Based on stories to its Scam Tracker, the Better Business Bureau says the number of pet scam reports was down in 2022, however the common quantity of money reported misplaced went up, from $755 in 2021 to $850 in 2022.
How puppy scams work
Pet rip-off victims are sometimes searching for a particular breed that might not be accessible in their very own communities, requiring them to go looking farther afield — although RJ’s case is uncommon for its worldwide scope. Most criminals a minimum of fake to be U.S.-based breeders, usually promoting on websites like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist or making a faux web site, akin to Cute[PopularBreedHere].com. They’ll declare to be situated simply far sufficient away from the sufferer that it could be tough to see the animal in particular person earlier than making that preliminary fee.
Alert: A brand new form of pet rip-off
Pet house owners ought to concentrate on a recent uptick in one other form of rip-off, the place criminals contact individuals who have misplaced pets, fake to have discovered the animal and request fee for its return. The Idaho Humane Society issued a warning about this scam, explaining that scammers have been posing as representatives from the humane society or animal management officers and ask the proprietor to pay a processing price to get their pet again. The society famous that it “never requests payment over the phone for lost pets. Our primary concern is the welfare of animals and ensuring that lost pets are reunited with their rightful guardians as quickly as possible.”
Then, says Fetterhoff, the scammers “find new excuses to request more money”: They could declare that there’s an additional cost for transport or for medicines as a result of the animal bought sick in transit. “If you take a step back and think about it,” Fetterhoff notes, “it’s very similar to a romance scam, where the person is seeking companionship, and there’s always another excuse as to why [the criminal] needs more money, until you pretty much say, ‘There’s something up with this.’”
That’s what occurred to Tana Mundinger, a lady in Mustang, Oklahoma, who misplaced almost $6,000 final 12 months making an attempt to shock her husband with a puppy for Christmas after their adored canine Max died (hearken to her full story on this episode of AARP’s The Perfect Scam podcast). She discovered a web-based advert for a cute puppy named Sally and reached out to the supposed proprietor, who requested a $300 deposit within the type of reward playing cards. Fair sufficient, however as soon as she paid him, he informed her she additionally wanted to ship $750 for pet insurance coverage. Then $500 for doggy day care as a result of the supply had been delayed. Then $1,000 as a deposit towards a supposed quarantine requirement. And so on. When she refused to make one other fee, he threatened to file a lawsuit in opposition to her for puppy abandonment. But she’d had sufficient. “My heart just absolutely sunk,” she says.
Pet scams might not be probably the most financially devastating model of rip-off, however they’re usually among the many extra emotionally wrenching, says David Brown, 60, a workers legal professional with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Los Angeles and an AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline volunteer. Brown just lately spoke with a member of the family whose cherished one was too upset to speak after changing into the sufferer of a puppy rip-off, he says, “and I thought, How could scammers prey upon and victimize people when all they want to do is love a furry four-legged creature? … Hearts are broken.”
RJ remains to be making an attempt to recoup her funding and says she’d by no means once more agree to make use of the “Sending to a friend” possibility when paying via PayPal; this feature, because the title suggests, is for sending money to somebody you belief, and due to this fact doesn’t supply the identical stage of buy safety the corporate affords when transactions are for items and providers (discover out extra here). She filed a fraud report along with her financial institution that was linked to her PayPal account, and says that PayPal has been useful in reversing a lot of the funds she despatched to the breeder and shipper.