£22,000 mini digger vanishes in NI farm machinery scam

Farm businesses are reminded to remain vigilant to online machinery scams, after a 2.5t Volvo mini excavator was stolen by fraudsters.

The digger, valued at roughly £22,000, was listed for sale on Irish farm machinery and equipment website DoneDeal.ie before being stolen.

Fraudsters used stolen company details from a legitimate business based in Northern Ireland (NI), along with a false bank transfer confirmation to scam the vendor.

See also: GPS theft warning after raids on Cambridgeshire farms

The digger was then transported across the border to County Armagh.

Within two hours, both the digger and fraudsters had disappeared and no payment was made.

Fraud warning

A fraud warning has been issued by The Equipment Register (TER), Europe’s largest database of plant and equipment, which assists in the identification and recovery of stolen kit.

TER urges businesses to check the history of farm machinery on its global database, when purchasing equipment.

The vendor and victim of the fraud, Declan Redmond, said: “At the time, everything appeared legitimate and professional.

“We believed that full payment had been made and the bank transfer confirmation gave us no reason to suspect the transaction was a scam until the machine had already disappeared.

“I hope that by speaking publicly about what happened, we can help prevent someone else from going through the same experience.”

TER says criminals and fraudsters exploit online marketplaces to remain anonymous, using fake profiles, disposable contact details and falsified payment confirmations.

TER head of recoveries Gareth Barkwill added: “This fraud case demonstrates the evolving methods being used by organised criminals targeting the plant and farm machinery market.

“Fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they impersonate legitimate companies and create convincing proof of payment documentation.

“We have no doubt that the digger will resurface for sale, which is why it is essential for buyers to check any pre-owned machinery against our database to check it’s not stolen.”