Scammers have targeted the big-ticket end of agriculture in recent months spruiking online sales of tractors and farm machinery.
In our region a bogus outfit called Big Red Tractors claims to be a Cohuna-based business selling second-hand equipment – targeting a market of high demand and limited supply as part of post-Covid collateral damage crippling supplier networks.
North West Farmer is aware of one Northern Territory customer losing $60,000 after being told Big Red Tractors required payment in full before shipping the tractor north.
His dilemma was revealed when he rang Jakab Motors in Cohuna to try and pin down his purchase. Jakab Motors is also a Massy Ferguson dealer and the Darwin buyer wanted to know if it was aware of the business.
The address Big Red Tractor was using on its website – 6706 Murray Valley Highway at Cohuna – is a dairy farm which, ironically, belonged to the family of Jakab employee Becky Thompson.
The scammer’s website no longer works, and its phone number (03) 4420 9705 simply shows a busy signal when called.
If you do an internet search for Big Red Tractors, the second business the request brings up is Jakab Motors, which has added to buyer confusion. This genuine and longstanding business has been fielding phone calls for more than a month from people desperate to track down the people running the website.
Another dodgy online operation, using the name All States Machinery, has also conned tens of thousands of dollars from farm families.
Jakab Motors director Rachael Warren said the problem started a month ago.
“The number of calls we have been getting from people inquiring about Big Red Tractors is increasing,” Mrs Warren said. “We feel so sorry for people losing their money.”
Jakab Motors is not the only Cohuna business taking calls as buyers try to track down Big Red Tractors.
A Weekly Times investigations also revealed the domain name for the Big Red Tractors website was registered to an individual in Reykjavik, Iceland, under the domain Namecheap Inc.
While the Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia website has not yet posted a warning about the scams, its executive director Gary Northover has told media online that farm machinery scams were an ongoing problem for buyers.
He said fake websites are easily created, and people are paying for machinery or sending deposits.
“It is a problem that has been underlying for some time, even before some of the machinery stock shortages we have had recently,” he said.
“Our advice to buyers is if it looks too good to be true it probably is. If buyers are unsure, they can consult our tractor buying guide to look at which models are sold in Australia and meet our standards.
“Buyers should also try to work with a reputable business and talk to them about the product.”
Earlier this year a Western District farmer lost $17,000 in an online farm machinery scam through fraudulent seller All States Machinery.
Mrs Warren said fortunately most of the calls Jakab Motors had received were buyers inquiring about items, who have not paid any money yet but wanted to check whether the company was real.
Many of the machines offered on scam websites have never been released in Australia.
As for stopping the Big Red Tractors scam, Mrs Warren has been directing all her callers to report it to police and to Scamwatch Australia.
