Be aware of Fraudsters on the Internet
Some people selling horses or ponies are receiving buyer inquiries from third parties regarding the purchase of a horse from a potential buyer in Nigeria, Africa, London, Hong Kong, and other places. This inquiry commonly attempts to arrange the purchase of the horse with a cashier’s cheque covering the price of the horse and shipping. After the horse has been shipped, they commonly ask you to refund the shipping charges as part of a ‘finders’ fee arrangement. They may also send you a cheque larger than the purchase price and ask for a refund of the difference.
Unfortunately, the cashier’s cheque is COUNTERFEIT, which fact is not revealed until the horse and/or your own money (the difference in the cheque they send to their victims and the lower sales price of the horse) have been forwarded to the scam artists.
This scam may take various forms including purchasing frozen semen, tack, equipment, etc. but all of the emails we have seen have various similarities including misspellings, bad English, foreign countries, and making offers for a client or other third party.

EXAMPLE OF SCAM EMAIL
FIRST CONTACT:
My name is ??. i saw your advert place on the net,that you want to sell your  [Horse/Pony etc] ,which i am highly interested in it. I have a shipper who takes care of the shipment, so shipping will not pose any problem,but before payment will be made i need to be sure of who i will be dealing with if you are going to be honest and sincere throughout the transaction. So to start with, signify your interest by forwarding to me your last offer as well , after which we can continue with the transaction and i promise if all conditions and agreement are accepted and reached on time, payment will be made out almost immediately.hoping to hear from you as soon as possible. Respectfully
Best regards,
??

SECOND CONTACT:
Thanks for your prompt reply,how's life with you?£4000 is ok with me.You see,since i'm not resident in the uk,i've already spoken to my shipper and he say's he'll be needing £3,500 to ship the horse over to me.Please also send some pictures along.Here is the deal,i'll send you a certified cheque for £8,000 which when you cash,you'll collect your money for the horse,you can collect an extra £100 for your expenses to help send the balance to my shipper via money transfer,hope i can trust you on this?,i'll send his details along with the cheque. If this is ok by you,kindly send your full name and address,tel.no and fax no.,so that i can send the cheque to you as soon as possible. Expecting to hear from you soon.
Regards,
??
If you suspect the buyer may be involved a scam, please forward any information you can obtain to either your local police or go to www.met.police.uk/computercrime/ where you will find further advice.

Some indications of scams

Below are some indications that the offer to buy is a scam. Please use commonsense
 
- Big Promises
Claims such as offering more money than the asking price without an initial conversation regarding the horse are almost always a sure sign of a scam. Be careful of any individual who wants to send you more than your asking price.
- Cashiers Cheque for MORE than Your Asking Price
They will send you a (COUNTERFEIT) cashiers cheque or certified cheque and ask you to send the difference to them or their shipper by wire transfer.
- High Pressure Tactics
Be wary of individuals asking you to speed up the transaction beyond your comfort range. Again, a legitimate deal probably isn’t going to move as fast as your money. Don’t let yourself be pressured -- think things through.
- Requests for financial information.
Don’t give out any bank information without establishing a comfort level with the buyer or seller.
- Always get something in writing.
You should never complete a transaction without first writing down the terms of the deal and have each party sign it. If you can’t afford a lawyer to draft up a contract, you still should write down the terms of the deal in plain English and get it signed. Any buyer or seller that is hesitant or resists is usually a sure sign of a potential problem.
- Remember the old saying, "If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is."