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Online Puppy Scams

Thursday, September 27, 2007

"Purebred Puppy - FREE To Good Home."

It's easy to see why ads like this pull on the heartstrings of dog lovers who jump at the chance to adopt an adorable, soon-to-be-homeless puppy -- especially when the puppy is a sought-after, expensive breed.

Dr. Audri G. Lanford, Co-Director of ScamBusters.org, cautions would-be puppy parents that puppy scams are growing at an astounding rate. ScamBusters.org is a public service website that has been helping people protect themselves from Internet scams since 1994.

It's almost impossible for a consumer to recover money from a wire service if they've been scammed. It's far better to use a credit card.

"Dog lovers have become frequent victims of a very old-fashioned scam: selling something that doesn't exist," says Dr. Lanford. In the case of puppy scams, con artists advertise puppies in a classified ad or online.

Some scammers claim to be seeking a home for a puppy they can no longer keep, and then ask you to wire them hundreds of dollars to ship the new, non-existent puppy to you. Other scammers, posing as breeders, have puppies listed for sale -- often asking ridiculously low prices for purebred puppies that may otherwise cost $1,000 or more.

ScamBusters.org urges consumers to use due diligence when purchasing or adopting a puppy, especially online or via classified ads. Here are a three questions to ask:

1. Is the advertiser insisting that you pay via Western Union or another wire service? "That's a tell-tale sign of a scam," says Dr. Lanford. "It's almost impossible for a consumer to recover money from a wire service if they've been scammed. It's far better to use a credit card."

2. Does the alleged breeder seem to care more about payment than about the welfare of the puppies? "That's a big red flag. Reputable breeders will be far more concerned with the suitability of your home than the contents of your bank account," says Dr. Lanford.

3. Can you see the puppy, its littermates and at least one of its parents in person? (Probably not if it's a scam -- because there are no puppies.)

If you have your heart set on adding a new purebred puppy to your family, ScamBusters.org suggests that you personally visit established breeders in your own area. Better yet, says Lanford, "save a life and rescue a dog from your local animal shelter."

You can find additional tips on avoiding puppy scams by visiting ScamBusters.org.

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9 Comments:

  • I never knew about puppy scams until this week because it happen to me and know I'm tryin to make sure that everyone know about this woman that tried it on me! Her name(or so called)is Rev. Sister Melanie Green. She is claiming that she will send you a FREE puppy as long as you pay shipping and give a donation to AWWAH MOTHERLESS BABIES FOUNDATION in Cameroun. She told me that she had already paid for the puppies flight but when I called there was no such reservation. When I emailed her and told her that I checked she said that she needed a Western Union code before she would put the puppy on the flight. I put a hold on the western union money...THANK GOD!!! I called one more time to the airlines and they had no reservation but found out that there was a puppy put on board...so I went to dallas and to my suprise NO PUPPY!!! SO BEWARE!!!!

    By Blogger soonerboomer79, at 7:29 PM, November 08, 2007  

  • SOONERBOOMER!! I WAS LOOKING IN MY LOCAL PAPER AND ALL OF THESE ENGLISH BULLDOGS WERE FOR ADOPTION!! I DONT NEED TO SAY ANYTHING ELSE EXCEPT WHILE SPEAKING WITH HIM HE WAS PUSHING THE MONEY ISSUE...SO I LOOKED UP SCAM AND HERE WAS YOUR COMMENT. HE SAID HE WAS SHIPPING THE PUPPIE FROM CAMEROON! I WAS IM'ING HIM WHILE I WAS READING YOUR COMMENT! SO I PROCEEDED TO TELL HIM I WAS WITH THE FBI INVESTIGATING FRAUDULENT ADVERTISING...HOLY COW, HE GOT OFF LINE RIGHT AFTER I CUT AND PASTER YOUR COMMENT TO HIM!!! HAHAHA! WE GOT THEM! THANKS FOR THE COMMENT IT SAVED ME 100 DOLLARS!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:17 PM, May 07, 2008  

  • Hi
    i am supposed to be getting a pom puppy from Nigeria the lady told me she was going there for a Christian event and would be gone a couple months and she couldn't take care of her and i want her so bad and the lady want me to do a money order before she puts her on a plane and when i asked her if i could pay half then when puppy get here pay the other half the lady said no i really need it to pay for the flight and the lady has re assured me that i will get her i just scared i guess now that i am reading all this i just dont know what to do i mean she did say that if i pay now that i would have the puppy on a flight to me the next day but how can i be sure is there some other way for me to check and make sure she has scheduled a flight out for the puppy please email me and let me know some of your opinions spikeswife021608@yahoo.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:12 PM, November 12, 2008  

  • Thanks for this valuable information! I wanted to let you know that I was almost scammed out of $700 and a friend of mine was scammed out of over $1000 by River Valley Puppies. They have a website at www.rivervalleypuppies.com. They communicate only via email, want you to send money to a P.O. Box, and they will not send you any info about the puppies. Don't be scammed like my friend. Beware of this fake company!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:40 PM, December 16, 2008  

  • My name is Michael VanderWall and I own River Valley Kennel and the website rivervalleypuppies.com. This posting is by Jan Stringer West PhD., who was NOT scammed but was rejected for ownership of one of our German Shorthaired Pointers. She originally sent emails that resembled those of the Nigerian Scammers. Full of spelling errors and terrible grammar. Very typical of the scammer emails we receive 5 or 6 times every day. Generally, we blow them off but to her I sent her the payment information, which for security purposes is sent to a PO Box. We insist on US Postal Money Orders sent through the US mail as a regular course of business. Of course the scammers use Fedex as they cannot send it through the mail from Nigeria. Jan Stringer West, PhD., insisted that she send a cashier's check via Fed Ex and would not waiver. She was deemed to be a scammer and we refused further contact. She then sent her full information as listed Jan Stringer West, Ph.D. . President and Chief Executive Officer. Direct: 972.612.1120 National Business Research Institute, Inc. ("NBRI") 15305 Dallas Parkway; 3rd Floor , Addison, TX 75001. Upon further investigation of this individual, we found that her "Dallas Office" is a "virtual executive suite" which is a fancy way of saying she has Mail Drop with an answering service who have NEVER seen her. Once she was deemed to be a scammer, she was reported to the advertising venue she contacted us from and she was banned. Feel free to look at our website and call me or email me at rivervalleypuppies@yahoo.com and I will be happy to fill you in on this warped individual's actions. By the way, we have contacted Federal Authorities regarding her illegal harassment but that's info for another topic.

