Many people buy puppies as holiday gifts.  Unfortunately, scammers who are aware of this are only too willing to steal money from people trying to buy dogs as holiday gifts.  Often the scam involves a phony website that purports to be the website of a breeder of purebred, American Kennel Club registered dogs that are being sold at what appears to be an attractive price.  The scammers  send photographs of the dogs they are purporting to sell.  Often these photographs are just taken by the scammers from websites of legitimate breeders.  In many cases, after a price is agreed upon, the scammer requires additional payments for shipping, insurance and veterinarian fees.  Once the money is wired or sent by credit card, the victim is told to go to the airport to pick up the dog.    The notice to pick up the dog at the airport often comes by way of an email that appears to be from a legitimate airline, but the email is a forgery and a phony.  Of course, when they get to the airport, there is no dog and the victim has a disappointed child and an empty wallet.

TIPS

Even if you make contact with a breeder over the Internet, do not buy a dog without seeing the dog and the facility that is selling the dog.  Get an independent veterinarian report on the dog.  Check out the seller with the American Kennel Club.  These tips will help you avoid being scammed.  Also, if the price that you have agreed upon continues to increase, that is a good sign that the seller is a scammer.