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Owner won't contact me back....

22K views 119 replies 40 participants last post by  Bugaboo 
#1 ·
So I bought a horse from a person in Ohio (I'm in Illinois) and we had been keeping contact and she had been very helpful until she has suddenly stopped replying to me. She needed to get coggins/health cert. for the mare so I could have her shipped and she said she was going to make an appointment and mail me her papers and whatnot, but now she hasn't responded to me at all in quite a while.

I sent her money through Walmart and still have receipts and I have screencapped all of our conversation in her agreeing to sell me the horse for the allotted price and I think I have her address, though not sure if it's actually correct....

Is there anything I can do to remedy this?
 
#2 ·
Did you actually visit and inspect this horse before agreeing to buy it? Talk to the seller in person ?

If not, and all your communication with the seller has been via text/email etc, there's a good chance you've been scammed. The red flag for me is that you apparently made payments to the seller via Walmart wire transfers??? Huge red flag.

If in fact you have been scammed, not sure what your remedies are. But it would constitute bank wire fraud across state lines for the seller. If you found the horse in an online ad, I'd start doing some research online. If you've truly been scammed, you most likely will find the same horse listed for sale in other states, in different ads.

NEVER pay for a horse or anything else in advance with a wire transfer, as it's a sure sign of fraud.
For now, your best bet is to contact the police and file a report, they can advise you as to how to proceed from there. Good luck.
 
#3 ·
I gotta agree with HombresArabLegacy :(

I would contact your local & state police, then the Illinois Bureau of Investigation to see if any of them can help you.

Also, don't be surprised if the person isn't in Ohio, even if that's how the number showed on your cell phone.
 
#4 ·
Not defending this seller, as it does sound like a scam, but not all wire transfers are fraud. I sold a horse to someone in CA who set a bunch of deadlines and missed every one of them (for when she would return the signed contract, when she would send the deposit check, when she would set up the PPE at the vet and finally when she would send the payment). The hauler was sitting here in my driveway to pick up the horse and I STILL had no contract, no payment, nada. I required the buyer to wire me money via Western Union and fax all pertinent paperwork the same. I wasn't about to let that horse get on the trailer, even though the hauler was a friend of mine, until I had cash and paperwork in hand.
 
#5 ·
Did this person ask for you info such as address, phone number, and for you to transfer the money? Also most scammers use the same method. They give a sad tale on how someone in their family died and they need to get rid of their horses or they went on a business trip and can't take care of their horses.

I hope this isn't a scam for your sake!
 
#6 · (Edited)
I really hope it's not a scam too, but she still has me as friends on facebook and she has posted on her facebook several times about how "this horse is going to be going to her new home soon" and "how much I'm gonna miss this girl". She has been generally very helpful about getting things done, it's just like she hasn't even gotten on facebook the last several days. She's made posts in public groups looking for local vets so she can get a coggins done and whatnot.

She has sent me a couple videos of the mare and I haven't seen the ad in any other groups and I'm in all the groups she is. So I'm really stuck between just giving her time to be able to get back on the internet and calling in the ag dept to see what I can do. I don't want to just go at it threateningly and cause a huge issue, but I just want to get this mare home (assuming she is there and well).

Also, she has asked me for my address for mailing things.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, over facebook I found her ad. She had been in hospital for a couple days and messaged me about that apologizing and said she would reschedule the vet appointment and that was Oct 8th, and I've messaged her a few times since, but it shows that she hasn't even been on facebook.

I don't want to get super creepy and start trying to message her family, which there are quite a few in Ohio, but I'm on my last "non-legal action taking" leg here.
 
#11 ·
I do like KingerQueens idea, but daystar88 has a point that has stopped me from taking any legal action yet. It seems like she having financial trouble, has a young 2 year old kid (she is on the younger side herself - 2 years younger than me), and yada yada, so I haven't been pushing as hard as I could as she may be having some trouble and unable to contact me, but I'm still just very anxious and frustrated about this.

I had a feeling I should have just made the 7 hour trip myself initially instead of trying to work out getting a shipper. It was just more the convenience that drove me to getting a shipper. It's like...if she would just get on and see my messages, I've already told her I would just find a weekend and make the drive out to pick her up myself.

I still don't feel she is necessarily trying to scam me or anything like that, but I am just coming quickly to the end of my rope and want to research my options before I go making any sudden/ration/irreversible decisions.
 
#12 ·
Maybe she is in the hospital again. I would like ot think she would have enough sense to at least tell you, but perhaps phone is dead/no way to really contact you. Now, it's not fair for you to have no contact, but maybe she is in a situation where she can't.

