Name: How to avoid pet scams
Uploaded: 2025-12-18T01:43:46.150Z
Duration: 3 min 53 s
Description: A grandmother is out $800 after doing business with the wrong pet breeder.

A grandmother is out $800 after doing business with the wrong pet breeder.

A report from Scripps News details the experience of a grandmother who lost $800 after attempting to purchase a puppy online from a fraudulent breeder. The scam involved convincing photos, emotional appeals, and escalating demands for payment, including a $2,000 fee for an air-conditioned crate.

Experts advise that legitimate breeders and rescues will allow buyers to see animals in person or via live video. They recommend using credit cards for added protection and starting pet searches at local shelters or breed-specific rescues to avoid falling victim to similar scams.

How to avoid pet scams

Nothing is cuter than seeing a puppy with a bow under the Christmas tree, unless of course you get ripped off. A grandmother is out 800 bucks after doing business with the wrong breeder. Mallory Sifoste from Ascript News Group in Baltimore joins us now. We're counting down, of course, the 12 scams of Christmas. Mallory, you talked to the grandmother. What did she say she wished for and what did she find out? What did she learn? Yeah, Del, in pet scams, the photos do most of the work. People fall in love with the idea of a new pet and lose sight of who they're actually dealing with. The seller sent video and photos and Sarah Edelman was hooked. You look in their eyes and you say, yep, he needs me and I need him. And it just clicks. She hadn't planned on getting another dog, especially after losing her Morkie of 14 years. She was three and a half pounds. She was this little bundle of love. Then Sarah's 10-year-old granddaughter found Chloe, a Yorkshire Terrier, on this website. I got right in touch with the guy and it was within one week of the time we first saw her that I thought she was being delivered by airplane. She sent $650 through Zelle for the puppy, then an additional $150 for transportation. And then I got a phone call from the people at the airport supposedly and they said, well, you need to rent an air conditioned crate. And I said, and how much is this going to cost? He said $2,000 to rent it. And that's when I started putting two and two together. So you had no reason to believe that this dog didn't exist? None. And what were you most looking forward to with Chloe? Companionship. Clay Campbell with the Better Business Bureau said pet scams don't stop with the first payment. So if they get you once, if they get a payment out of you one time, the scammer typically knows that they can probably get more money out of you. And they rely on urgency and emotion to keep the scam going. If you've paid something and you're just trying to get that last, you know, leg of the delivery supposedly, according to the scammer, completed, it's really tempting to pay again. But don't. I'm not even talking about the money. I'm talking about the fact that you build yourself up to love this thing. Go where you can see a puppy, go where you can see a car, where you could see a bike, touch it, feel it and know that you can love it and that it's going to love you back. Great advice there from Sarah. And when we reverse searched images of Chloe, we found the same photos on multiple Web sites and social media pages, some dating back to 2022. Dell Mallory, this is one of the saddest stories I think I've ever seen. It's always great to adopt a pet, by the way, from a shelter. But what if you want a specific breed? How can you vet the seller? Legitimate rescues, shelters and breeders, they'll let you see the animal in person or through a live video call. You want to use a credit card for the most protection in case something goes wrong. And, yes, start your search at a local rescue or animal shelter. There are also rescues for specific breeds that you can look into. Mallory, as I'm watching this, I'm crossing off all of the gifts I planned on getting people. We want our holidays to be filled with cheer. So you have more scams to tell us about in our 12 scams of Christmas. What are we working on tomorrow? It's an investment that promises big returns. You put your savings into cryptocurrency, then watch it climb until you try to cash out. And we sat down with the FBI to discuss crypto investment schemes and how they're now working to warn victims before they lose everything. Dell. Can I get a copy of all 12 days just so I can wrap it and give it to my wife and say, this is why I didn't get you anything this Christmas? Mallory Sifonstein for us in our Scripps News group in Baltimore. Mallory, thank you very much.

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