNBN was pushy, manipulative, talked the talk, and sold them what they thought were perfect horses, and they fell for that. Not the trial and return process. Although that would have helped lead them into a false sense of security that everything was above board.
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I was one of the buyers who this vile woman conned into believing that the pony who looked so good in the edited video WOULD be my next safe ride and drive pony. I did not for one second think I would be returning him - like an Amazon package or otherwise, but he proved to be far too dangerous for me to keep. And although I was one of the lucky ones in that I did get my money back, after much angst and insults, I am still poorer by over £1k, money I could ill afford to lose. I believed all those glowing reviews, and I am an experienced horsewoman, not a "bonkers nitwit" :mad:
 
New Forests Rock said:
I was one of the buyers who this vile woman conned into believing that the pony who looked so good in the edited video WOULD be my next safe ride and drive pony. I did not for one second think I would be returning him - like an Amazon package or otherwise, but he proved to be far too dangerous for me to keep. And although I was one of the lucky ones in that I did get my money back, after much angst and insults, I am still poorer by over £1k, money I could ill afford to lose. I believed all those glowing reviews, and I am an experienced horsewoman, not a "bonkers nitwit" :mad:
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I'm so sorry 😞

Every dog has its day. Looks like she's had hers and I hope she suffers for what she has done to the horses and unfortunate buyers.
 
When I was looking for a horse in 2024 I looked at several of the horses advertised by this dealer and I searched every DD fb page for reviews. I found no bad reviews on any of the pages, but quite a few good ones. Her horses seemed like the ideal type for what I was looking for and it wasn’t the idea that I would be able to send the horse back which was the draw, as I imagined that I would be getting the horse that was described (which sounded ideal). What appealed was the idea that I was going to a reputable dealer, with good reviews who could match me to a suitable horse. The only thing which prevented me from buying from her is that my yard has very strict bio security and the horse would have been in quarantine for the duration of the trial.
Maybe I was very naive, some might call it stupid, I certainly feel lucky to have dodged a bullet, but having come so close to being in this situation myself I feel huge sympathy to all the people and horses who are victims here.
What could have made an enormous difference in this situation is that instead of allowing honest feedback the DD groups actually did the opposite; it gave buyers a false sense of reassurance. They may aswell have advertised for her. Now I wonder if anything on those pages is genuine. If I was ever looking again I’d know not to bother with online reviews.
 
Apizz2019 said:
If this is true, I wonder where the poor horses are? 🫣
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A dodgy I was involved with ie got scammed out of a deposit, just up and left and the horses were just abandoned in their stables. Other people were looking for him for money allegedly and not the sort of people who were going to use the totally ineffective county court system like I did to try to recover my money.
 
Ownedbydiego said:
When I was looking for a horse in 2024 I looked at several of the horses advertised by this dealer and I searched every DD fb page for reviews. I found no bad reviews on any of the pages, but quite a few good ones. Her horses seemed like the ideal type for what I was looking for and it wasn’t the idea that I would be able to send the horse back which was the draw, as I imagined that I would be getting the horse that was described (which sounded ideal). What appealed was the idea that I was going to a reputable dealer, with good reviews who could match me to a suitable horse. The only thing which prevented me from buying from her is that my yard has very strict bio security and the horse would have been in quarantine for the duration of the trial.
Maybe I was very naive, some might call it stupid, I certainly feel lucky to have dodged a bullet, but having come so close to being in this situation myself I feel huge sympathy to all the people and horses who are victims here.
What could have made an enormous difference in this situation is that instead of allowing honest feedback the DD groups actually did the opposite; it gave buyers a false sense of reassurance. They may aswell have advertised for her. Now I wonder if anything on those pages is genuine. If I was ever looking again I’d know not to bother with online reviews.
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From what I've seen on the Facebook page, it appears that when people posted about her on the DD page, the manipulative piece of (insert expletive word here) provided evidence that she had refunded buyers and everything else was a moot point as the horse/s had been returned.

It appears she was using something, maybe photoshop or similar, to create images of fake bank transactions showing she had refunded buyers.

Edited to add - I'm glad you had a lucky escape!
 
nutjob said:
A dodgy I was involved with ie got scammed out of a deposit, just up and left and the horses were just abandoned in their stables. Other people were looking for him for money allegedly and not the sort of people who were going to use the totally ineffective county court system like I did to try to recover my money.
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That's so sad. 😔
 
Apizz2019 said:
If this is true, I wonder where the poor horses are? 🫣
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Now if only someone had a drone and sent it up and about.

