Exam
Test your knowledge of equine law. by Attorney Krysia Nelson
Spot-the-Scam Quiz: Are these three scenarios just too good to be true?
SCENARIO #1 You are a dressage trainer who winters in Florida. You get a call from a man who identifies himself as “John Smith.” Mr. Smith tells you that he owns five horses that he purchased for his now ex-girlfriend. Ex- girlfriend now being out of the picture, he wants to send these five horses to you to sell. He admits that he is “not a horse person,” and so he really doesn’t know what these horses are worth or what can be done with them. Is all he knows is that he paid on average $100,000 for each one and his ex-girlfriend had aspirations to do high level dressage. He doesn’t want to leave the horses with the current trainer who is now shacked up with his ex. “I should have asked why she needed to stay at the barn so late every night!” he says, poking fun at himself. While he sounds kind of bitter (who wouldn’t be), you start to feel kind of sorry for the guy. Mr. Smith understands that having horses in train-
ing is an expensive proposition, and that it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect you to get the horses sold in less than 90 days. Mr. Smith is prepared to overnight you a bank check for $100,000 if you agree to accept delivery of the horses at your facility sometime next week. Should you:
(a) Agree and be glad for the new business (b) Assume it’s a scam and ask him to wire you the
$100,000 (c) Tell Mr. Smith that you will call him back in a
day or so—enough time for you to do some research to determine whether Mr. Smith is legit
The answer is (b) – this is the set up for a classic scam. If you chose (c), you would likely find informa- tion that aligns with the caller’s story. Why? Because scam artists usually assume that you will try to do your homework and they will plant enough informa-
78 January/February 2016
tion to appear legitimate to anyone who investigates to try to verify their story. If there is one thing you must accept, it is that the Internet “lies” because people who put information on the Internet are not always truthful. How does this scam work? You get a certified bank check and take it to your bank. Because the funds are “certified,” they
show as “available” to you almost im- mediately. Within a day or two, Mr. Smith calls and has some excuse for why he isn’t going to send the horses after all (he prob-
ably will get back together with his girlfriend, or find another trainer closer to home), and will you please wire the money back to him. Because the money shows as “available” in your account, when you go to the bank to initiate the wire, everything goes smoothly. You wire the money back to Mr. Smith pursuant to his instructions. About two weeks later, you get a notice from your bank that the certified check you deposited previously was bogus, and so the bank is debiting your account in the amount of the check—because the money was never re- ally there to begin with. And now it is doubly not there—because you already returned the money to Mr. Smith. Of course, when you try to reach Mr. Smith, he has vanished. The contact info you had for him doesn’t work. And once you report what happened to law enforcement, they sadly inform you that based on the wire instructions you used to refund Mr. Smith his $100,000—your money is now somewhere in South Africa. And guess what? You now owe the bank
$100,000. This scam, “I’m sending you certified funds; oops, deal is off please refund me my money by sending a wire,” has been around for quite a few years and takes on a variety of permutations. Has it been tried on the horse industry? Yes. The moral of this story is: beware of certified checks or bank checks. Opt for receiving funds by wire transfer.
Bar
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100