Scam Pet Sellers
In recent times, scammers have found unique ways to scam people out of their money. It happens on eBay and many other sites, so please be alert for these scammers on our site, too. In order to minimize the chances of being scammed by a Seller, consider the following:
Confirm the Seller’s location:
Make sure the Seller’s address and phone number (land line) corresponds with the area in which the pet is being sold.
Do not fall for the common scammer tricks that they recently moved to some foreign country and must now sell their pets stranded in the US.
Request references:
The references normally should have phone numbers which are listed in the Seller’s local area’s phone book or directory assistance.
Ideally the seller should be a member of a local or national club related to the particular pet. You may obtain references from the club about the seller.
Check Seller’s website:
Some Sellers will have websites that may have references you can contact.
Beware of Sellers:
Who want money sent overseas when they have a US address. Never send money overseas to someone you do not know personally.
With pets priced t0o low to be true, including shipping.
Who do not want you to pick up the pet, but instead want to ship it.
Who keep asking for additional money after you have paid the asking price.
Hopefully, it hasn’t gotten that far.
Report Scammers:
Internet Providers do not have much tolerance for a customer who abuses the internet.
You may want to use this handy website for looking up IP addresses and ISP providers of scammers: www.analysespider.com
Please report any suspicious activity to
suspicious@gotpetsonline.com
We make it our business to stop and report scammers to the proper authorities.
Below is an actual pet scam we intercepted due to a vigilant PetHall visitor.
Only the identity of the PetHall user who alerted us to this scam has been protected
Category:
Dogs & Puppies Classifieds
Subcategories:
Yorkshire Terrier
Breed
YorkieShire Terrier
Age
9 Wks
Weight
3.5lbs
Price
0.00
Description
i have a lovely puppy,she’s lovely and great,she’s
looking for a loving home,she akc registered and she has all her
shots up to date.send me a mail for more informations about her…
gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com
Contact Information
Contact:
Gloria Williams
Location:
lansing, Michigan 48906
USA
Telephone:
Hi Pethall,
My name is D******** M. k******* I am a big fan of your site and I constantly use it to try and find me a puppy a “yorkshire terrier” just to be specific.
During my searches, I found a lot of matches. The thing is that everyone that I find seems to be supscious about the matter. I am writing you so that you can examine this situation and let me know if it is okay to purchase this pet from your seller. Here is the info from her profile off of your website: Ad
Number: 188, Name: Gloria Williams, LOCATION: Lansing, Michigan 48906, Date Posted: 12/23/2006, Date Expire:03/23/2007. I just would like for you to examine the conversations below and let me know if this is legitimate or not before I send my money.
Thank You. Here are the conversations from that me and the seller had:
>From: *******@yahoo.com
>To: gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com
>Subject: Reply To Your Ad at the PetHall Pet
Classifieds
>Date: 28 Dec 2006 04:06:03 -0000
>
>Hi Mrs. Williams, how are you doing today? I am very
interested in
the
>Yorkie puppy, she is very pretty. I can guarantee
you a great
environment
>for her, so please contact me asap. Thank you
HER REPSONSE:
This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as
Unread ]
From: “Gloria Williams”
<gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com> Add to Address Book
Add Mobile Alert
Subject: RE: My Puppy is still available
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 12:32:25 +0000
Hello,
Thanks for your interest in my puppy,I want you to
know that my puppy
is
still available,she is still for sale,she is fully AKC
registered with
all
shots up to date including all necessary health
document and
certificate
ready for shipment, she is lovely with kids and wants
to meet her new
family.At full grown she will weigh 3.5-4lbs, She is 9
weeks now. She
is a
pure breed yorkie,Get back to me for her pictures.
Actually my husband and I are in West Africa on a
Christian mission in
Nigeria to be precise,we are here for missionary trip
from the States.
We
used to live in Philadelphia, Pennysylvania with our
lovely puppy,but
since
we left for the missionary trip we have to bring our
baby along because
of
care and the harsh in weather here i have to get her a
home very
fast,so
that is why we are looking for a good home for our
little lovely baby.
If
you are interested in our little lovely baby,get back
to me with your
full
name,address,contact and direct phone number we can
reach you ,and the
nearest airport to your home so we can proceed
shipment on this puppy
to
your home,the puppy will be shipped by Delta First
Pets Airline .I am
giving
her for free just need you to pay $200 for her and the
shipping because
we
really need a good home for my baby.
Hope to read from you soon.
Thanks And God Bless You
Regards
Gloria
MY RESPONSE:
>From: D********Kellam <*******@yahoo.com>
>To: Gloria Williams <gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com>
>Subject: RE: My Puppy is still available Date: Thu,
28 Dec 2006
07:29:50
>-0800 (PST)
>
>Thank you for the responese. Yes Mrs. Williams I am
>still interested in the puppy. I am so in love with
>yorkies. I am willing to pay the money for the puppy
>and I would like to knmow what payment method we will
>be using. My name is: D******** k******* My address
>is: **** , Apartment # **. Daytona
>Beach, Fl. The nearest airport to me is the Daytona
>International Airport. My number is 404-578-****.
