Better Business Bureau officials in Alabama have issued a warning about too-good-to-be-true deals on used heavy equipment.
The scam has been cropping up for the past six to eight months but in the past six weeks alone, Alabama victims have deposited approximately $2 million to $3 million into the hands of criminals, Carl Bates, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Central and South Alabama (BBB CSAL), told Al.com. Buyers in Minnesota, New York, Utah and Washington have also fallen victim to similar schemes.
The BBB says the scammers use the names of legitimate or recently dissolved businesses to advertise used equipment such as skid steers, tractors, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment. Fake websites, Craigslist ads and Facebook Marketplace posts show photographs of equipment lifted from other sites, and buyers are occasionally provided with falsified licenses, tax identification information and warranties, according to the report.
To add legitimacy, the scammers share false positive reviews online, use real estate photos of the property and post photos of unrelated people as the staff for their ‘business,’ the BBB says.
Consumers who left reviews on the business’s BBB Business profile and made BBB Scam Tracker reports said they purchased items listed on the websites and wired the money but never received the equipment they ordered.
One victim, who tried purchasing equipment from a business claiming to be Stephens Truck & Equipment in Millbrook, Ala., reported, “We were dealing with Kazem. They took our $15,000 wire transfer for the tractor we were supposed to buy on June 7, 2022, and it was supposed to be here on June 18. No call, no show. They don’t respond, and if we call on a new phone, they hang up on us.”
According to the BBB, customers also reported that the items for sale on the website were legitimate products, but businesses were selling them in other parts of the country. Some also added that they received threatening communications from the company after sharing their experience online.
BBB’s vice president of communications and marketing, Garet Smitherman said, “The number of components involved in this fraud is impressive. Not only did they find a trustworthy business that is permanently closed to impersonate online, but they were also able to obtain and falsify regulatory licenses, find products listed by other legitimate businesses around the country to lift and offer as their own, they then submitted information update requests to BBB in an attempt to pawn off the fraudulent activity onto another local business that was not involved in any way, all while convincing unsuspecting customers around the country to wire-transfer them tens of thousands of dollars for tractors and other heavy equipment.”
BBB officials say the scammers are repackaging the same scam to con other unsuspecting buyers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service are investigating and believe the fraudsters may be from Indonesia.
BBB CSAL shared the following tips to protect yourself when making equipment purchases:
- Never send money to someone you have never met face-to-face
- Take caution when buying items online
- Wiring money and gift cards for payment are major red flags
- Physical location – is there one, and is it legitimate?
- Don’t shop on price alone
- Don’t buy unless it is a secure website
- Remember that scammers can easily mimic websites by stealing fonts and graphics
- Use secure and traceable transaction methods
- Does the website have contact information that is more than just an email address
- Make sure that a business has the appropriate competency and trade licensing requirements
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