Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary have issued a warning to farmers to be weary of farm machinery fraud, amid increasing scam reports received.
The most recent incident, reported to police on January 21, 2025, resulted in victims traveling from Devon and as far as Scotland, to a farm on the Isle of Wight, to collect farm machinery they believe they have purchased.
In other scenarios, police reported that some victims have even been promised to have the purchased equipment delivered to them, but the goods never show up and the supposed seller ceases all subsequent contact with its victims, once the transaction has been delivered.
According to police, the scams tend to originate from fake advertisements of farm machinery for sale, which are posted on social media sites like Facebook, as well as on other legitimate publications and magazines.
Upon seeing the advert, victims contact the purported seller, who convinces them of the advertisement’s credibility, before demanding to be paid huge sums of money in advance of viewing the farm machinery.
Police reported that victims have frequently been given Isle of Wight addresses to travel to in order to collect the machinery, only to discover that no such equipment exists and they have been scammed.
Often, the addresses given to victims are those of real farms on the Isle of Wight, whose occupants have no knowledge of the scam and are left in a vulnerable situation when aggrieved victims arrive on their doors, demanding the nonexistent machinery they have purchased.
In response to the rise in relating scam reports, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary have issued advice to rural and farming communities to counter the risk of being targeted by fraudsters. Its advice included:
- View the machinery in person first and ask for the registration and/or V5 document before handing over any money;
- Find out as much as possible about the seller – ask them about the history of the machinery and their business;
- Request scans of the registration document and do some research on the item – consider phoning the previous owner or the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency;
- Check that the engine number still correlates with the logbook;
- Do an online Hire Purchase Investigation check to ensure there is no outstanding finance.
“Our advice to members of the farming community is to be wary of this type of fraud and trust your instincts – if something appears too good to be true, it probably is.
“Furthermore, if you are a farmer and find yourself in a situation where you are confronted by a disgruntled victim of a scam, our advice is to remove yourself from the situation and if you feel threatened or in danger, ring 999 immediately, ” police said in a statement.
Additional information on how identify a fraud and protect yourself from being scammed, can be found on the National Cyber Security Centre’s website, police added.
