Hound hoax: Con artists target dog lovers

Herb Weisbaum • Profile • E-mail

How much is that doggie on the Web site? If it is a purebred puppy and the price is unbelievably low, watch out!

Con artists are now targeting animal lovers. They use bogus ads with cute puppy faces to hook their victims.

“It’s a scam that plays on people’s emotions,” says Alison Preszler with the Council of Better Business Bureaus. “And unfortunately, it’s working.”

Preszler says hundreds of people across the country have already fallen for this scam, paying anywhere from $250 to $1,600 for a puppy that never arrives.

The just suck you in
It happened to Kim McDonald of Gallipolis, Ohio. She went online to look for an English bulldog for her son. McDonald was willing to pay $500 (much lower than market rate) and was surprised to find three purebred puppies available for that price on PuppyFind.com.

She contacted the sellers via e-mail. All three wrote back that they were at a conference in Nigeria.

“Dummy me, I believed it,” McDonald told me. “I just thought, OK, maybe there is a conference in Nigeria.”

There wasn’t. Nigeria is where many of the scammers live.

Tips for avoiding puppy scams Beware of breeders who seem overly concerned with getting paid. Any reputable breeder will be far more concerned with the appropriateness of the potential pet home than what and when they are getting paid. Be especially wary of any breeder who insists that you wire money and who asks for more money to be wired to cover last minute shipping fees. Don’t be fooled by a slick web site. Unscrupulous breeders and even outright scams can be represented by professional-looking web sites that lure you in with fraudulent pictures of adorable puppies. At the very least speak with the breeder on the telephone and ideally meet the breeder, the puppy and the dam in person. If you locate a breeder online, never send money without checking their references and credentials first. Take your time. Beware of breeders who claim to have multiple breeds ready to ship immediately. It’s highly unlikely that your perfect puppy will be available for shipping on the very day you call. Gestation and socialization of a litter takes months -- no puppy should be separated from the dam before 8 weeks of age. Report a scam. Anyone who has experienced a dog-related scam should report it to their local authorities as well as their local BBB (www.bbb.org) to file a complaint. Consumers can also direct questions and concerns to AKC Customer Service at 919-233-9767, or e-mail . More information Source: Council of Better Business Bureaus

McDonald made it clear she did not want a dog that was coming from overseas. The seller assured her the puppy was at a kennel in Tennessee. All she needed to do was wire $350 to the shipping agency in Nigeria and the puppy would be on its way.

A few days after wiring the money, McDonald received an e-mail asking her to send another $200 dollars right away. Her dog was being held in customs, the message said, and needed shots.

Since McDonald’s dog was supposedly coming from Tennessee, she realized she had been scammed and refused to send any more money.

She found a local breeder and got her son a puppy. But she had to pay the market rate of $1,600.

The folks who run PuppyFind.com know all about these bogus ads. “We’re sorry for the people who have been hurt by it,” says Mike Peters, who founded the site.

“We’ve been trying everything we can to keep the scammers off the site and catch them the minute they come on,” Peters told me. But he says this is an ongoing problem that will never be completely eliminated.

A scam with many variations
In some cases, the scammers pose as breeders. They build a complete Web site using pictures they have lifted from legitimate breeder sites. The more common way to snag victims is to place ads in newspapers or online.

In many cases, the con artist claims to be a missionary in Africa. They say they have a wonderful purebred puppy that they cannot care for anymore. They are willing to give the puppy away free if they can find a good home for it in the United States. All they want you to pay is the shipping.

“It starts little by little,” explains Anne Donoghue with the American Kennel Club. “They don’t start with a high number.”

Once you wire the money to cover the shipping – usually $100 to $350 – they start asking for more. They claim these extra payments are needed for vaccinations, crates and customs declarations.

MORE FROM CONSUMERMAN

ConsumerMan Section Front

HELP for homeowners Magazine subscription rip-offs Beware debt settlement outfits ConsumerMan: Credit-card robocall scam Be careful what you search for Hardest hit bankruptcy victims ConsumerMan Section Front   Add ConsumerMan headlines to your news reader: