CALHAN, Colo. – A Calhan-area farmer says he lost $20,000 after he wired money for a backhoe he found online, equipment that never arrived.
Now, the Federal Trade Commission is warning that scammers are increasingly impersonating legitimate farm equipment companies online, targeting farmers and rural families looking for deals on heavy equipment.
“When my son and I drove up to Denver to where his place was, and it was an empty lot,” Stephen Hunt told Denver7 Investigates’ Jaclyn Allen.
Hunt, who lives southeast of Calhan in El Paso County, said he had been looking for a backhoe to help build a log cabin on his 37-acre property.
“My son was in the hospital and to kill some time in the hospital, I was looking for backhoes for myself,” Hunt said. “And this place just appeared.”
Hunt said the website looked legitimate and even appeared to be connected to a real farm equipment business.
“They changed one of their names in the title play,” Hunt said.
He said the site included photos of heavy equipment and what appeared to be an auction yard.
“The price was $21,000 is what they were asking,” Hunt said. “But I asked them if they would go down to 20.”
He said the sellers agreed: “They might even have it delivered to me.”
Hunt said he was asked to wire the money to a Wells Fargo account in San Francisco.
“When I talked to my bank … it said everything looked good,” Hunt said. “It looks like a legit company, a legit place.”
The backhoe was due to be delivered days later.
“The backhoe was supposed to be delivered to me on a Thursday evening,” Hunt said.
But it never came.
“I called on Friday morning and they said ‘well, there was a bit of confusion,'” Hunt said. “I still don’t have the backhoe.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission, scammers are increasingly impersonating farm machinery companies through online ads, fake websites and fraudulent listings.
In a recent consumer alert, the agency warned that scammers often pressure shoppers to pay by bank transfer because “once they’ve collected the money, it’s nearly impossible to get it back.”
The FTC said scammers can create convincing websites, invoices and purchase agreements while pretending to be real businesses.
Hunt said investigators later told him the website looked convincing.
According to Hunt, investigators determined the money was quickly transferred overseas.
“As soon as the wire we sent went into Wells Fargo in San Francisco, the money was immediately transferred to the international,” he said.
Hunt said the loss of the money has affected plans for his property and cabin project.
“That’s what I was going to use to dig the hole and put the logs in and everything to build my house here on my 37 acres,” he said.
He also says he is still paying the bank for equipment he never received.
Asked what that’s been like emotionally, Hunt said, “Well, being a Christian, you just learn to deal with it. I just have to fight through it and keep going.”
Now, he wants others to learn from what happened.
“Be very careful and extremely cautious,” Hunt said. “The wiring of money, that’s a trigger to say it’s fraud. Don’t do it.”
The FTC recommends that consumers:
- Research companies before sending money
- Search online for complaints or scam reports
- Be wary of sponsored search results or online ads
- Avoid paying by bank transfer, cryptocurrency, gift cards or payment apps
Anyone who believes they may have been the target of a scam can report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Hunt’s family has also created one GoFundMe to help recover some of the lost money in the alleged scam and continue working on the family cabin project
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