AUSTIN, Texas — Brandon Copley is out thousands of dollars after buying a mini excavator through Facebook Marketplace. The equipment turned out to be stolen from a home improvement store in Georgia.
KVUE investigative reporter Jenni Lee and photojournalist Jake Sykes visited Copley at his Travis County home after he called the KVUE Defenders.
In West Travis County, near U.S. 183, Copley is in the process of building his future family home. He's doing a lot of the work himself – a task he finds fun.
"You see a giant hole. So, this is where we are working on building the garage ... We also have to dig a septic," Copley said.
But he isn't complaining.
"You have to, of course, have the right equipment to do those things. And I was having fun," Copley said.
Copley's fun with his home project started early in 2024. He needed a mini excavator to help with all the digging.
In July, he found one on Facebook Marketplace for $18,000.
But in September, his project came to a halt when he discovered a problem with the mini excavator he bought.
"A repo truck shows up at my property and says, 'Hey, you've got an excavator over there and that guy's mine.' And I said, 'What do you mean?'" Copley said.
Copley called the Travis County Sheriff's Office. An investigation is underway, but the detective handling his case wouldn't speak to KVUE.
But Copley said he learned the man who sold him the mini excavator rented it from a Home Depot in the Atlanta area and drove it to Austin.
"It's tough because I had the product, so I felt safe giving him the money," Copley said.
Copley showed the KVUE Defenders the receipt with the sellers’ names and an address. We searched public records to find contacts for those names but had no luck.
A Google search of the address shows a feed store in Melvin, Texas, and the phone number the seller gave to Copley did not work.
"I didn't mean to steal this piece of equipment. Someone else stole it, [and] they sold it to me. I'm another victim," Copley said.
The Defenders reached out to Home Depot. A spokesperson cited the ongoing investigation and referred us back to law enforcement.
But on its website, Home Depot addresses rental equipment theft and how it has put employees and customers in danger. As a result, Home Depot has instituted several safeguards in place, like training and implementing new technologies.
But thieves aren't just targeting big box stores. Smaller, local equipment rental businesses are also experiencing thefts.
Bradley Belota is the general manager for Rent Equip in the Austin area. He said what happened to Copley has happened to his business twice in the past few months.
"Someone comes in and wants to rent one of these for a day. They pay for a day, they give you a driver's license and a credit card ... and the next thing you know, the day is up, the machine hasn't come back and the phone number has been disconnected," Belota said. "But we will see these listed, if they're stolen, on Facebook Marketplace for $12,000, $13,000."
Belota recovered the equipment in both incidents but said Rent Equip has changed its rental protocol as a result.
"We just ask more questions, and then we allow our guys at the front counter to use judgment and we're not scared to turn down a rental," Belota said.
The KVUE Defenders reached out to the American Rental Association and asked CEO Tony Conant: How big of a problem are equipment rental thefts?
He said, "Post-COVID, it has skyrocketed to the No. 1 issue."
He said rental equipment thefts will end up costing his members more than $100 million in 2024. It's now the top priority for the trade association, with mini excavators one of the more popular items to steal.
"It has to be small enough that it's easy to move and easy to hide ... Very versatile machines that are in high demand from a large population tend to be high targets," Conant said.
Conant also said his group plans to roll out theft prevention training in 2025.
Rental theft is a growing problem in Texas.
Lawmakers created a special task force in 2023 to analyze and develop strategies for combatting organized retail theft.
In November, the Texas Comptroller's Office released the study's findings and learned that organized retail theft cost the state $442 million in 2022, also finding that large-scale theft and the reselling of merchandise is a growing problem. The study also found insufficient data on organized retail theft and recommended a statewide repository to collect organized retail theft data.
You can read the rest of the study here or below:
Heather Massey with the Better Business Bureau said online purchase scams are underreported.
"We do see scams, especially revolving equipment," Massey said.
She said online platforms, like Facebook Marketplace, are not responsible if you lose money. That’s why she said first, buyers should do their research about the seller. Look for posts about scams involving the seller’s user name and also check out the privacy policy.
"A lot of times, scammers let you know these transactions are guaranteed through a third-party site and they're not," Massey said.
Another way to protect yourself: avoid wire transfers.
"It is just like cash, right? You send it off, and you don't know who you – who it's going to. They have a name, they're on the receiving end, but you can't trace it," Massey said.
No one knows that better than Copley, who wired $18,000 for the mini excavator he no longer has.
He got another one as he waits for his case to go through the criminal justice system, hoping someday, he’ll get his money back – because his dream home won't wait.
Copley said a judge in a property hearing on Tuesday, Dec. 10, determined the mini excavator he paid $18,000 for will go back to Home Depot.