Scammers

Yesterday we were in St. Louis for a training session all day, so I check my email this morning and 6 hits on our horses for sale. Unfortunately they are ALL from scammers but luckily these are all easy to identify. I've only had one that was actually believable in 15 years so I thought today I would help people identify a scammer. If there is lots of misspelled words or incorrect grammar most likely it is a scammer. If they want the present condition and best price, probably scammer. The one that was most believable went into detail of what she was training for and even sent me pictures of her horses telling me which was her favorite but then she let the cat out of the bag by telling me she would pay by Western Union or cashiers checque. When I replied we don't accept those, only credit cards, cash, personal checks that must have time to clear or wire transfers I didn't hear back from her. (Probably wasn't a lady but the pictures sent were of a lady on a horse)All of us in the horse world need to be aware of these cheaters. When I was complaining about all of the scam emails Mark, my husband said they wouldn't keep doing it if they weren't getting any money. Another big scam is to see an ad for purebred Friesian, picture and all, for sale for an unbelievable price. Those people want you to send money to hold the horse or you need to send the full price right away and we will ship the horse for free. I actually knew of someone that did that. Her name is Dawn and she was from Rushville, IL. She emailed me about this beautiful Friesian mare she was getting for only $5500.00 The money was gone and she never got the horse. If it seems to good to be true it probably is. But we all want a good deal and it is hard to pass up a bargain. A good way to check for a scam is to say you want to come see the horse first. Even this won't be a perfect safeguard. There was one scammer who insisted his horse was a purebred Friesian, it didn't look like one in the pictures but he said the pictures didn't do it justice, but the price was so good people kept sending money. Ask to see the horse, then ask to see the papers. If there is no papers and the horse looks like a draft cross (one was a small quarter horse) it is NOT a Friesian and without papers of no more value than any other horse. It would be very rare for a purebred Friesian not to have papers even if the papers were 'lost' the registry would have them so that is not a good excuse. So NEVER, NEVER take Western Union or Bank Checks or cashier's checks (especially if they are spelled checques. All of those can be counterfeit and can take months for the bank to find out. When the bank finds out it is counterfeit, they collect the money from you so you are out the horse and the money. Never send money without checking into the papers of the horse, if possible go SEE the horse in person or send someone if you can't go yourself. Or best of all only buy from a reputable breeder. Be CAREFUL!