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Seller report · Farm & Ag Equipment

Is Ridgeway Tractor Exchange a scam?

ridgeway-tractor-exchange.example.com

Verdict

Do not send money.

Multiple objective indicators and reported payments, with verification still running. No safe way to transact.

Buyers paid
$17,400
Buyers on record
2
Domain age
5 months
Company
Ridgeway Tractor Exchange
Website
ridgeway-tractor-exchange.example.com
Address
Gives no premises address; describes itself as a remote brokerage
Phone
(859) 555-0176 (text only)
High RiskOpened Aug 2, 2026Updated 12 days ago

Ridgeway Tractor Exchange lists compact and utility tractors at 30 to 35 per cent below market and describes itself as a broker matching private sellers with buyers. It has no verifiable business registration, will not disclose the location of any machine before a deposit, and directs payment to a personal account. Two buyers report deposits totalling $17,400 that produced neither a tractor nor a refund. Verification is continuing; there is no safe way to transact in the meantime.

Sample recordAn illustrative report used while the live intake feed is being connected. The domain belongs to the reserved example.com documentation namespace and does not name a real business.

Machines advertised

Asking prices against real market value for the same year, hours, and specification

MachineAskingMarketUnder

2021 Kubota L3901 with LA525 loader, 610 hours

Photos taken from Photographs match a Kentucky dealer's live listing

$17,900$26,50032%

2019 John Deere 3038E, 940 hours, 300E loader

$15,200$23,00034%

A machine priced this far under the market is not a bargain, an estate sale, or a liquidation. It is the mechanism that gets a deposit sent before anyone drives out to look.

Red flags

Objective, checkable findings behind this verdict

  • No premises address, no business registration number, and no registered entity behind the trading name
  • Machine locations are withheld until a deposit has been paid
  • Deposits are directed to a personal-name account rather than a business account
  • Machines priced 30 to 35 per cent under comparable listings with the same hours
  • Domain registered April 2026, behind privacy shielding
  • Photographs of both headline machines trace to dealer listings in other states
  • No refund was issued to either reporting buyer despite a published refund promise

How the deal ran

What happened, in order

  1. Apr 28, 2026

    Domain registered

    Privacy-shielded, shared hosting.

  2. May 20, 2026

    Listings appear

    Compact and utility tractors published without locations.

  3. Jun 24, 2026

    First reported deposit

    $9,400 by Zelle to a personal-name account.

  4. Aug 2, 2026

    First report filed

    Filed after two missed collection appointments.

  5. Sep 12, 2026

    Still live

    Site reachable and taking enquiries at the last check.

Buyers who paid

First-hand accounts from people who sent money. Names are shortened at the reporter's request.

Hannah

Tennessee

$9,400

Was told the tractor was on a private seller's farm and that the location could only be released once a deposit secured it against other interest, which the broker described as standard practice. It is not. She paid $9,400 by Zelle to a personal name. Two collection appointments were set and cancelled, the second because the seller had supposedly been hospitalised. No address was ever given and no refund has been issued.

Machine
2021 Kubota L3901 with loader
Paid by
Zelle
Date paid
Jun 24, 2026

R.C.

Kentucky

$8,000

Found the same photographs on a Kentucky dealer's site at a price eight thousand dollars higher. The dealer confirmed the tractor was on its own lot and had never been consigned to any broker.

Machine
2019 John Deere 3038E
Paid by
Wire transfer
Date paid
Jul 18, 2026

What we checked

Each check, and what it returned

  • Business register

    other

    No entity of this name appears in the business register of the state whose area code the site advertises, and no registration number is published.

  • Reverse image search

    inventory

    Both headline machines trace to live dealer listings in other states at substantially higher prices.

  • Dealer confirmation

    inventory

    The Kentucky dealer whose John Deere 3038E photographs were used confirmed the tractor was on its own lot and had never been consigned.

  • Payment beneficiary

    payment

    Both reported payments were directed to a personal-name account at a Kentucky regional bank.

  • Domain registration

    whois

    Registered 28 April 2026 behind privacy shielding, with no registrant details disclosed.

Everything this seller used

Names, numbers, and accounts on record. Search any of them before you deal with a new site.

