An influx of cash thanks to high commodity prices and strong seasonal conditions has farmers opening their cheque books to invest in new and used machinery.
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But not every second-hand machinery listing is genuine and in their haste to get gear, some farmers are falling victim to online scams.
Reported losses for scams mentioning tractors in Australia between January 1 and June 28 totalled $520,000.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Scamwatch service received 104 reports mentioning tractors in this time period.
National Farmers' Federation acting CEO Charles Thomas said it was gut-wrenching to think people were willing to take advantage of farmers in this way.
"At the moment farmers are under so many different pressures, from the cost of inputs to uncertain weather conditions and the vagaries of international markets, to be victimising them through these kinds of scams is the lowest of low," Mr Thomas said.
"It surprises me that there would be that many people willing to commit such low-life crimes targeting farmers."
Mr Thomas said farmers were struggling to get their hands on equipment, so when they saw something listed they were ready to pounce on it.
"We would really encourage all farmers to think carefully about the websites they are using and the people they are interacting with online," he said.
"Make sure you are doing your due diligence and where possible seeing things in the flesh, or in the metal, before making purchasing decisions."
Lloyds Auctions chief operations officer Lee Hames offered similar advice.
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An ACCC spokesperson said new tractor scams involved setting up fake websites offering a range of agricultural machinery.
Scammers were using legitimate business names, the ABN of other businesses and including addresses to vacant blocks or other businesses to make their websites look more legitimate.
Hoax websites that have sprung up in recent months include bigred-tractors.com, adviceequipment.com and ardeefarms.com.
The ACCC's advice to farmers was if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
"Do some research by checking they are a legitimate business, and looking at online reviews," the spokesperson said.
"Scammers may also give the purchaser a 15-day trial period, and ask you to pay money into an escrow service for that period. The escrow business is part of the scam and is not legitimate.
"Farmers can protect themselves from scams by sighting the product and paying after inspection - scammers will always have an excuse as to why you can't inspect the product."