That farm hasn't changed hands for years there are several businesses that could be there and at least 4 people registered as living there.

It's also in a small community where news travels I can't imagine she's flavour of the month at the local shop
 
Apizz2019 said:
From what I've seen on the Facebook page, it appears that when people posted about her on the DD page, the manipulative piece of (insert expletive word here) provided evidence that she had refunded buyers and everything else was a moot point as the horse/s had been returned.

It appears she was using something, maybe photoshop or similar, to create images of fake bank transactions showing she had refunded buyers.
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I honestly thought she was one of the good ones. The scale of it is shocking.
 
Ownedbydiego said:
I honestly thought she was one of the good ones. The scale of it is shocking.
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I've known for a while she is not a good one, as have many others. Unfortunately, we were all shut down. The lady who started that page is not only awesome, she is also incredibly brave! I applaud her.

I think the scale of this is far bigger than what many of us thought it was.

I'm not shocked at the stories. I'm shocked at the enormity of the deception.
 
jhoward said:
Now if only someone had a drone and sent it up and about.

That farm hasn't changed hands for years there are several businesses that could be there and at least 4 people registered as living there.

It's also in a small community where news travels I can't imagine she's flavour of the month at the local shop
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Soham is a weird place anyway 🤣
 
U.N.Owen said:
It appears the group has been paused. Wonder why? Or maybe to sto0 the floods of posts?
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It says 19th and will reopen on 22nd, maybe the admin are away, if so then safer to pause if they have no steady internet and unable to police posts.
Interesting that Cambs police are building information.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
It says 19th and will reopen on 22nd, maybe the admin are away, if so then safer to pause if they have no steady internet and unable to police posts.
Interesting that Cambs police are building information.
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Nothing sinister about pause, the incredible lady who tackled this awful situation is having a well earned weekend away S/J ☺️
 
Apizz2019 said:
From what I've seen on the Facebook page, it appears that when people posted about her on the DD page, the manipulative piece of (insert expletive word here) provided evidence that she had refunded buyers and everything else was a moot point as the horse/s had been returned.

It appears she was using something, maybe photoshop or similar, to create images of fake bank transactions showing she had refunded buyers.

Edited to add - I'm glad you had a lucky escape!
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I use Monzo and the screenshots I've seen on the group do look like genuine screenshots from the app (and Monzo do allow screenshots), however, they don't show what she is saying they do.

The ones I have seen have all been where she is saying she has made the payment and it will clear tomorrow and it's the bank processing it.

What the screenshots actually show is a scheduled payment for the next day. It isn't a payment that has been made and waiting to clear, it's just scheduled. The reason it then never goes could be either that after sending the 'proof' the scheduled payment is cancelled, or that when it is due there aren't enough funds. You don't have to have sufficient funds in the account in order to schedule it for a future date. This includes being able to move funds into a separate 'pot', though I'm not sure if business account have pots.

So I would be careful of making any accusations of altering images or faking them, as if she hasn't done this it's then a false accusation towards her. I'd much rather suspect it is actually just that they were scheduled payments which then didn't go through because they were cancelled or the funds weren't in the right place, and it would explain why it was always 'it will be there tomorrow' and the proof then it didn't appear. It would also explain to me why she was then fine to make further payments if she had apparently already sent the whole amount but it was lost clearing in the bank ether somewhere, without worrying she would end up refunding the amounts twice...
 
I feel so sorry for the horses in this. Shipped from one 'owner' to the next would be unsettling for the most saintly of horses.
Some of them ( not the obviously lame/ pain ones) may have started ok, but after a couple of trials would be so stressed that the slightest thing would tip them over. 😪
Humans can be so cruel.
Obviously not blaming the purchaser's, who has no idea & thought they were buying a dream horse from a reputable source.
 
dandare23 said:
I use Monzo and the screenshots I've seen on the group do look like genuine screenshots from the app (and Monzo do allow screenshots), however, they don't show what she is saying they do.

The ones I have seen have all been where she is saying she has made the payment and it will clear tomorrow and it's the bank processing it.