Website

  • ridgeway-tractor-exchange.example.com

Trading name

  • Ridgeway Tractor Exchange

Other names used

  • Ridgeway Equipment Exchange
  • Ridgeway Ag Brokers

Salespeople & handles

  • 'Tom Aldridge', broker

Phone numbers

  • (859) 555-0176 (text only)

Email addresses

  • broker@ridgeway-tractor-exchange.example.com

Yard addresses claimed

  • Gives no premises address; describes itself as a remote brokerage

Escrow & transport firms

None on record

Licences & numbers claimed

  • No business registration number published anywhere on the site
  • Not listed in the business register of the state whose area code it advertises

Where it was advertised

  • Facebook Marketplace
  • Replies to wanted ads on farm and smallholding forums

Payment routes demanded

  • Zelle to a personal name
  • Wire transfer for deposits above $5,000

Bank beneficiaries (masked)

  • T. Aldridge (personal account) · Regional bank, Kentucky · ••••4038 · US

Crypto wallets

None on record

Real dealers copied

  • Tractor photographs traceable to dealer listings in four states

Related domains

None on record

Bank and card numbers are published in masked form only. Full details are retained for law enforcement requests and are not disclosed publicly.

Is Ridgeway Tractor Exchange legit? Questions buyers ask

Answered from this record, in the words people type before they pay

Is Ridgeway Tractor Exchange a scam or a legitimate dealer?

Do not send money. Ridgeway Tractor Exchange, trading at ridgeway-tractor-exchange.example.com, is recorded by Equipment Scam Report as high risk. Multiple objective indicators and reported payments, with verification still running. No safe way to transact. Ridgeway Tractor Exchange lists compact and utility tractors at 30 to 35 per cent below market and describes itself as a broker matching private sellers with buyers. It has no verifiable business registration, will not disclose the location of any machine before a deposit, and directs payment to a personal account. Two buyers report deposits totalling $17,400 that produced neither a tractor nor a refund. Verification is continuing; there is no safe way to transact in the meantime. This report was first published Aug 2, 2026 and last updated Sep 6, 2026.

How much money have buyers lost to Ridgeway Tractor Exchange?

$17,400 across 2 buyers who supplied payment evidence. The real figure is higher. Deposits on machinery are large enough to hurt and small enough that most people write them off rather than report them.

When was ridgeway-tractor-exchange.example.com registered?

The domain was registered Apr 28, 2026 through Privacy-shielded registrar, making it about 5 months old. A real farm equipment dealer carrying the inventory this site advertises has a trading history, a licence, and a domain far older than that. Registration date alone is usually the fastest single check you can run.

Does Ridgeway Tractor Exchange have a real yard?

The addresses given to buyers were Gives no premises address; describes itself as a remote brokerage. No address is published anywhere on the site, and none was supplied on request. The business does not appear in the register of the state whose area code it advertises.

How did Ridgeway Tractor Exchange ask buyers to pay?

Payment routes on record: Zelle to a personal name, Wire transfer for deposits above $5,000. Beneficiaries reported (masked): T. Aldridge (personal account) at Regional bank, Kentucky. A beneficiary name that does not match the dealership on the invoice is one of the strongest single indicators of fraud in this trade.

Can I get my money back after paying Ridgeway Tractor Exchange?

It depends almost entirely on speed and route. A wire can sometimes be recalled if you telephone your bank the same day. Zelle, Cash App, and cryptocurrency have no reversal mechanism at all. A card or PayPal goods-and-services payment can be disputed. Call the bank first, file with IC3 and your state attorney general second, and refuse every recovery agent who contacts you afterwards — charging an upfront fee to recover money from a scam is itself a documented scam that targets people already on victim lists.

If you already sent money

The payment route first, the paperwork second

  1. Call your bank now and ask for a wire recall. Do it by phone, not through the app. A wire can sometimes be pulled back the same day and almost never after that.
  2. Send nothing more. Transport bonds, insurance deposits, inspection fees, and customs charges are the same scheme continuing, not a way to release the machine.
  3. Save everything before it disappears. Screenshot the listing, the site, the invoice, and the full message history, and keep the wire receipt.
  4. File with IC3 and your state attorney general, then refuse every recovery agent who contacts you afterwards. They found you because you were reported.
Full recovery guide

Same playbook

Other farm equipment sellers on record

Operators selling tractors, combines, and implements run the same sequence with a different name on the invoice.

Heartland Ag Liquidators

heartland-ag-liquidators.example.com

Confirmed Scam

Heartland Ag Liquidators advertises late-model John Deere and Case IH tractors and combines at roughly half of market, presenting itself as an estate and retirement auction clearing house in western Iowa. Every machine photograph on the site was taken from live listings on established equipment marketplaces. Six buyers wired a combined $412,000 to personal-name bank accounts against promised delivery windows of three to five days. No machine has ever been delivered, and the yard address is a fenced gravel lot with no inventory on it.

Farm & Ag Equipment
Paid
$412K
Buyers
6
Domain age
8 months
Updated
16 days ago