Pick a product, any product, and there is a scam for it.

I've actually heard about this one from a couple of breeders, I had the impression it was quite common.

yeah. same thing. bad grammar and everything. kept saying 'my babies' except mine was linda roth (breeder) and rev. george (missionary)
glad i didnt fall for this one. and i found an adorable cocker spaniel right here in town! :]]

yeah this has to be the same guy, he kept referring to his dog as my babies as well

Notify the KC Star adveretising dept. about your hunch... chances are they'll want the ad revenue and let the old adage "buyer beware" take effect.

I sent them a pretty lengthy email describing the whole process, they said they were not responsible blah blah blah and put a warning to all the classified ad users.

I never saw the warning, but luckily for me I knew it was a scam

I just got the same email regarding a bulldog puppy in Nigeria from a "Pastor." I have been doing my research online and have pulled up dozens of very similar stories. They might differ in the dog (usually english bulldog or teacups), might differ in the owner's occupation (red cross, pastor, vet, etc.), and might differ in the names, but the rest of the scam is identical. The owner had to go to Nigeria, took the puppy along, needs to find a good "Christian" home, wants money through Western Union before the animal is sent, blah, blah, blah. From what I've read these cold hearted bastards are really getting away with this. Many people have recognized the red flags and have avoided the scam, but sadly, may people have been so trusting and excited to get this incredible puppy they send their hard earned money of to Nigeria and never hear back- or get roped along further for additional fees for ridiculous reasons. They are posting ads everywhere from Canada to Idaho, to here in Hawaii. They have fake websites that when you inquire about buying a puppy, they will respond with something like: "just sold our last puppy, but your in luck cause there is this guy....etc. Then, this person who has the puppy it turns out is in Nigeria and promises you'll have the puppy in a matter of days if you send money via Western Union. He will go on and on about how he loves the dog, will explain in great detail about this dogs personality, will sound highly religious to gain trust, and them will rip you off. Don't do it!!!! There are fake puppy posts online and are in local newspapers all across the U.S. and beyond. This is a big business and they have been getting away with it for a while now. I just began speaking to the scumbag yesterday and would like to catch the jerk. From what I've read, because of the laws (or lack there of) in Nigeria, there isn't much you can do but warn others such as in this case. If anyone knows otherwise please let me know, I'd like to see this guy (or gal, or people) get what they deserve. Thanks for all the warning posts that saved me not just my $500, but further dissapointment. Much Mahalo!
Aloha, A

Hey, look at this: http://www.jimmyr.com/blog/EFCC_bust...s_244_2006.php
EFCC busts 419 Nigerian scammers!

ok, so I contacted yet another breeder who was advertising in my local paper who is in west africa. This time cameroon, instead of nigeria.

This is getting ridiculous, I mean there is just no way of telling who is who in the classified ads until you contact them.

Even if you contact them, they are probably using a fake name.

well you can't see anyone's contact info or their name or their location in the kansas city's star online classified ads. You simply make an account with the paper, and then send a message through their website. Nothing is published for privacy reasons.

Then if the breeder (or seller if not for pets, or whatever category) contacts you back via email. It just gets ridiculous that I have ran into several of these in my local paper. I figured only people near my city would advertise for pets considering the dangers and costs of shipping them.

For anybody who might find themselves in this position
one place to start is with the American Kennel Club. http://www.akc.org/index.cfm

For example, if one wanted to learn more about buying a bulldog puppy, a quick search of that site had a wealth of info leading to the Bulldog Club of America and its valuable links. http://www.thebca.org/

If I were looking for a rescue puppy of a certain breed, I'd go to the breed's website and look for information on rescue dogs, such as the list on the bulldog club website.http://www.rescuebulldogs.org/display.pl

If I wanted to find an American Kennel Club-certified breeder for any breed of dog, I'd go to this website: http://www.akc.org/breederinfo/breed...RCH_BUTTON.Y=0

My local area search for puppies would begin with animal shelters, the local AKC breeder clubs, and veterinarians (who may be able to tell you of healthy puppies that might be available from their clients at age 8-9 weeks).

