18th October 2024
🚨 There are too many people being scammed for HAY & Wood on Facebook!!
Matthey Farm does NOT give any permission for others to duplicate this page, to be used for scamming/ invoices and competitions. 
I found 49 pages of “Quality Hay For Sale Near Me” and l am furious that these scammers are still using my business, Matthey Farm as the known address for their fake hay and wood that someone has purchased. 
They have been advertising on Facebook Marketplace and not only asking for the full amount to be paid, then they are asking for “refundable insurance.” Also they are creating fake invoices, with 19% GST. 
Please do your homework prior to paying any money. 
1. You should be just using cash for any new suppliers to avoid scammers. All farmers would accept this. 
2. Have a look through the suppliers page (do a search on FB). Things to look out for;
 * Timothy Grass, Alfalfa Lucerne is American Hay (not available in Australia)
 * If it’s advertised as pounds/ ilbs weight, again that’s not Australian
* Angry faces in posts, why are they there? Read the post and look at the comments. 
 * The small amount of page likes and could have heaps of overseas followers, doesn’t seem genuine to me. 
 * Look at the “About” section, where is it located, is it listed as agricultural or farm?
* Read through the comments, if they are all personal replies, especially questions asking about location, then it is a scam. 
* Is there any reviews on the page, have a read of them
* How long has the page been open? 
*  A bit of a giveaway is often the prices listed (too cheap) or the amounts of hay available (who has full sheds so late in the season, especially these last couple of years?) 
3. Ask your hay friends, have they heard of this supplier, put a post up to ask?
4. There is a big shortage of hay and it’s only going to get worse with a hot summer. 
5. If you have been scammed, please report this to the police 131 444 & Facebook, get in contact with Consumer Affairs (link below) and take screenshots of your whole conversation and bank transaction. 
Also ring your bank and report it as fraud so they can try to get your money back sooner (thanks Kev). https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/contact-us/report-an-issue/report-a-scam 
And report to ScamWatch - https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam
6. Report the page to Facebook and hopefully they will remove it sooner than later. 
7. Let all your hay friends know about the scammer, talk about it, we are all human. 
8. Keep in mind that there are heaps of genuine suppliers out there who maybe unaware their business name/ address has been used. Do the right thing and contact them please. 
9. If you have more information l should add to this post, please let me know. 
10. That old saying “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is” should always be in the back of one’s mind (thanks Cathy)
Take care and remember CASH IS KING!
Cheers, Farmer 🧑🏼‍🌾 Gene
#CashIsKing
✴️ Edited 22/03/25 Matthey Farm is still being scammed by idiots on Facebook. 
So what has been done is;
1. Matthey Farm is no longer active on Facebook since November 2024
2. Matthey Farm is via website only for all correspondence and orders
3. Matthey Farm has deleted Google Maps/ Maps and following up on search engines on the web to have all information deleted to avoid scammers using both name and address to sell fake hay & wood. 
4. Occasionally putting posts up on Facebook about scammers, how to recognise them and what to do about them and if you have been scammed. 
Matthey Farm has done everything in their power to help those out in our community. 
Matthey Farm does not wish to have a bad reputation because of these scammers. 
Please do your part by sharing this information, thank you, Gene 
www.MattheyFarm.com 
 
FYI - Matthey Farm will NOT have rounds for sale this season. The only hay that is available is always advertised on the HAY FOR SALE product in any of the SHOP subsections.