Horse Talk

[SelectHorseSale]

One of the most well-known and probably still most-used scams on the internet is the scam originally dubbed the "Nigerian Scam" as its first perpetrators originated in Nigeria. Now individuals in this country and from other locations all over the world have adopted this scam with much success.
The scam generally runs as follows. A seller is contacted about an item that they're listing for sale online. The potential buyer agrees to the purchase, but needs to make special arrangements for shipping. The buyer offers to send the seller a money order for full payment, a little bit extra and the cost of shipping, but asks the seller to forward the shipping expense on to a designated agent. There's almost always a time issue with this scam so the buyer asks the seller to forward the payment on to the shipper immediately upon receiving the money order. The seller receives the money order (it's almost always an international money order), deposits it into his bank and then sends money on to the shipper. Several weeks later the seller finds out that the money order is fraudulent which means they've just been defrauded out of whatever money they sent to the shipper.
Another variation on this scam is that the buyer claims to be an agent working for a wealthy individual who's actually making the purchase. The agent asks that the seller receive a money order from the actual buyer for more than the price of the horse. The agent then asks the seller to forward the commission for the sale back to them.
This scam is generally successful because of the generally held fallacy that a money order is always valid. Sellers understand that checks can be bad and are very cautious about taking checks, but for some reason don't understand that money orders can be fraudulent too.
There are two easy ways to protect yourself from this scam. The first is to simply use common sense. Don't be in such a hurry to make a sale that you lose site of all reason. Why would a stranger that you've never met, send you a payment for sometimes several thousand dollars more than the cost of your item and trust you to forward it to the correct party? If the money really needs to go to two different people, why doesn't the purchaser simply send the money to the two people it should go to? Offer this solution to the seller. If the sale is actually a real sale, they'll simply take care of it in this manner and you've lessened your risk.
The second way to protect yourself here is to have a basic understanding of how banks work and do the due diligence. Generally banks don't get a notice when a check or a money order has cleared. They only get notified when something happens and a check or money order doesn't clear. We've probably all heard that we need to wait two weeks for a check to clear. This is because if the bank doesn't hear anything within two weeks it assumes that the check was valid. This doesn't however mean that the check or money order was actually good. The bank could easily hear within three to four weeks that a money order or check was bad and not honor the check at that point. Once you have a check or money order in your hand, you can do a bit of research to get around this issue. At the very least, you'll want to verify that the bank the note was written on actually exists. Once you've done this, you can actually call the bank and ask to confirm funds for the check or money order. If they confirm that the note is valid and that funds are available, you know that there's a reasonable chance that the transaction was on the up and up, and then you can deposit the payment into your account. You can also ask your bank to contact the bank the check or money order was issued from after a reasonable time has passed and ask for confirmation that the check or money order has actually cleared. If the bank the note was issued on says the payment cleared then the money is yours and you can feel safe in releasing the purchased item.
Remember that if something sounds too good to be true, then it most likely isn't true and protect yourself accordingly.

[SelectHorseSale]

Here's an example of this scam that was received by one of our site users. Avoid allowing buyers to send you a check for over the amount of the purchase. This type of transaction is almost always fraudulent.

Hello,
Thanks for the email .we received your mail with the Price of the Horse we want The horse and ready for purchase,We have contacted our Business Associate in the U.S.A with the price ,and will arrange payment on Our Behalf and have it post to you with a Money Order drawn from the U.s.a Bank for the horse ..Because am getting the horse for my Son's birthday gift.
So the amount on the Money Order will be more than your asking price and the excess on the Money Order will be for the shipping company who will be coming for the pick up as soon as you have gotten the Money Order.
So immediately you receive the Money Order you have to take it to the bank and forward the excess amount of the money to the shipper for the shipping preparation.
Now we will need the following information....
Your full name.....
Your full address.......
Your contact phone.......
Your City And State......
Your Zip......
we shall be waiting to read from you with the information required so our Associate can issue and send the Money Order asap and don't forget to forward the part payment of the difference upfront to the shipping company immediately you get the Money Order through western union soonest i received your information i will forward them to my shipper start arrangement with you for the pickup so that they will able to come for the pick up fast,because if you delay that means you are the one who is delaying the transaction,so after the Money Order get to you we will want you to forward the balance to our shipping company which will make them to come for the pick up that the next 3 days to 7days as well and if you want me to send you some pics of my RANCH i will be happy to send that too,,
Thanks
James

[amandaa]

I just got emailed by someone trying to scam me with this approach. The email chain is as follows.

