Bank warns of agri-machinery scams after farmer loses €10,000 to fraudsters

Farmers have been warned to beware of online scams selling agricultural machinery after an Irish farmer was scammed out of €10,000. 

Farmers have been warned to beware of online scams selling agricultural machinery after an Irish farmer was scammed out of €10,000. 

Bank of Ireland said that fraudsters are targeting business owners online, including farmers, with fake farm machinery sales. The bank said that fraudsters are directly targeting farmers with pop up social media ads, some of which lead to bogus machinery websites.

"One recent example of a purchase scam among the farming community involved a customer who found machinery on a website that looked similar to a popular online marketplace. They transferred €10,000 directly to the seller to secure the sale, but once the funds were sent the seller blocked the customer and no goods were ever received,” said Bank of Ireland head of fraud Nicola Sadlier.

The Bank of Ireland customer who fell victim to the fraud only received a partial recovery of funds. 

Bank of Ireland said many scams are centred around vehicles like tractors, bailers, plough or seed drills, while others create websites to look like well-known companies. The purchaser is often lured by the false promise of a reduced price or bargain and asked to pay directly, sending money from their bank account to another via bank transfer. Once the payment is transferred, the seller usually cuts all contact, and the product or service doesn’t arrive.

“We are urging the farming and agrifood community to be vigilant around the risk fraud poses to their business, including through purchase scams, payment redirection fraud or cyberattacks," said Ms Sadlier. 

Other frauds targeting businesses include payment redirection fraud, where criminals pretend to be a supplier or service provider to a business in order to trick a business owner into changing bank account payee details, and remote access fraud, where fraudsters make “cold calls”, pretending to be from a bank's technical support or from an IT company and try to persuade people to allow them take control of their computer remotely over the phone so that they can fix, upgrade or protect their computer.