Saturday, May 3, 2008

Internet Fraud - puppy purchase scams

Con Artists, phlim phlam artists, imposters, internet scammers,rip-off artists, etc are looking for puppy buyers worldwide with deals too good to be true. Here are some of their “story lines” and deceiving promises and tales …

You have found a classified ad in your local newspaper; or a posting to Craigslist.com, or a web site, etc advertising two puppies; typically Yorkies or English Bulldogs and have responded via email. You rarely have the opportunity to reach the seller/broker by telephone. You have chosen to enter into a lengthy email relationship with what turns out to be an overseas person alledging to be a branch office of Air Animal or other easily recognized animal transport agency or service.

You are told a variety of "stories" .. one for example is as follows ....the owner was forced to move out of the country suddenly (new job) and the puppy is still your waiting for a new home. Do not succumb to the sense of urgency created by the con artist.

In order to expedite the puppies purchase and move, you are asked to wire US dollars to Laounde, in the country of Cameroon, on the African continent. The con artist is working out of an Internet cafe, and not in what we would regard typically as an office. The person you may end up talking to barely speaks English, and when doing so is difficult to understand,

To acquire this puppy, either a Yorkie or Bulldog, at an unheard of low price. You are encouraged to wire money (US Dollars) to a total stranger in another country.

Or , the imposter, con artist, trickster will identify a “middle man” contact (usually a woman) in for example: Tennessee/USA ...to have you send your hard earned dollars to.

You will be asked to send money via Western Union wire transfer or Wal-Mart’s Money Gram transfer no later than a Friday or a Saturday. The scammer imposes an artificial deadline; and becomes angry when you do not comply.

Then you are told additional funds are needed for insurance, veterinary procedures, customs inspections, etc. The imposters, scammers, con men, rip-off artists set the "hook" with a small amount of an early remittance; and then seek to have you wire more money for additional services.

In all classical stings, scams, rip-offs, etc … a sense of urgency is created by the con artist to move you along into the sting. Do not succumb to the urgency!

You are instructed to contact Air Animal.com to finalize receipt of pet over a weekend --- typically on a Saturday or Sunday. Guess what? Air Animal Pet Movers, based in Tampa,Florida has business hours of 8 - 5 .. Monday thru Friday, and is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

You then discover Air Animal is closed on weekends (i.e. Saturday, Sunday)

By Monday, you contact Air Animal by telephone concerning the delivery of your theoretical puppy purchase, which never existed in the first place. You've been had !

Air Animal Pet Movers is NOT engaged in the sale of puppies, kittens, etc nor engaged in the transportation for either buyers, or sellers of any type of livestock; nor any type of pets.

Air Animal Pet Movers is the Tampa, Florida based pet moving service for relocating families; both nationwide and worldwide.



4 comments:

dianne62 said...

I was almost conned into buying acavalier king harles puppy by an ad online me i beame suspiious almost immedialtly and didnt go ahead thankfully,these people were asking me to wire 160pounds to them laiming that the pup was being held at a animal shipping company,the fat that the puppy was so heap was the first thing that alarmed me as people dnt just give a way pedigree dogs,i was lucky but i warn others that ome across such people to use your head and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!!!

Shin said...

Sadly, I've been scanmmed. By a person name Tina Dawson (tinadawson02@yahoo.com). She was selling a yorkie for ONLY $120. Due to her daughter's (Jenner) accident she needed to give Nina (the tea cup size yorkie) to another loving family because it made Tina miserable. So I did the whole via money transfer at Western Union to her & stupidly, I decided to search about INTERNET FRAUDS AFTER I HAVE ALREADY TRANSFERRED THE MONEY! And told a friend of mine to email Tina about the puppy & Tina replied to her EXACTLY how she replied to mine. "Sigh" I'm so mad. Then again, SHIT HAPPENS! >:(

Anonymous said...

I put a $500 deposit down for a male puppy from Camelot Pits, I researched the business and didn't find anything fraudulent so I sent the money, later kenny sonia emailed me and says the litter only consisted on one male puppy and he died but that he would have another breeding soon. Well its been a few months since I've heard anything and I have called his cell phone, sent a few emails but I still have not heard from him. Is there anyway of getting my $500 back? What can I do?

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