Thank for the reply and this email is to make confirmation of the horse,you must know that payment will be made with money order as explained before in my previous email and also want to alert you on the fact that you will be receiving an over-draft money order ,which will cover the money for the horse and also for the shipper who will pick up the horse , So please,as soon as you receive the money order,cash it immediately, and send the remaining balance to the shipper Immediately so that the shipper could arrange for the pickup..So in view of the above,let me know if you understand me i will be waiting for your reply...Get back with the name and address which the payment will be sent to.


--- On Sat, 8/14/10, Amanda Adams - Painted Wolf Ranch <amandaa@paintedwolfranch.com> wrote:


From: Amanda Adams - Painted Wolf Ranch <amandaa@paintedwolfranch.com>
Subject: Re: Horse inquiry Boot Skootin Diamond
To: "Lawrence Thurber" <lawrencethurber@ymail.com>
Date: Saturday, August 14, 2010, 3:45 PM


Hi Lawrence,
Sure, no problem. We'll pretty much accept any type of payment -- cash, credit cards, checks, money orders, etc.

Thanks,
Amanda Adams
http://www.paintedwolfranch.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pntdwolfranch
(308) 440-8027
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Thurber
To: Amanda Adams - Painted Wolf Ranch
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: Horse inquiry Boot Skootin Diamond


Thanks for the reply and the information really helped, am buying the horse as a birthday gift for my wife and i will not be able to come see the horse in person becos of the distance and i am a very busy man but the shipper will come and inspect the horse as soon as payment is been made,i want to know if you accept money order for payment get back asap.

--- On Sat, 8/14/10, Amanda Adams - Painted Wolf Ranch <amandaa@paintedwolfranch.com> wrote:


From: Amanda Adams - Painted Wolf Ranch <amandaa@paintedwolfranch.com>
Subject: Re: Horse inquiry Boot Skootin Diamond
To: lawrencethurber@ymail.com
Date: Saturday, August 14, 2010, 2:42 PM


Hi Lawrence,
I'm asking $750 for this filly. She's really calm, easy to handle and is broke to halter and lead. I'll snap a few more pics of her this weekend and get them out to you.

Thanks,
Amanda Adams
http://www.paintedwolfranch.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pntdwolfranch
(308) 440-8027

----- Original Message ----- From: <lawrencethurber@ymail.com>
To: <info@paintedwolfranch.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 10:20 AM
Subject: Horse inquiry Boot Skootin Diamond

lawrencethurber@ymail.com wrote

Hello am Lawrence Thurber saw your horse advert online and am interested in buying and will want to know your final asking price and if you have any recent pics of the horse.tell me abit more about the horse and health condition.will be waiting for your reply. lawrencethurber@ymail.com

As you can see, the first email that this guy sent sounded like he might be legitimate, but you'll notice that he didn't care much about the details that I sent him about the horse, and, of course, he asked to send me more than I'm asking for the horse. The latter is a dead giveaway that this is a scam.

[SelectHorseSale]

This individual impersonating Lawrence Thurber is making the rounds of a lot of sites right now -- including this one. The following is an email that he sent to many of our horse owners.

Hello am Lawrence Thurber saw your horse advert online and am interested in buying and will want to know your final asking price and if you have any recent pics of the horse.tell me abit more about the horse and health condition.will be waiting for your reply.

Once an owner replies, he will send an email like the following.

Thank for the reply and this email is to make confirmation of the horse,you must know that payment will be made with money order as explained before in my previous email and also want to alert you on the fact that you will be receiving an over-draft money order ,which will cover the money for the horse and also for the shipper who will pick up the horse , So please,as soon as you receive the money order,cash it immediately, and send the remaining balance to the shipper Immediately so that the shipper could arrange for the pickup..So in view of the above,let me know if you understand me i will be waiting for your reply...Get back with the name and address which the payment will be sent to.

Do not accept payment from this individual -- it's a fraud.