Consumer Safety & Awareness Part 11

Bait & Switch: Pet Scams

Nothing is cuter than a cat. Nope, no dog, hamster, or fish comes close. And nothing is less adorable than a scam revolving around animals. Scambusters reports on five pet-related frauds.

If you have placed an ad in a local paper about your lost pet, and particularly if you offered a reward, you may get a call from someone claiming to have found your pet and asking for money to get it to you. There are many obvious ways to avoid this scam. Ask for a description of the animal, especially distinguishing marks not listed in your ad. Ask where it was found. Ask if there was a collar, especially if there wasn’t one. Tell the person to send you a picture by e-mail. Inform them that you will pay cash on delivery only.

Occasionally the caller threatens to harm your pet to put the pressure on so you'll pay up. In such cases ask for a callback number as you have to arrange for the money. Then notify the police. Threatening an animal for cash is embezzlement as well as violates the state’s cruelty to animal laws.

In a variation, the caller claims to be a trucker who found your injured animal as he was driving through the area. The caller may offer to send the animal back with another trucker who is heading your way. Turn that offer down. Treat it the same way as already described.

If the caller claims that your pet needed vet care, which he has taken care of and paid for, but he needs you to wire him the money so he can pick your pet up, ask for the name of the vet so you can find out the condition of your animal. If he refuses then hang up. Never pay in advance and never give out your name and address. If the call is legitimate, meet the person at the vet’s, even if it is out of state.

In a more complicated scam, your ad prompts a call from someone who claims to have found an animal that might be yours. In the process of exchanging descriptions, the caller will say that he's found a different animal, not yours. He'll apologize for your loss, and for taking your time. This is a set-up -- in a short time, he uses the information he's gotten about your pet to have a second person call and claim to have found your pet. Again, he'll try to collect any reward money in advance.
Your lost pet ad prompts a call from someone who precisely describes your pet, and wants to return it to claim the reward. In reality, your pet has been stolen by this person, who knew you would run an ad!

In a bizarre twist, scammers also respond to 'found' ads with the claim that you have found their pet. When you return the found pet, it may be sold to a research facility.

There are also advanced money scams relating to purchasing pets. The most common is where you buy a pet online, pay for it, and never get it. Another common one is when you are selling a pet (or any animal) and the person sends you a money order or check for an amount much larger than the agreed price. When you make contact the scammer tells you to cash the check and send him the difference. You’re stuck with a stolen or counterfeit check, and the bank wants its money back.

Bait and switch works on pets as well. You respond for an ad for an expensive breed of animal, pay for it, and get a mutt.

When getting an animal, be alert if the seller does not let you spend time with it prior to purchase or if the animal looks or acts unhealthy. If the seller focuses on the money and not the animal, then you should leave. In some cases the seller lets you see the animal, puts it back in his car, then takes your money and drives away.

The Humane Society’s web site has stories about such scammers.

“We all know the Internet can be a great place to buy anything from books to DVDs and rare gifts, but it's not where you should go to buy a new pet. In addition to disreputable dealers and puppy mills, Internet scammers have crept into the realm of online pet sales, stealing money from unsuspecting people who think their new dog or cat is on the way to his or her new home, when in fact there was never really an animal at all. The only party harmed in these scams is the person who is out hundreds or thousands of dollars. “

“In the real world of online pet sales, families often lose significant money when the pet they ordered falls ill soon after arrival. Such animals come from breeding stuck in factory-style operations, churning out babies to be sold off for a quick profit.”

The first rule whenever someone thinks of buying a pet is to visit where that animal was born and see how the parents are living. That cute puppy in the photo on the legitimate-looking website is almost too cute to be real. Often, he isn't.

One scam promises you a free puppy—as long as you pay the shipping. Once the scammers get your "shipping" costs, the scammer says your puppy is stuck at the airport due to customs complications, and you are asked to send more money.

Finally, the scammer (and the puppy who never existed in the first place) disappears. In many cases, victims think their dog is at the airport waiting for them after they've sent two or three money orders.

One woman recently contacted the Humane Society for help in saving a puppy that didn't exist. She believed she was adopting the puppy from a person she had met on the Internet who was stationed abroad. After taking some money from the woman for "shipping" costs, the scammer requested more money to help transport the dog from a European airport, where she said the dog was being held because of problems with the crate. After receiving e-mails that appeared to be from airport officials, the woman was convinced that "her" puppy was really at the airport and in need of her help. But it was all a hoax.

One e-mail scam tells the story of a woman whose mother unexpectedly died, leaving behind "adorable bulldog puppies" who—along with their parents—are in need of a home because the daughter and her husband moved to an apartment where pets are not allowed. Respondents are duped out of "shipping" or "adoption" fees for these non-existent puppies.

In other cases, the seller claims to represent an animal shelter or a Good Samaritan, offering the breeds for "adoption." In these cases, it's important to remember that reputable shelters do not place puppies by sending out mass e-mails and then shipping animals to people.

Internet scammers can deceive would-be buyers by using readily available online photos or by using stolen photos of other people's pets to represent the non-existent animal. They will often copy the claims of legitimate rescue groups and attempt to sound reputable by saying that they will only adopt the pet to someone who has a fenced yard, for example. They will also copy the text from breeder ads and claim to have registration certificates, vet records and health guarantees.

For more information about pet scams, visit TerrificPets.com/Scams where they actually list e-mail sent from people who have been the target of scam attempts.