A Spanish-based tractor scam has cost a farmer in the west of Ireland €9,000.

A company calling itself, Gruasy Transportes Noroeste on the internet, offered to sell the farmer a 2002 Valmet 900 tractor for €9,000 including delivery to Ireland.

Extensive phone calls and emails were exchanged between the farmer, the farmer’s contractor and the scam artists, before the sum was transferred to a bank account with a Spanish bank code identifier.

The sophisticated scam artists produced documents and an invoice, seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, which match what appears to be a legitimate looking machinery company with the same name in the Porrino region of Spain.

I’m not blaming the contractor, we both put a lot of work into researching the machine and the company

Communication with the scam artists tapered off before eventually ceasing once the money had been transferred.

This is the latest in several online tractor scams that has targeted Irish farmers, and the farmer has warned others not to fall victim to similar scams.

“I’m not blaming the contractor, we both put a lot of work into researching the machine and the company.

“At the end of the day, both of us were conned but it was my decision,” the farmer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said.

The scam has been reported to An Garda Siochána and the fraud squad. The Gardaí have also contacted the scam company but, according to the farmer, Noroeste has not responded to their requests for information.

The farmer said the Gardaí told him that Interpol would not be helpful in this instance and he has expressed his frustration that more cannot be done to track the scammers.

“There should be some way to track money back through accounts,” the farmer said, having been told by Gardaí that they had little influence after money was transferred out of the country.

“If I went into a bank I’d be on CCTV. I can’t see why they can’t get the bank in Spain to look through their CCTV or trace the money to the people who opened the bank account.”

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