Respectfully, Norm

Thanks Norm, that is very helpful. I will check those out, a rescue group would be nice because I don't want to breed nor do I want a show dog so I don't really want to pay premium for either. I just want a pet, and well a specific breed.

I think I'm dealing with the same people
 

This has happened in the last 2 days.
My seller for the Yorkie puppy "jen02" who is suppose to be Lilian Bach (lilianbach0383@yahoo.com) told me the story about Pastor Julia Roberts (pastorjuliaro@yahoo.com) from Denver Seminary who was transferred to West Africa for her work. The weather was too harsh for the puppies. I contacted her with a question. The reply was from James Scotty (jamescotty02@yahoo.com) thru David Monaghan (david.monaghan@brampton.ca).

THAT'S WHEN I GOT SUSPICIOUS and I checked the address out and it's an e-mail address for the city of Brampton near Toronto Canada. Anyhow now they were talking about quality Maltese puppies. He said that he still had the puppy but was concerned about her care, in the same paragraph he jumped to the money topic. He was on a missionary trip in Nigeria and the puppy was right there with him. The puppy (this time it was a 2-lb Yorkie again) was free but it would cost $400.00 for shipping and all the necessary paperwork included. He told me that once he got the money, he would prepare the puppy for shipment. By now it was a joke between my husband and I about shipping money for a box of air that would never show up at the airport (the previous night we'd seen a show on TV about frauds originating from Nigeria).

So I e-mailed back asking for information where to send the money should the transaction go thru. Phone number: 01 1 234 802 241 3225, I checked the reverse phone directory with the last 10 digits and it showed up as a number in Waterbury VT preceeded with the overseas and country and city codes. Receiver's name: Stan Kelly! Where did that name come from? Address: 286 Airport Road, Victoria Garden City, Lagos, Nigeria 23401. Of course it had to be via Western Union with the text "in God" and my answer should be "we trust" (I don't know, I've never used Western Union before). Then I decided to stretch things out. So I asked him how my puppy was doing and what was his name (remember, they told me it was a female at the beginning and I wanted to see if they remembered telling me so). He e-mailed back saying: your puppy is doing very fine, the babe name is Carmel, the puppy will be shipped on the next day delivery via express pet airline with all her papers and health record followed with - hope to read from you soonest. That's just one example of the grammar and the spelling is atrocious. He should get a spell check of some kind. Now I don't know what to do. Should I keep stringing him along to see how far it will go???

Well, I came across a new angle they are using...the person is in Africa, is a missionary, A REV. at that, and when I said I couldn't afford the 300.00 for the shipping, he said "What can you pay" and totally ignored my mention that the way it would go down "Via payment to Express Pet Airline by Western Union" sounded Hinky...they only responded that I needed to send my address, phone # and nearest airline info. to them.

What made me stop and think is, our company was almost scammed this week by a guy from US (a Bishop that runs an orpaphage) wanting to buy an ice machine and paid for it via 2 diff. credit cards, and then wanted to pay the shipping on 2 other credit cards...And SHIPPING TO AFRICA ...when our VP checked into it with the credit card company, they said it was a scam!!

Be Careful!!! They come in all shapes and sizes!

I am so glad I ran across this post!! I also was almost scammed!
But the names are different. They posted a puppy on puppy find.
All the other stuff is the same, but Different names.
The person that replied to me was Luis Look. The Rev.'s name that is in Nigeria is
Rev. Father Paul.
So look for these names also!!!

I was so interested in this lil pup. My hopes was up til she mentioned they would have to fly the pup here. I knew then it was a scam. When I asked for more pics of the pup she got really mad and said if ur interested send the money and u will get ur puppy. I emailed her back and told her she was gettin free money for nothing and to keep the fake puppy. If u want to know its a scam ask for a pic of the pup with something like a cap or coke can n the pic. If they cant do that and give there number there scammers.