Protecting Yourself From Goat Scams:
By Rick M.
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It never ceases to amaze one at the great lengths that people will go to
in order to cheat someone out of their hard earned money. Putting your information into any kind of
advertising media can make you prone to scammers trying to take your money.
Unfortunately, classified ads of all kinds are prime hunting grounds for
scammers. Does this mean that you should turn around and
high tail it away from classifieds?
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The answer is simply
no. If everyone one uses a little common sense and arms
themselves with a little knowledge, using classified ads is a
viable means of promoting and selling products and services.
Below
you will find actual messages which goat sellers have received from
these scammers. Although the following scams pertain to goats the
scenario can be used for a wide range of products or services listed in
classified ads. Reading through them you will notice that most of
them have a common theme. Spread
The Word To Fellow Goat Breeders You
can help combat these scams by making other breeders aware of
them. You can place a link to this page on your website or as a
part of your signature line on your email messages.
Help Others From Falling Victim To Goat
Scams
Submit
A Scam
BUYER BEWARE!
Banks Will Often Cash Fake Checks And Then
Hold You Responsible!
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Never
accept Postal money orders, Cashiers Checks or use Western Union or
Money Gram.
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Use
caution when someone says they are an animal broker acting on behalf
of their client.
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Never
send money or a product (including goats) to anyone until their
check or money order has cleared the bank.
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Be
cautious from anyone outside the USA wanting to buy goats.
Scenario
Of A Common Goat Scam The
major goat scam that we keep seeing and hearing about is someone from
Europe sending a check or money order for more than the amount
agreed upon. Although there seems to be a few different versions
of this, basically the scams have the same tone to them and are easily
identified once you are aware of it. How
it works is the scammer (goat broker) tells you that a customer is ready
to buy one of your goats. You contact the scammer telling them
what you have available and the cost. The scammer then responds to
you by saying his customer is sending a postal money order that includes his
fee or that the client actually overpaid. The scammer wants you to deposit his customers check and then
wire them a check for their fee. Hence,
you wire money to the scammer only to find out that the check or postal money
order you
deposited was no good. What can make this even worse is that they
may even grossly over pay you and suggest that you keep a portion of the
overpaid amount for the inconvenience. Here's Actual Emails From
GoatFinder Users About Goat Scams:
Goat Scam #1 - This an entire
correspondence with a scammer.
GoatFinder, Please pass this on to all your members. I want everyone to be aware of this scam.
Since January I have received several emails from a Ronald Koeman. He said he was from Switzerland and was interested in purchasing fainting goats to start a herd on his farm. At first I declined to communicate with him but after a couple of emails I sent him my website and he picked out three goats that he wanted to purchase. I priced them to him and he said that his contact would be getting in touch with me to make arrangements for the pickup. The week of February 19th I received an overnight Fed Ex with a cashier’s check written on a band in Texas for $3900. The Fed Ex was sent from Alexandria, VA with a phone number and a mailing address. The next day I received this email….
Hi Larry,
Thanks for confirming the reciept of the payment. With this all the necessary arrangements as regards the pick up can commence..
Now that you have the payment, you are to deduct the sum of $750.00 being the cost of the goats , while the sum of $200.00 should be set aside as the cost of vet checks and tests..
You are to make the sum of $2650.00 available via Western union to the representative coming over for the pick up...he's to get all the necessary export papers and make the flight arrangements to get the goats down here...
Kindly use the information below in geting the funds across to the representative .
Name; Kosoko Ajibiogo
Addres; 83, Edwards Lane,
Stradford,
E1 8JP
London.
You are to get back to me with the following information after you might have made the funds available to him..
I knew immediately that this was a hoax. I called my attorney and he told me to hold on to the check and what ever I did, not to sign anything. I contacted the bank in Texas and they verified that the check was counterfeit and I was one of the fortunate ones. Many had been foolish enough to cash the check and sent the balance to the guy in England. Unfortunately since they had innocently signed the cashier’s check they were bound to pay the money when the check bounced. I also called the number on the Fed EX note and the young lady who answered said she had received about 40 phone calls from people who had received checks. Unfortunately, she said that several had cashed the check and lost all the money. She didn’t know how they got her number, but she had alerted Fed EX and they were investigating. I have also sent an email to the Treasury Department and England’s Yahoo account. Yahoo has since notified me and want copies of all his emails, which I have saved. I am also going to notify the FBI.
I would hate for some other Goat Farmer to get involved in this mess. Please pass this information on to everyone on your distribution list to alert them of this scam. Since they have my address, I have purchased Identity Theft insurance so that if they use my name, at least I will be covered.
Koeman’s email address is ronald koeman [jury_ronald@yahoo.com]. If anyone should get an email from this fruit cake, beware.
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Goat Scam #2
Dear goatfinders: We think you
need to know that we have received several responses to our ad.
Unfortunately all of the responses have been from scam artists trying to
get us to take phony money orders from England. One wanted us to
take a money order for more than the purchase price and send him the
balance. They claim to want us to send our goats to England.
We could see they were scams right away but there may be other of your
advertisers that fall for the scams. Why they have zeroed in on
goat sellers I can't imagine. Beware!
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Goat Scam #3
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I have recently been contacted by someone posing as a buyer from London. They contacted me first thru a operator for the hearing impaired. Then they wanted to send a cashiers check that turned into a check to print and it was for $3000 more than the sell price of my goat. I was to wire the balance to a shipping company.
I have recently found out that all this was a scam. It is a take off of the Nigerian Internet scam. You can find it all over the internet. I hope there is some way to let all the people at goat finder about this. I am sure I am not the only one. We have alerted the proper authorities. Luckily we figured it out before we got scammed out of the $3000.
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This Goat Scam was actually
sent to GoatFinder.com
Hello,
i am mailing you to let you know that one of my customers is very
much interested in purchasing your goat which is posted for £50.00.
Please get back to me with the name and contact address which payments
can be sent to, my customer would gladly issue out a postal check as
soon as i hear from you.
You would also be forwarding any excess funds on the money order to me
via western union money transfer, the excess funds on the payment would
be fees for other purchases and also my profit on this transaction. If
you have the item in stock and also want to do business with me please
reply my email with the name and contact address for payments and a phone
number to reach you so we can proceed. thank you
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Protect
Yourself.. Always Question Things That Seem Out Of The Norm
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