Case file · Heavy Equipment
HeavyLine Equipment Group listed excavators, skid steers, and wheel loaders at auction-style prices and required a wire to a third-party 'escrow' that it controlled. Two contractors lost $48,000 total. The escrow domain was registered 6 days after the sales domain and used the same server.
Confirmed scam: At least one documented loss with payment evidence and no delivery.
Sample recordThis is an illustrative case file used while the report feed is being connected. The domain belongs to the reserved example.com documentation namespace and does not name a real business.
Objective, checkable facts from this investigation
What happened, in order
Jan 19, 2026
Sales domain registered
Jan 25, 2026
Escrow domain registered
Same IP and nameservers as the sales domain.
Apr 14, 2026
First reported wire
$29,000 for a mid-size excavator.
Apr 30, 2026
Contact stopped
May 2, 2026
First report filed
Jun 11, 2026
Both domains offline
First-hand descriptions from people who paid. Names are shortened at the reporter's request.
J.P.
Illinois, US
$29,000
Was walked through a professional-looking escrow portal that showed the funds as 'held pending inspection.' The status never changed. The portal domain was registered a week after the sales site and resolved to the same server.
S.A.
Alberta, CA
$19,000
Paid for a skid steer with a serial number that also appeared on a second listing. When asked about the duplicate, the seller sent a new invoice with a different serial and a higher total.
What we checked and what it showed
Escrow domain age
whoisRegistered 6 days after the sales domain, both behind privacy shields.
Shared infrastructure
hostingSales site and escrow portal resolved to the same IP address.
Copied terms
contentTerms of sale copied from a national auction house, with the original company name left in one paragraph.
Fake escrow
paymentEscrow entity had no registration, license, or trust account record.
Names, contact points, and payment details as they appeared
Domain
Business name
Aliases used
Phone numbers
Email addresses
Addresses claimed
Payment methods requested
Bank beneficiaries (masked)
Listing photos copied from
Related domains
Bank and card numbers are published in masked form only. Full details are retained for law enforcement requests and are not disclosed publicly.
The questions buyers search for before they pay, answered from this file
heavyline-equipment-group.example.com, trading as HeavyLine Equipment Group, is recorded in the Fraud Reported archive as "confirmed scam": at least one documented loss with payment evidence and no delivery. HeavyLine Equipment Group listed excavators, skid steers, and wheel loaders at auction-style prices and required a wire to a third-party 'escrow' that it controlled. Two contractors lost $48,000 total. The escrow domain was registered 6 days after the sales domain and used the same server. This entry was first published May 2, 2026 and last updated Jul 28, 2026.
$48,000 in documented losses across 2 buyers who contacted us with payment evidence. Actual losses are likely higher, because most buyers never report anywhere.
The domain was registered Jan 19, 2026 through Low-cost bulk registrar, making it about 7 months old. Established heavy equipment dealers normally hold a domain for many years, so a recently registered site advertising high-value inventory is a significant warning sign on its own.
Site offline as of the last check on Aug 13, 2026. A site going offline does not mean the operation stopped; the same inventory and bank details frequently reappear on a new domain. Related domains on record: heavyline-escrow-services.example.com.
Reported payment methods: Bank wire transfer, Fake escrow portal. Wire beneficiaries on record (masked): HLE Logistics Group at Business account, US. A beneficiary name that does not match the advertised business name is one of the strongest indicators of fraud.
Business names and aliases: HeavyLine Machinery, HLE Group Ltd. Phone numbers: +1 (312) 555-0117. Email addresses: orders@heavyline-equipment-group.example.com. Searching these identifiers is often what links a new website to an operation already on record.
It depends almost entirely on speed and payment method. Ask your bank for a wire recall the same day, then file with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov; its Recovery Asset Team can attempt a freeze on the receiving account when a domestic wire is reported quickly. Card and PayPal goods-and-services payments can be disputed, while wires, Zelle, Cash App, and cryptocurrency have no built-in reversal rights. Never pay an upfront fee to anyone promising recovery.
Act on the payment first, the paperwork second