IS YOUR IDENTITY PART OF A PUPPY SCAM?
by Susan Thibodeaux
Y ou’ve heard of identity theft. You guard your social security num- ber, your driver’s license infor- mation, your credit cards—but would you be surprised to find out that puppy scammers are stealing your dog identity too? Puppy scams have been a problem on the Internet for some time, but the scammers are becomingmore sophis- ticated. First, let’s talk about the typi- cal online puppy scam. A puppy seeker decides to look for a puppy. Gone are the days when they simply looked in the classified section of the newspaper. Craigslist has a few ads for commonly found breeds such as Pitbulls, French Bulldogs, Chihua- huas, and Labs, as well as for mixed puppies. Many locations have banned the sale of puppies in pet shops. The puppy seeker wants a specific breed of dog and doesn’t knowwhere to look for it, so they go to their favorite re- search location—Google. The buyer types the name of the breed they are looking for into the Internet search engine and a plethora of glitzy websites pop up. The buyer begins to click on the various links. The sites have pretty puppies. They have pictures of the parents. The site says they have the proper shots. They promise “family raised” and “regis- tered.” The puppy searcher sends an email through the site to the breeder. The pet scammer asks for a deposit and promises a delivery date. The breeder might send some cute puppy
puppies, sometimes even before the puppy seeker hits “search” on Google. In their current schemes, the puppy scammer makes a false identity on Facebook by setting up a page and then joining Facebook breed groups. These groups are generally made up of mostly pet people, who love or own that breed, and some breed fanciers. Often, a person wanting a puppy of a specific breed will join various Face- book groups for that breed. When they post that they are looking for a puppy, they receive a private message through Facebook’s Messenger that another group member just happens to have puppies available. The scam- mer will send photos privately, and the dance begins. As of late, the scam- mers are so bold that they often just paste their website link into the com- ment sections, even in groups that don’t allow puppy sales. As it’s just a web address link, it doesn’t trigger the group admins into action—and unsuspecting people are drawn into the trap. The scammers are bold. In a group that I frequent, they recently posted that they had puppies for sale by copy- ing and pasting text, and adding Toy Fox puppy pictures. However, they forgot to change the wording. So, in the paragraph, it stated that the pup- pies all have the “true Boston Terrier colors.” They do this scam on Face- book across many breeds, to catch as many unsuspecting puppy buyers as possible.
photos, but the buyer never gets to ac- tually see the live puppy. As the date draws close for delivery or pick up of the puppy, the “breeder” asks that the remainder of the mon- ey to be sent to PayPal. They may ask for gift cards or ask for payment through untraceable cash apps such as Zelle, Google Pay, Cash App, Ven- mo, and Apple Pay. Once the buyer has sent money, the seller often tells them there is additional paperwork and delivery requirements that will need additional money. The scam- mer might say that the shipper or airline is requiring a special crate, shipping insurance, another vet visit or shots, etc. Sometimes, they even set up additional email accounts, websites, etc., to look like an airline or shipping company. Generally, the puppy buyer is out thousands of dollars by the time they realize there’s no puppy and the seller is a fraud. The Better Business Bu- reau statistics for 2021 show 3,328 reports of online puppy scams. You, as a real breeder, are probably wondering how this affects you. These scams have been increasing and now the criminals are stealing your pho- tos, your kennel names, and in some cases, even your websites to camou- flage their schemes and look legiti- mate to the prospective puppy buyers. The chicanery is no longer restricted to finding them through web search engines. The scammers have deter- mined how to find the folks looking for
22 • T op N otch T oys , J anuary 2022
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