The number of hoax ads being placed on ChookNet is increasing, now approximately one ad per week.  The most common hoax is that of somebody supposedly selling mobile phones.  Once they have your money, you never receive the phone and you never hear from them again.

Last week there was a 21st birthday prank, where the birthday boys telephone details were included with an ad for 21 free ducks.  The clue to the joke was the photo of the ducks, on looking closely you could see they were just garden ornaments.  It caught a few people by suprise because it wasnt immediately obvioius.

The latest hoax ad was placed on ChookNet for a baby for adoption.  Quite clearly this was a hoax targeting those who are most vulnerable.  Again, the seller will collect your money, of course thousands of dollars, and then disappear. Click to read more ...

As administrator I receive an email with the contents of each and every ad posted on ChookNet.  This allows the ads to be published instantly for your convenience, while allowing me to double check the validity of each ad.  Most of the time I am able to delete the hoax ads and the login details within minutes of it being placed on ChookNet.  It was unfortunate that this hoax ad was posted on my one and only rostered day off, and I wasnt aware of the hoax ad until I checked my email late in the afternoon, but isn't that just Murphy's Law?

By the time I was aware of the ad, somebody had reported the ad to the  Department of Child Protection and I received a phone call from them this afternoon, one day later.

If we are all educated in recognising hoax ads they won't become a problem in future.  Generally, if something seems very strange or inappropriate, or too good to be true you can be sure that it's a hoax ad.  It's also a good idea to search for the ad contents on Google, to see if the hoax has already been reported.  In this case, a quick google search for "Baby girl adoption hoax" revealed several Australia wide newspapers covering a similar story only days earlier, being advertised on another classified ads website and that the matter was already under police and DOCP investigation. So a little bit of research will usually reveal the hoax.

Thanks so much to everybody who emailed me to advise me of the hoax ad so promptly.

Happy chook and poultry-keeping everybody!

Sharon, ChookNet Admin