Agriculture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pine Bush, N.Y. (June 18, 2008) - Aden Brook is sending out a warning to buyers and sellers in the hay industry: Internet scammers are taking the normal hay scams a step further. The scammers are now using the identities of reputable hay businesses to try and lure producers and customers into scam transactions related to the purchase or sale of hay.

Recently an Internet email scammer going by the name of Paul Redman has been contacting various persons and businesses that deal in hay or other agricultural products. He has registered the email address adenbrookfarms@gmail.com and has copied various text, logos and pictures from the website adenbrookfarms.com. He has falsely posed as an employee of Aden Brook Farms and contacted a number of hay suppliers and customers in order to ask them to enter into transactions with him.

Please be aware that anyone from Aden Brook Farms will have an email address ending in an adenbrook.com or adenbrookfarms.com domain. We do not use public email servers. Our employees also are listed on our websites for the public’s reference when they need to verify the name of someone who may have contacted them from our company.

"This incident represents a change in the way that the Internet scammers are targeting entities in the agricultural business. They’re stepping up their efforts because people are catching on to the old tricks," said Nick Fitzpatrick, CEO of Aden Brook. "Using the names of companies that do reputable business is a more sophisticated trick that has scammed even large Wall Street investment banks out of millions," added Fitzpatrick, referring to a recent scam that defrauded Lehman Brothers out of over $300 million.

On a smaller scale, Internet scammers will contact potential victims and inquire about purchasing hay or other products that they may have for sale. The scammers will pretend to be part of an established business or, in some cases, pretend to be employees of other hay companies already in business. These transactions aim to defraud the legitimate party out of money using certified checks, wire and money transfers, credit cards, PayPal, or other standard forms of payment. Aden Brook warns the public that it should not under any circumstances enter into transactions with these persons, particularly if the deal seems too good to be true.

At least for now it has been easy to spot an email from Internet scammers because they don’t know the products or terminology used when talking about the products they’re pretending to purchase. People who receive emails from people writing via a public email address should take extra caution in making sure the contact is legit.

The Internet is a great place to do business and will continue to improve the way people do business worldwide. However, Aden Brook advises people to use caution when responding to contact from strangers. In the event that anyone is scammed out of money, law enforcement agencies will not have much to offer, as they are overwhelmed with these cases. However, victims should report Internet scams when they spot them to http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm

For more information on the products and services offered by Aden Brook, visit our website at www.adenbrook.com