Highland games: Scammers stealing photos of popular cattle breed for online fraud scheme
CBC
Shane Paschke says the red flags came up when the guy selling Highland cattle online started offering excuses to not meet.
Paschke raises Simmental and Charolais cattle on a ranch near Nipawin, Sask. He'd gone shopping online in the fall of 2023 to buy a Highland cow for his nieces and found an ad for the animals in the province.
The seller said he lived in Saskatoon. Paschke said the man wanted half of the $900 price sent by e-transfer as a deposit.
"I told him I could be there in two hours, I'd bring the cash and pick it up. But it was no, no, always an excuse," he said.
"[He said] there was a long list of people that wanted them. So if I wanted it, I had to send the money now."
Paschke passed on the deal.
Britt Venn owns the Black Powder Cattle Co. in Oxbow, a town tucked in Saskatchewan's southeastern corner. She's a registered breeder of Highland cattle and is very aware of what's happening online.
"The way the scam works is that they typically rip off the photos of legitimate producers and then they present the animal for sale as if it is their own. So there is no actual animal involved in the scam. It's just a make believe fictitious advertisement that says that there is an animal in existence," she said.
She said Highland cattle are targeted "because of the cuteness factor. It gives an opportunity to pull at the heartstrings."
But the cattle are much more than cute, she added.
Their heavy coats allow them to thrive in Prairie winters. They forage like goats, produce a rich milk and a beef that is fit for royalty — literally. According to the Highland Cattle Society, Queen Elizabeth II began raising her own herd at Balmoral in 1953.
Venn said one of reasons the scam works is that typical buyers of Highland cattle are new to the livestock industry and not necessarily familiar with the questions that need to be asked.
The world of registered Highland cattle in Canada is heavily regulated, with an extensive public database that shows every animal, its lineage and owner.
The unregistered industry is where problems may arise, she said.
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