A farmer from the west of Ireland narrowly avoided misfortune after outwitting a scam artist trying to sell a John Deere tractor online.

The farmer saw the John Deere 8400 Powershift tractor advertised in the Galway Advertiser by a company called TractorPlus Ltd, with an address in Essex, England.

After contacting the seller, the farmer grew suspicious and was lucky enough to have a son involved in the agri-business industry in Essex.

A tractor that was advertised in the Galway Advertiser. The ad turned out to be a scam and has since been removed.

Gardaí praised the “sharp” farmer who clocked that something was amiss with the machinery ad.

“He [the farmer] subsequently established that the location of TractorPlus was, in fact, a small wood and that the advert had all the appearances of a scam. Their website is designed to fool people into thinking that they are a legitimate company,” a garda source told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The Galway Advertiser was contacted and the advert has now been removed.

Plant and machinery scam

Another man from the west of Ireland was not so fortunate when he lost €30,000 in a machinery scam.

A website called rjmplant.com advertising plant and agriculture machinery conned a man into buying a dumper.

The website gives an address for Haigh Park Rd, Industrial Estate, Leeds, LS10 1RX, which is in fact a games centre.

Gardaí said that after the man paid his money to the scam artists he “received confirmation via email that the machine would be delivered, however no dumper was delivered and he subsequently established that the company was a fraudulent one.” Gardaí in Mayo are investigating the incident.

Farmers are being warned to be wary of all online offers that “look too good to be true” and to take note of the websites mentioned that are used by scam artists.

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