www .petsplace.co.za Petsplace is one of South Africa's biggest and oldest pet websites |
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| Click here to report scams For Afrikaans, click here Let's not be the victims of scammers! Let's learn to recognise spam and scam! Dog Scam examplesAug 2009 "I put up a advert in the classifieds saying i am looking for a schipperke puppy. I received an email a few days later offering me a 14 week old KC registered schipperke etc. I had no reason to believe this was a scam. I did think it strange when he wasnt going to charge me for the pup, he just wanted it to go to a good home. I said ok. Then i said i would collect the puppy, i would drive to wherever he was to collect. He said not to worry and he would deliver the pup. I said ok. I then received an invoice from "Global Pet" delivery service. ZAR1000.00 for delivery, with Camon island bank details. This is when it hit me, THIS IS A SCAM.Aug 2008. The scammers robbed another lady of R4100.00. They are placing ads on free ad sites like gumtree.co.za vottle.co.za PuppyFindersSA. myToko, etc. The scammers choose breeds that are hard to get, like bulldogs, Yorkies, Maltese, or other small breeds. The ad is placed amongst other innocent, normal ads. It will name a town in SA. If there is a phone number, it will be a cell #. The victim sees the ad & says, "Wow, just the breed I've been looking for for years - and it's cheap!" The "seller" emails photos of the dog he is pretending to sell. He copied the photos off other websites. They are not his puppies. Once 1 or 2 emails have been exchanged, the seller says he suddenly had to move to Cameroon or Nigeria on business, or charity work, but the buyer can still get this pedigreed puppy if they just pay for the transport, otherwise he'll have to put the pup down. The soft-hearted buyer deposits money in bank a/c & seller disappears. Next day the scammer places another ad using another false name. If you have been scammed, let's publish your story & warn others! Always tell the webmasters of the free classified ad websites of any suspicious ads, newspaper editors, & anyone who will listen!
Buyer beware! Watch out for crooks in the Free Classified columns! As well as putting ads in the Free Classifieds, scammers have their own dog websites which look OK at first glance. Watch out for forms on websites that say they can get you any breed - a sort of "dial-a-dog" set up. These are not breeders. It is probably a crime syndicate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KUSA can answer your enquiries about whether pups are registered & about so-called, "registered breeders." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newspaper ads can be scams! Read how one person was swindled: Zoey's Story ------------------------------------------------------------------ Seller beware. Watch out for folk that seem over-eager to buy dogs! Folk who place adverts on the internet for goods for sale (for example puppies) can be scammed. The "buyer" deposits more than the asking price in seller's bank a/c. The buyer says he made a mistake, & asks seller to refund excess, which he does. The "buyer" then disappears, & the seller discovers the "buyer" had deposited a fraudulent cheque in his account.
Websites that help us recognise hoaxes/http://www.scambusters.org/petscams2.html MAILWASHER PRO - premium software for dealing with unwanted spam emails in an effective manner. Go to http://fta.firetrust.com/index.cgi?id=2364&page=1 to download a free 30-day trial version.
Click here to report scams For Afrikaans, click here
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