What the screenshots actually show is a scheduled payment for the next day. It isn't a payment that has been made and waiting to clear, it's just scheduled. The reason it then never goes could be either that after sending the 'proof' the scheduled payment is cancelled, or that when it is due there aren't enough funds. You don't have to have sufficient funds in the account in order to schedule it for a future date. This includes being able to move funds into a separate 'pot', though I'm not sure if business account have pots.

So I would be careful of making any accusations of altering images or faking them, as if she hasn't done this it's then a false accusation towards her. I'd much rather suspect it is actually just that they were scheduled payments which then didn't go through because they were cancelled or the funds weren't in the right place, and it would explain why it was always 'it will be there tomorrow' and the proof then it didn't appear. It would also explain to me why she was then fine to make further payments if she had apparently already sent the whole amount but it was lost clearing in the bank ether somewhere, without worrying she would end up refunding the amounts twice...
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with Monzo you get a few minutes to cancel the payment after youve made it now, so i supect she was doing that. You do need to have the funds to schedule a payment in my account at least
 
Information for those affected by the issues in this thread: Cambridgeshire police are investigating and would like to hear from you. You don't have to have been left out of pocket for a report to be made as they are investigating the possibility that the same horse may have been sold to more than one person at once, and need information on name of horse, date sold, date of any refund etc. Information can be sent via 101 and an officer is working through all the reports. If you have difficulty submitting information I have permission to share contact details for the officer, you can send me a private message for this if needed. Edit* still waiting for that direct contact detail to reach my inbox, but assuming it will appear soon*
 
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dandare23 said:
I use Monzo and the screenshots I've seen on the group do look like genuine screenshots from the app (and Monzo do allow screenshots), however, they don't show what she is saying they do.

The ones I have seen have all been where she is saying she has made the payment and it will clear tomorrow and it's the bank processing it.

What the screenshots actually show is a scheduled payment for the next day. It isn't a payment that has been made and waiting to clear, it's just scheduled. The reason it then never goes could be either that after sending the 'proof' the scheduled payment is cancelled, or that when it is due there aren't enough funds. You don't have to have sufficient funds in the account in order to schedule it for a future date. This includes being able to move funds into a separate 'pot', though I'm not sure if business account have pots.

So I would be careful of making any accusations of altering images or faking them, as if she hasn't done this it's then a false accusation towards her. I'd much rather suspect it is actually just that they were scheduled payments which then didn't go through because they were cancelled or the funds weren't in the right place, and it would explain why it was always 'it will be there tomorrow' and the proof then it didn't appear. It would also explain to me why she was then fine to make further payments if she had apparently already sent the whole amount but it was lost clearing in the bank ether somewhere, without worrying she would end up refunding the amounts twice...
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I did say it appears she has, not that she categorically had done this - I accept that while the word 'appears' signals uncertainty, it is still suggestive.

My comment was based on one of the admins of the DD group, as she and her fellow admins had received receipts from SWSNBN when people posted about her. It 'appears' what they'd seen was not what has since been made public.
 
Interesting, the admin of one of the DD pages has posted on this dealer specific fb page justifying why all negative posts have been removed from DD in the past. However I've seen 2 recent posts on the DD page which simply link to the new fb page for people with any experience of SWSNBN to record their experience and they've both been removed. Even though there's now a huge amount of evidence and a police investigation underway the DD page admins are still covering for the dealer.
 
nutjob said:
Interesting, the admin of one of the DD pages has posted on this dealer specific fb page justifying why all negative posts have been removed from DD in the past. However I've seen 2 recent posts on the DD page which simply link to the new fb page for people with any experience of SWSNBN to record their experience and they've both been removed. Even though there's now a huge amount of evidence and a police investigation underway the DD page admins are still covering for the dealer.
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Why, oh why am I not surprised 🙈 😭
 
New Forests Rock said:
Just to add I have now completed the Cambs Police form and given details via 101 - easy, very helpful and well worth doing. Anything to stop this vile person from selling more broken, dangerous horses😭 and scamming people out of their hard earned money.
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I hope you and all else involved get a good outcome.
 
ester said:
Found out last night she apparently owes our local RDA money after totally unsuitable horse. Word def gone round locally to police report
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Unfortunately, although I went to collect the horse with the transporter, my RDA's records from a couple of years back no longer include him - I suspect, because it was an unsuccessful trial and we got the money back eventually, keeping the paperwork has been deemed unnecessary. After all you rarely an exercise like this in the horse world. The woman who started this deserves a medal.
 
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