Pet Scammers Peddle Pandemic Puppies That Don’t Exist

4 red flags of online pet sales

As puppy buying rises, so do scams, according to the American Kennel Club (AKC), which says red flags can help spot bad actors online. Its guidance, which also applies to purchasing a cat or another kind of pet online, urges consumers to be dogged about due diligence and to know the four red flags.

Scammers post fake litters online or pretend to be someone they’re not, usually an existing breeder, AKC officials say. If you aren’t careful, you could send a “breeder” money and never receive a puppy or follow-up communication. Fake listings appear on bogus websites as well as on legitimate sites like Craigslist. Some scammers pose as reputable breeders by stealing their personal information.

Here are four red flags of puppy scams: 

1. No phone calls. Fraudulent sellers, often in foreign countries, prefer to communicate by email, not by phone. (In the highlighted case, the defendant and a victim trying to buy a miniature dachshund exchanged more than 100 text messages in a week during March 2020. The dog never arrived, and the victim lost $1,840. That month, another victim traded 900 texts with him over nine days.) 

A reputable breeder will communicate by phone, video chat or in person. 

2. Copycat or stock photos. Photos of the dog or the text of the ad may be found on multiple websites. Search for the text in an ad listing to see if the seller copied and pasted it from another site. Or do a “reverse” image search of a photo on a site such as images.google.com.

3. A sketchy payment method. Avoid wiring money or paying with gift cards or a payment app such as Venmo. (An FBI agent in the accompanying case said criminals prefer that customers “pay through means that can obscure the recipient’s identity to avoid law enforcement detection.” The agent also cited cryptocurrency and money transfers such as Western Union or MoneyGram.)  

4. A price too good to be true. If a purebred dog is being offered at a deeply discounted price, that’s typically a fraud. And if a seller says he or she register the dog, call the organization to confirm that.