If you are friends with her on facebook- perhaps post on her wall asking what is up like 'Hey, I haven't heard from you in a while to finish the sale of the horse, is eveything ok? Just let me know'- if something bad happened, I would assume family- if they use facebook and are friends with her- will chime in and mention something. I'd keep it simple and since it is public, don't post the whole you have X amount of time- that should be done privately. If she is in a situation where she cannot respond, perhaps some one will respond on her behalf. But on the other hand- if I was in her shoes and took money for a sale of an animal, if I couldn't respond, I'd make sure someone else did ( provided I wasn't in a coma or something)

I used to breed and sell snakes, and I myself was contacted by a buyer due to my FB friend selling a snake and there was a no contact issue from the seller after money was sent by the buyer. I honestly hadn't heard from him in a while and stated so, but I also stated I would reach out to him as well. I never heard back from the guy who was my FB friend, but I tried to to help the buyer to either get the snake or refund the money. I'd like to think if you posted on her page someone would help contact her as well- be it to make sure her reputation doesn't get ruined or to make sure nothing major is wrong.

Good luck. I hope things work out in the end for you!
 
#13 ·
Thanks, edf. I just posted on her page today (5 hours ago), but there has been no response at all, so I'm not really sure what is going.

I think she really should have let me know somehow that she would be unable to respond to me, but who knows. The main thing I can do is give her a little more time until things either happen or I have to take action.
 
#14 ·
It could be selling a horse that has to be transported and all the sudden needs a vet check for health papers and a current coggins is an issue. It could be she sold the horse to someone else that didn't need the info. Who knows. Give her 24 hours and then if no one replies start looking into it further. I don't understand why a county would require a book that is out of print to be read by every single middle schooler in the district - not just read but have their own copy to annotate but that was my district this year. Of course every local seller had been stripped. I went to a reputable book seller online, found the book for $17 when most copies were in the $30 dollar range and bought it. Got a confirmation email. 24 hours later got a this item has shipped email and then less than 24 after that the seller contacted me to say they were canceling the order because they had better offers for the book. Totally sucked as the next copy was $42 but just a thought. Horse is on FB maybe someone else wanted her and was willing to pay more with less hassle than you. I sincerely hope though that it is nothing serious and it all works out.
 
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#15 ·
It won't hurt to contact the authorities and find out what action can be taken if you do not hear from her soon. Getting that information doesn't mean that you have to start legal action now, but at least you will be prepared. Unfortunately the seller has the upper hand right now. She has the money and the horse and you need the bill of sale and the paperwork to transport. I hope it works out, but I don't like the sound of one (legitimate sounding) delay in finalizing the deal and now no contact.
 
#19 ·
It's been 8 days since she has been on facebook. I don't really think it would be an issue if she would just get on facebook and see my messages...like, just the fact that she hasn't been on her facebook and there is no activity has me on edge.
 
#20 ·
Look at her past activity, is she on all the time?

I'd give it a few more days, then yes, contact the authorities.

I would definitely give her the benefit of the doubt and post on her page saying that you are getting worried about is being a scam, and you want to trust her but need to look out for yourself too. Or something, just to let her know where you're heads at (I wouldn't say "oh I'm reporting you!" in case she is a scammer and starts covering her tracks, though if that is the case I'm sure she's already trying to.).
 
#21 ·
Yeah, I've been giving her the benefit thus far, but, it's wearing me down. Her facebook says she hasn't been on at all. Her messenger hasn't been timed in, she hasn't like or posted anything or commented anything.

So I'm really just kind of utterly lost.

And with facebook messenger the way it is, simply messaging family members doesn't mean they'll get the message in their "others" folder and it will still kind of be for naught.
 
#24 ·
Hmmm...could be a scam, but might not be. Odd she hasn't all of a sudden been on Facebook/responded to you.
I'd message her- why not, she does owe you SOME kind of answer. If she doesn't respond, & a few more days go by...yeah, I'd try to get that handled.
You could try reaching out to the family, but they might not be aware of the horse or even what's going on. I guess give it a try!
I really hope you didn't get scammed, but nowadays you never know. Ugh. I'm so skeptical of those things!
 
#25 ·
She has your money! She needs to send you a horse! I wouldn't be as nice as everyone else here. You've done everything you are expected to do. It appears she has done nothing. If you sent her money she shouldn't have any reason to not follow through on her end of the deal. I might be making the trip to her farm to see what the hold up is.
 
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