>Could you please send me some pictures of her and can
>you also send me your CONTACT INFO and further
>instructions also. Thank You so much.
>— Gloria Williams <gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com>
>wrote:
>Hello D********
How are you and your family,Hope you have a wonderful
christmas with
you,I’ill always wish you a happy New Year,I’m so glad
to hear from you
once
again,My puppy is still available,My husband and I
will put you in
prayers,You have just made us happy,cos we know our
puppy will be
taking
good care of and You giving her all attentions she
needs,She will be so
excited to meet her new family,She’s lovely with
kids,and also with
Other
Dogs,Yes sure i have her pictures,I’ill send them to
you Okay….I
really
know your kids would be happy to meet my lovely
Puppy,Your informations
has
just been forwarded to the shipping agents,They will
make the
arrangement As
soon as Possible.
Hope to read from you
Thanks And God Bless You
Regards
Gloria
MY RESPONSE:
>From: D********K***** <*******@yahoo.com>
>To: Gloria Williams <gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com>
>Subject: RE: My Puppy is still available
>Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 11:27:58 -0800 (PST)
>
>yes i am still interested. Joy is so pretty and I
>love her already. I am just waiting on the payment
>method and I would like a little information from
you.
> So could you please send me your name, address, i
>need your phone number, and a couple of references
and
>their address and phone numbers. I just want to be
on
>the safe side. Thank you so much
Her Response:
Hello D********
How are you doing?I’m glad to hear from you,I really
want my puppy to
be
taking good care of,it would be faster and safer if
you could make the
Payment Via Western Union Money Transfer or Money
Gram,That’s the only
way i
can get the money here,The money will be paid to the
shipping agents
informations Okay…I’ill get back you with the
Payment informations
and the
shipping agents number,So you can speak with them on
the Phone.
Hope to read from you
Thanks And God Bless You
Regards
Gloria
And Her Final Response:
From: “Gloria Williams”
<gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com> Add to Address Book
Add Mobile Alert
Subject: RE: My Puppy is still available
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 09:31:09 +0000
Hi D********
I just got the information from the shipping
agents,Below is the
shipping
agents Payment Information.
Receiver’s Name:Emeka Johnson
Address:38 Airport Road
City:Ikeja
State:Lagos
Country:Nigeria
Zipcode:23401
Pls use this Text Question And Answer Below.
QUESTION: My favourite Colour
Answer:Blue
Hope to read from you
Thanks And God Bless You
Regards
Gloria
——————————————————————————–
PetHall Responds after investigations
Dear D*******,
Thank you for alerting us to this pending transaction. I am also glad you chose the safe route.
I am not an expert on fraud but I am 99% sure this is a scam.
Here is how I know.
1. Too much story just to sell a puppy for $200 2. Playing with your emotions (the Christian touch)
3 If it is too good to be true, it usually is false.
4. Did you notice that the name of the recipient of the money is no longer the name of the original seller. This is because scammers usually use fake identities but they reserve some real identities for actually collecting money. You need an ID to collect money via western union in Nigeria. Though you can make an ID for a fee there, but making an ID for all the scammers fake names could be expensive and also the ID is usually required to be at least 6 months old in other to be used for western union or moneygram.
5. Also, take a look at the spelling of “color” in the text question, it was spelt the British/Canadian way. Tell you the person probably never seen an American Airport.
Finally —Please DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAMMER. We will be deleting their profile from PetHall and with your permission we will reprint this email so as to protect others.
Thank you for using PetHall
Webmaster
PetHall.com
The following classified ad was deleted from the PetHall Pet Classifieds:
188|gloria1979|user|12/23/2006|ok|90|0|||||Gloria Williams|821 pine
188|gloria1979|user|street|lansing|Michigan|48906|USA|411-241-2000||glor
188|gloria1979|user|ia.williams1979@hotmail.com||Dogs & Puppies
188|gloria1979|user|Classifieds|Yorkshire Terrier|ADOPTION:|Adorable
188|gloria1979|user|Yorkie For Free|i have a lovely puppy,she’s lovely
188|gloria1979|user|and great,she’s ~nl~looking for a loving home,she
188|gloria1979|user|akc registered and she has all her ~nl~shots up to
188|gloria1979|user|date.send me a mail for more informations about
188|gloria1979|user|her… ~nl~gloria.williams1979@hotmail.com
188|gloria1979|user||YorkieShire Terrier|9 Wks|3.5lbs|0.00||||||
——————————————————————————–