The week of May 4th through 10th has been designated as national pet week.   More than 60% of Americans have a pet and any group that large will be a target for scammers.  I have written many times in the past about scams involving sales of non-existent puppies. People buy dogs or other pets online and, although they think they are taking proper precautions, they often end up getting nothing in return for the money that they wire to the scammer who may have a website or some other way of marketing their non-existent pets with photographs and false information. The Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning about scammers posing on social media including TikTok, Instagram and Facebook as sellers of exotic pets such as rare birds.  Following up on the social media posts will take you to a legitimate appearing website, but it is simple for a scammer using AI to create a phony website.

One telltale sign of exotic pet scammers is that they all require prepayment through Zelle, bank wire transfers, cryptocurrencies or gift cards.  These are the preferred payment methods for scammers because once the payment is made it is impossible to get your money back.

TIPS

It is simple for a scammer to construct a website that appears to be legitimate and scammers can readily steal the name of a legitimate pet retailers. Always check into the reputation of the seller with the Better Business Bureau, your state’s attorney general and even Google the name of the seller with the word “scam” to see if a legitimate seller’s name that is being used has been stolen for scams previously.

There also are a number of ways such as using the website http://www.tineye.com to do a reverse image search of the photos sent to you of the pet to see if they appear elsewhere other than the website attempting to sell you a pet. If so, this is a good indication that you are being scammed.   Finally, you are always going to be better off buying a pet that you can see in person prior to buying the pet.

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