Current Scams that you should be aware of: 

It has been brought to our attention that a number of criminal scams are being circulated by email. By default Horse Hunter protects your email address by using an email form to contact you, by ADDING your EMAIL ADDRESS to your advert description, be aware that you might receive strange email requests from scammers, who usually live overseas, but not always, and who offer you much more money than your horse is worth, and offer to send you a Bankers Draft / Cashiers Cheque, but ask you to give them, or a shipping agent/colleague living in your country, a cheque for the difference. The english grammar & spelling of the scammers is usually very poor.

The Bankers Draft/Cashiers Cheque sent in the post to cover the cost of the item, is likely to be STOLEN OR A FORGERY, but may well be cleared by the bank initially. Some time later when it is revealed that the cheque is not genuine, payment will be stopped and the seller will not only lose their goods but the balance as well. If you are not too sure and think that the buyer is genuine then ALWAYS ask your bank to clear the funds and confirm with you that the cheque is not a stolen or a forgery BEFORE you release you horse or any other money. If you do not leave your email make sure that you have left a telephone number or mobile number so that people can contact you.

For MORE INFO on common frauds see the Australian Federal Police site notice board: http://www.afp.gov.au/national/major_fraud/internet_scams  - Towards the bottom of the page look for the heading Australian High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC) website.

OTHER examples of POPULAR SCAMS include:

• LOANS - They ask you to send a processing fee and then make off with your money and all of your personal information. These usually originate from Nigeria, India & other countries with poor internet regulation procedures although some will claim a UK or USA origin.
• Horses that do not belong to the seller and are not the "owners" to sell.
• Sellers providing fake references
• Horses not being "As Advertised"
• Journeys to see a horse that has already been sold
• Horses being drugged/doped up
• With registered horses, run a check with the appropriate sporting or breed organisation that the seller is its current owner.
• Check that the horse or pony is sold with its own PASSPORT. For further info on PASSPORTS click for the DEFRA website.

NB: The UK government introduced the NED - the National Equine Database - in 2008. The National Equine Database (NED) is a collaborative project between DEFRA and the Horse industry. This could help with international sellers claiming to be from the UK.

One of the main reasons for it's development was to hold the information contained on horse passports. When it is launched, NED Online will enable users to:

•  Search for horses and ponies using a variety of search criteria.
• Check information contained in passports.
• Obtain pedigree information for horses and ponies.
• Obtain lifetime best competition results for horses and ponies.
• Use NED Links enabling quick and easy access to any horse or pony's record.
• Associate yourself with a horse or pony and add (unverified) supplementary information.
• Trace and track 'favourite' horses and ponies.

You can visit NED Online using the following addresss: http://www.nedonline.co.uk