The skid steer was $28,500. The dealer was real. The phone number wasn't.

"Still available. Low hours, one owner, we can deliver Friday. 40% deposit by wire holds it."

Dre runs a three-truck landscaping crew. His funding hit the account Tuesday morning, and by Tuesday night he was on Facebook hunting for the one machine he'd been renting by the week: a compact skid steer.

There it was. $28,500, about eight grand under anything else he'd seen. The ad came from a dealership name he actually recognized, two states over. The website had a logo, a street address, a "Financing Available" banner and forty more machines in stock. The guy on the phone knew his hydraulics.

The purchase agreement hit his inbox twenty minutes later. Clean PDF, serial number, signature line. Wire $11,400 to hold it, balance on delivery.

He wired it Wednesday. Friday, the driver "broke down outside Amarillo." Monday, the number went to voicemail. Tuesday, the website was gone.

Here's the part that stings. The dealership was real. It just had nothing to do with any of it.

Dre is a composite. The scam isn't. On September 15, the FTC warned that scammers are posing as equipment businesses. You see an ad on social media, or search and find a dealer you know. They send a purchase agreement and an invoice and ask for thousands of dollars, usually by wire, as a deposit or full payment. Then the delivery never comes. In July, Georgia's Department of Agriculture said criminals are using AI to copy real dealerships, with convincing websites, ads and emails. In April, South Dakota's attorney general and BBB warned about a fake equipment company whose listed address didn't exist. Three buyers lost a combined $107,000.

And in one BBB case, the real dealer being copied didn't even have a website.

The FTC's alert was written for farmers, but the setup doesn't care what you're buying. A box truck, a food trailer, a used excavator. If it's expensive, sold online and you need it this week, it fits. On September 24, the FTC also asked for public comment on whether ad platforms are helping impersonation scams spread.

Red flags

• Wire only. The FTC says never send money to anyone who says you can only pay by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency or payment app. Once it's gone, it's almost impossible to get back.
• A price way under market. BBB calls a price well below market value a red flag on its own.
• You found them through an ad. The FTC says social media companies don't always vet ads, and the first search results can be paid ads from scammers using a real business name with their own contact info.
• Deposit first, inspection never. Georgia's agriculture commissioner says the safest move is to see the equipment yourself and buy in person.
• Delivery excuses. The FTC's own example is a problem with the delivery truck.
• An address that doesn't exist. In the South Dakota case, the street address on the site wasn't real.

What to do

1. Find the dealer's number yourself. Not from the ad, the website or the invoice. Call it and confirm the machine, the price and the person you talked to.
2. Search the company name plus "scam" or "complaint," and scroll past the paid results. Check the business at BBB.org.
3. See it before you pay. Go in person if you can. Texas Farm Bureau suggests at least asking for more photos or a live video walkaround.
4. Pay in a way you can dispute. BBB suggests a credit card for added protection. Georgia's ag department says to talk to your bank before any big transfer.
5. Already sent it? Call your bank or the wire company right now, tell them a scammer tricked you, and ask them to reverse it. The FTC says it's always worth asking.
6. Report it at ReportFraud.FTC.gov, BBB Scam Tracker, your state attorney general, and the FBI's IC3.gov. Then report the ad to the platform where you saw it.

Two states away, a real dealer is answering his real phone. Dre never had that number.

Sources:

• FTC: Scammers are impersonating farm equipment businesses (Sept. 15, 2026)
• FTC: What To Do if You Were Scammed
• FTC: Advance notice on platforms and impersonation scam ads (Sept. 24, 2026)
• Georgia Department of Agriculture: Warning on online farm equipment scams (July 9, 2026)
• Dakota News Network: BBB and South Dakota AG warn of heavy equipment scam (Apr. 28, 2026)
• BBB: Scammers impersonating a Missouri equipment dealer
• Texas Farm Bureau: Online scams with fake equipment and livestock