Internet Fraud Alerts
Related Links:
- Review the Email & Name Black List
- Report: Internet Crime Complaint Center
- Refuse to sell your goods to people outside the US.
- It makes it impossible for law enforcement to help you.
- The likely hood of a fraudulent situation greatly increases with international sales.
- More information on the "Africa Scam"
- More Sample Letters
- Sell or buy tack with your credit card through PayPal.com.
Common Signs of Fraud
Much to the BitsAndBridles.com management's dismay, we are still receiving reports of emails by suspicious persons requesting to buy their goods. We hope by vigilantly posting fraud alerts that these unscrupulous people will stop contacting BitsAndBridles.com users. The content of the letters is easy to separate from legitimate requests:
- The buyer wants to overpay you so that you will pay a third party the remaining funds usually through wire transfer.
- They will come to your house and pick up the goods or horses.
- They will arrange shipping through their third party.
- They usually reside overseas (Europe or Africa).
- The language is often jumbled and misused
SCAM Report - Most common Scam
Someone inquiries to buy a horse/tack/saddle with a cashier's check, no vet check needed. Inquires come thru email, but they may call you too. They will send you a fraudulent cashier's check. The fraud is not caught until the cashier's check gets back to the issuing bank. Your local bank will probably not catch that it is phony. Then the person calls you at the spur of the moment that the horse needs to be shipped tomorrow. The hauler has been arranged and will arrive tomorrow. They ask for you to pay the hauler.
If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is!