THE UNICORN FARMER

From a Kindly Contributor in South Africa - the clever mind behind SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW NATION

Here's the latest one...

Gumtree, our local free ads website, has been infiltrated with scamboys, replying to 'stuff wanted ads' offering goods for sale... mostly puppies etc, collecting the money, and then doing a runner. Standard Mugu stuff....

So we set up an advert...

http://www.gumtree.co.za/capetown/80/20176080.html

Unicorn Farmer
I have recently moved to a smallholding, and need to put some animals in the fields.
I have always loved unicorns, so would like some unicorns for the place, to liven it up a bit.
Does anyone have any unicorns for sale - a male and female would be ideal.
Also, they must be white in colour, not grey, black or brown, which i consider likely.
I will pay up to R10 000 a beast, depending on their age, condition, and the length of their horns.
Many thanks

Within MINUTES, I got a reply:

Jean Claude MBanya
Sent:18 February 2008
Reply-to:jeanclaudembanya@yahoo.com

Hello, I am having many unicorn for sale 750us$ each. Big horns. See picture here
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/969/unicornsa9.jpg


[Click on it for the full, beautiful image]

They can be collected in Maroua, Cameroon anytime.

Please be contacting me for if you want.

JC Mbanaya
Scamorama:
He sent *you* the pic, so I'm thinking he's joking too?

$750 seems like a steal for a purebred unicorn. I'd want to see pedigree & doctor's report - unicorn mange is almost impossible to eradicate once it gets into a herd - and how would they ship one? Discounts for bulk? :-)

Unicorn Farmer:
I think he's a genuine scammer - there's been a LOT of this going on, especially with people advertising for puppies etc - which is how I heard about it.

Goddamn chancers!
The pic of the unicorn is one off the web - a simple google images search for 'unicorn' has that pic on the first page! In the link above, you'll see some adorable puppies - same thing, just culled off the web.

Unfortunately the guys who run the website removed the unicorn advert - no sense of humour, some people. However, the advert seeking Uranium 235 is still going strong!

And the yahoo address he sent is bouncing back, so I suspect it has been shut down after complaints.

[Let us know if you buy any unicorns from the Lads!]