Some farmers have been reporting of being scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars on online farm auctions.
Eye35 Auction Group is based in North Iowa, and they told Brownfield Ag News an Iowa farmer recently wired $100,000 to buy a tractor from a fake auction. Also, a South Dakota farmer lost $80,000 earlier this year in a similar situation. Scammers are using commonly available software to build fake websites.
What are some red flags?
The president of the group says the first red flag is if a price is too good to be true. Another one is being able to look at equipment in person - if a seller has an excuse to why you cannot, that is not a good sign. He encourages farmers to stick to reputable and well-known auctioneers, and if you suspect an auction is fraud, report it to your state auctioneer association and law enforcement.
