A familiar dealership name, professional website, and polished invoice do not prove that the person collecting your money can deliver the equipment.
The tractor is the model you need, the price fits your budget, and the seller has a professional website. The Federal Trade Commission has warned about scammers impersonating farm equipment businesses. Georgia’s Department of Agriculture has also warned that criminals imitate real dealerships. Before you pay, verify the dealership and offer through contact information you found independently.
A convincing listing or purchase agreement can support a real sale, but neither proves that the person sending it is authorized to sell the equipment.
Five questions to answer before paying
An unanswered question is a reason to investigate, not a gap to fill with a professional-looking document.
| Capability | Evidence to request | Suggested owner |
|---|---|---|
| Who am I buying from? | The dealership, salesperson, listing, and contact route are confirmed independently | Buyer or business owner |
| What am I buying? | The model, serial number, stock number, location, hours, and attachments match the agreement | Buyer and equipment professional |
| What have we agreed? | A complete agreement identifies the seller, buyer, price, deposit, delivery terms, and included equipment | Buyer and qualified adviser when needed |
| Who receives the money? | Payment details are confirmed by calling a trusted dealership contact on a known number | Buyer and finance approver |
1. Verify the dealership independently
Do not let the same advertisement provide the offer, phone number, website, and all your evidence that it is genuine. Use a contact you already know, records from an earlier purchase, or business information you can corroborate separately.
Ask the dealership to confirm the salesperson, listing, stock number, and equipment location. Record whom you reached, how you found the number, and what they confirmed. Calling the number in the suspicious advertisement does not complete an independent check.
2. Confirm the website, email, and exact machine
Check the complete website address and sender address for unexpected words, hyphens, or domain endings. A search result, padlock, or HTTPS connection does not authenticate the business behind a website.
Ask the independently verified dealership to confirm its official website and sales email domain. Then confirm the machine’s serial number, stock number, location, availability, hours, and attachments. Compare those details with the listing and agreement.
Copied photographs and listing text are warning signs worth investigating. Reverse-image search can reveal duplicates, but it is only one clue and not proof that a seller is fraudulent.
3. Inspect the equipment and read the agreement
Whenever practical, inspect the equipment at the actual dealership. If travel is difficult, choose an inspector or equipment professional independently and confirm that person’s identity and relationship to the seller. A live video walkthrough can supplement an inspection; it should not be the only evidence supporting a large payment.
The agreement should identify the legal seller, buyer, machine, included attachments, total price, deposit, delivery responsibilities, and conditions. Resolve material differences in writing before signing.
Equipment condition, ownership, liens, and contract rights require their own due diligence. This checklist does not replace a mechanical inspection or qualified legal advice.
4. Confirm where the money is going
Before transferring money, call the verified dealership contact using the number you already established. Confirm the intended recipient and payment instructions. Repeat the check whenever bank details change, even after a legitimate purchase has begun.
Do not reply to the same email thread and treat the response as independent confirmation. An attacker may control that conversation. Where staffing permits, have a second person review a large payment.
Ask your financial institution about the proposed payment method and recovery limitations before sending a deposit. A bank accepting a transfer does not mean it authenticated the equipment sale.
5. Secure the mailbox and set a pause rule
The purchasing mailbox may contain quotes, financing discussions, invoices, delivery dates, and contacts. Use a unique password, enable multifactor authentication, and avoid sharing one login among everyone involved in the purchase.
Decide in advance which changes require another verification step: a new payment account, unexpected delivery charge, substitute machine, or different shipping arrangement. A simple rule is enough: pause and independently confirm changes before sending additional money.
If an unexpected login approval or verification-code request appears, report it to the email administrator. Password changes alone may not address malicious forwarding rules or active sessions.
6. Keep the purchase file and act quickly
Store the listing, original emails, agreement, inspection records, payment confirmation, and delivery commitments together. Preserve original messages as well as screenshots; technical details may help an investigation. Someone other than the primary buyer should be able to find the records and the financial institution’s verified contact number.
If money has been sent and fraud is suspected, contact the financial institution immediately and ask for its fraud-response process. Tell the genuine dealership, report the listing to the platform, and report suspected fraud to the FTC, law enforcement, and IC3 as appropriate. Recovery is not guaranteed, so speed matters.
Strengthen the business accounts behind your purchases
Purchasing precautions work best when the accounts supporting them are protected. Farms and agricultural businesses should know who can access purchasing mailboxes, whether MFA is enforced, and whether recovery and forwarding settings are appropriate.
The free Zero-Access Business Exposure Review examines public signals around your domains, email protections, websites, and internet-facing services. It does not verify internal safeguards or confirm that a purchase account is secure.
The $1,995 Business Security Baseline goes further by reviewing evidence for essential internal safeguards for businesses with up to 25 employees. Equipment inspection and transaction verification remain part of your purchasing process.
Related resources
Protect the accounts used to make the purchase.
The $1,995 Business Security Baseline reviews essential safeguards against available evidence for businesses with up to 25 employees, including agreed scope for Microsoft 365 accounts, mailbox rules, MFA, and administrative access.