'Mule for Sale' Scams and How to Avoid Them
It seems everyone is looking for a new mule, but not as many people are selling. When you combine a low supply and a high demand, you get the perfect combination for scammers to move in and ruin everything. Most of these scams seem to be happening online, but I am definitely not saying that scams happen only online. Scams can be pulled by mail, by phone, online and in person. I also don’t want to discourage you from shopping for a new mule online. Many good connections have been made online and led to both happy buyers and sellers. But what I do want to encourage you to do is exercise caution when it comes to buying sight unseen from someone who you have never met or at the very least talked to in person over the phone.
When it comes to buying a new mule, there are some things to look out for to avoid getting involved in a scam. MyHorseForSale.com has a great list of “7 Horse For Sale Scams That You Need To Know.” The first is sudden location change. If you contact the seller and they say they are in one state, and then say that the equine is in another state, and ask you to pay a ‘small shipping fee,’ that’s a red flag. I’ll add to this that a refusal to give a location at all is a red flag. Closely related to this is when someone says that they are giving away their animal for free, and if you want it, all you need to do is pay to have it shipped. These people create a fake invoice for shipping and you pay for it. The animal never arrives (because it doesn’t exist) and you are out your money.
Use caution with anyone asking for complicated ways of payment when it comes to both buying and selling a mule. For example, if you are asking $5,000 for the mule you are selling, and the person offers to send $8,000 to you, and in return you need to send them the $3,000 balance, this is a scam. If you have to wire money, try to find out where it is going first. People being scammed often send their money overseas, leaving no course of action to get it back, so do your research. Also, you should not need to pay a deposit in order to meet and test out a mule, so avoid anyone asking for a deposit before you even have met in person.
Although proofreading is hard - I know this! - avoid ads with overly obvious spelling errors and poor grammar. Also, look out for when ads have a description that does not match the photo provided. Chances are the scammer is pulling bits and pieces from ads they find online and combining them to create a completely fake listing. I actually see a lot of posts online about how photos are being stolen from social media and used to advertise an animal for sale, when in fact the animal in those photos still belongs to the original poster and is absolutely not for sale. Asking for more photos can help, but asking for a specific video would probably be a better way to combat this. A reverse image search might be your friend in this instance, too, and would reveal to you if that specific image has appeared on other sites.
Lastly - many of these scams only work if you give someone money before you see the mule in person. Most scams won’t get to the “meet the mule” point, because the mule doesn’t exist. They want to try to get your money as quickly as possible, block you from contacting them, and move on to the next scam. Pushing to move to the payment phase quickly is a big red flag. Horse.com has a good article on how to buy a horse sight unseen. The first point made is that, “You have to be able to lose the money and be OK with that.” This is a very important thing to remember when shopping for mules sight unseen. They end the article with this: “While not all horses purchased sight unseen are problematic, all such purchases are risky.” Many people have tried to have success buying online sight unseen. Some people have been successful in buying a mule online before seeing it in person. Many have not.
If the mule’s price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t fork over the money until you get all the details and are for sure it’s a legitimate deal just because the price is low. Just the same, if you have a feeling that you might be involved in a scam, you probably are. Don’t ignore the obvious signs just to get a good deal, because you will most likely end up with no mule and no way to get your money back.
I originally printed this in the October 2021 issue of Mules and More. I wasn’t going to post it online, but just this week I saw a scammer who used photos of a mule who I instantly recognized to advertise a mule for sale. I messaged the owner, who I had interviewed in 2019, and asked if she was selling her mule. She was not. The person had taken her photos from her blog and wrote an amazing sounding description of the mule. The actual owner left a comment on the post revealing the fraud, and the post was taken down and the scammer was banned from the group. I hope that this was all done before anyone had a chance to send them any money, as there were many comments on the post asking for more information. I will mention - no where in the description did the poster say a location, and when someone asked in the comments about a location, they were told to message them directly. Other than that, it was a pretty convincing ad!
Do your research and ask around. Get a second or a third opinion. Patience is a virtue. Don’t rush into it and make a decision you regret!
