Be aware of puppy scams
As long as a dog remains man’s best friend, puppies will be a gift idea around the holidays. Being fueled by the desire to make all of their family’s Christmas wishes come true, it is not surprising that some people may miss the red flags when purchasing a puppy online. The Better Business Bureau urges parents to take precautions if they are seeking to place a big brown eyed, wiggling puppy wearing a big red bow under the Christmas tree.
Puppy scams have been around a long time and fake puppy sellers have improved their approach over the years. Now, BBB research shows the scheme can have two variations.
Taking you Twice
In both scenarios, the fake seller takes to the Internet and posts an ad to sell a certain breed of puppies. There are pictures of adorable puppies to lure you in. These photos are, more likely than not, stolen from the website of a legitimate breeder. One can’t help but to fall in love with the photo of the adorable fuzzy pups.
When a buyer contacts the fake seller, they will request that payment be made through Western Union or MoneyGram. This should be a big red flag. After they take your money for the purchase of the puppy, the fake seller may disappear without you ever receiving the puppy.
On the other hand, some phony online puppy sellers may try to take even more money from you. Consumers have notified BBB via BBB’s Scam Tracker that they were subsequently approached by the seller for additional money for insurance. In this instance, the seller claimed that the dog cannot be shipped until after the insurance company has been paid somewhere in the ballpark of $1000 to $1500! Once a refund request is made, the seller quickly disappears with the initial payment.