    By Anonymous Michael VanderWall, at 3:34 PM, December 29, 2008  

  • I feel for those who have been contacted by this person calling herself Jan Stringer West PhD. of the phantom company National Business Research Institute, Inc. ("NBRI") Crooked is all I can say about her and her "husband" Dr. Ken West. National Business Research Institute, Inc. ("NBRI") is a fake shell company with a fake business address in Dallas Texas. I know because I saw this, I live in Dallas and I know where this "virtual office" is. I physically walked into the building and asked for her by name. I was told that she has a virtual executive suite and she works from an undisclosed location. How much audacity does it take to accuse a person of being a scammer for simply having a PO Box when her "office space floor manager" has never laid eyes on her. Is this person real? I know that she doesn't answer her phone, it goes to voicemail. The people that operate this site should be ashamed for leaving these lies out there against a legitimate business owner from a person who may or may not exist. Look at the generic name Dr. Jan West and Dr. Kent West. How many people out the have not gotten the Nigerian Scammer email from Dr. So and So who wants to buy whatever you have or telling you that you won the nigerian lottery. This website is a load of bulls%$t for letting anyone like Jan or Ken West post blatant lies about anyone. Shame on dogchannel.com for letting this happen here and make YOUR site less legitmate.

    By Blogger Louis from Dallas, at 7:56 PM, January 06, 2009  

  • I have recieved multiples emails about puppies that i could purchase and it seemed like everyone selling was from cameroon. Except this one women who lives in MI. So now i don't know what to do, i can't go see the dog. how can i prove that the dog will be coming. its not a crazy fee "just shipping" and its suposidly pure bred. She does seem concered about the dogs well being and the kind of home she will go to. Do i ask her to cover half and i will send it to her when i recieve the puppy? where the cost is only 180. i don't want to lose any money, but is it worth the 90$ to try if she agrees to pay half?

    By Blogger x, at 11:38 AM, January 20, 2009  

  • You need to get the sellers phone # and insist you speak on the phone first, before sending any money. Either you call them, or they call you. Also if the puppy is being flown in, the buyer can pay for the flight COD when you pick it up. If they wont talk to you on the phone then its a scammer. They will try to get out of it by claiming they are deaf, etc, so dont fall for it. You can also get their IP (internet provider) address and do a who is search online and it will tell you where its from, Nigeria, CAmeroon, etc.

    In regards to the post by DR JAN STRINGER WEST PHD FROM NATIONAL BUSINESS RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN ADDISON TEXAS >> It's a royal shame that this site (doggienews.com) lets anonymous people slander people or a business without even having any type of verification or proof of what they are claiming. This untrue trash written by this 'person' Dr. Jan Stringer West PhD (he, she or it-who knows!??!) and it's husband Dr. Ken West of the Dallas area is on the world wide web for whoever to see. This poor kennel is getting grief from somebody who in all actuality could very well be a Nigerian or other type of scammer. You should take after terrific pets dot com and not allow the real names of people or businesses to be published on the web. Ive really lost the urge to browse doggienews anymore because of this. Doggienews, show me the proof you have about this kennel and I will apologize to good ole Jan. I bet ya a dollar you cant. Good luck trying to get in touch w/ the poster, Jan Stringer West either by email or phone. I tried to contact her, him, it and never got a response from my email or phone message. I finally called the answering service thats advertised for National Business Research Institute and they verified that they are only an answering service and theres not an actual business w/ real business hours for that company. What is up w/ that?? Sounds hinky to me. I did however get a prompt response (and not from their answering service) from the kennel both by phone and email. Again, Im very irritated that doggienews is allowing the anonymous post that is untrue by Jan Stringer West to stay up. Maybe I'll come back here when its finally taken down.

    By Anonymous Allison from Fresno, CA, at 10:43 PM, January 22, 2009  

  • I went to order a puppy online and there was an ad for a yorkie. The moment I seen her I fell in love with her. Well me being skeptical about buying stuff from the internet I write her with one email then do the same with my other email address. Well both emails recieved the same exact message. On one email I had a conversation, the other I put a ? mark, still same response. Then after the third message they ignored my ?, and started a conversation on the other. So I was like ok maybe this is the real deal, into the conversation I asked if she (Donna Ann) would call me and she came up with an excuse that her phone was being worked on and that she was located in a Cafe. I was like ok, proceeded to talk via email, and I asked her can I pay for the puppy when it gets here, she told me that I needed to send the money asap so she could go ahead and send the puppies. Well I told her that I had been reading about scams online and from talking to her she was making me feel uncomfortable. She then wrote back saying maybe I do not want to proceed, that I am making this more complicated that it is. Well I wrote back that I didn't want to proceed, she then writes me back saying never to email her again. Well I kept all the emails and the site I found the ad and turned it in to Internet Crime Complaint Center. I am so glad I didn't fall victim! I hope this helps anybody out there that is trying to buy a pet for themselves or a loved one!

    By Blogger Jessica, at 10:31 AM, January 23, 2009  

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