| ebcmnl |
| Posted 3/10/2007 8:23:53 PM |
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Active: 03-10-2007
Posts: 1
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i recently saw an ad for Yorkies for $200. i emailed this lady and she wrote back saying the yorkies had all been sold. she gave me a email address of a client of hers that had been sent to nigaria for missionary work. i emailed this lady and was told that the Puppies were free i would just need to pay for shipping which was $230, i paid this and was then told that i neeeded to pay for the customs holding fee and anit-rabies shot which was $200 more. i was stupid and sent this money. she promised me that the puppy would be on the next flight. the next day she told me that since the puppy had missed the first flight due to customs holding the puppy i would need to send $230 more. i told her no, i told her i wanted my money back. she said that she was sorry but she could not do that. all along this was a scam and now i have two very disappointed kids and have lost $430. the first lady whos edited address was edited and the second lady who was telling me that she works in nigaria doing missionary work email address was edited and she said that her name was Pamela garron. she gave me a fake phone number, address and personal info. about herself. i wish i would have seen this website before i lost all of this money. does anyone have any ideas on how to get my money back. any help would be appreciated. |
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| twobitranch |
| Posted 3/11/2007 12:46:36 AM |
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Active: 09-26-2006
Posts: 184
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 hello! i'm sorry to hear that you got ripped off, for both your money and a dog. i really hate to tell you this, but, your money is GONE, and you will NEVER be able to get it back. puppy scammers are everywhere, in foreign countries, and in the united states too. these "scammers" use every trick in the book to get you to send them money.  if you still want to get a Dog for your family, PLEASE look locally! other great options are adopting "rescues". they are homeless dogs. petfinder.com is a good place to start. or, check your local shelter. the best info i can give you is to educate yourself about the breed you want, and then do extensive research.
or, go to a reputable breeder for a dog. NEVER buy a pup from a pet store,most of their pups are from "puppy mills"...really HORRIBLE places  google "puppy mills" and "nigerian scams", you would be shocked at what you read! anyways..sorry you got ripped off, but educate yourself so this never happens to you again, ok? regards, two-bit ranch |
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| maoseger1010 |
| Posted 3/11/2007 9:01:32 AM |
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Forum Moderator
 
Active: 02-20-2005
Posts: 6601
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| Quote ebcmnl: i recently saw an ad for Yorkies for $200. i emailed this lady and she wrote back saying the yorkies had all been sold. she gave me a email address of a client of hers that had been sent to nigaria for... |
Thankfully you stopped sending money. Some people keep sending the money until they've spend nearly a grand on their cheap or free pup.
I'm sorry but I've never heard of anyone getting their money back. |
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| boswer |
| Posted 3/13/2007 1:52:36 PM |
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Active: 03-12-2007
Posts: 726
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It is very sad that there are so many ruthless people out there that are scammers. Hopefully, you have found your puppy in the town where you live. I would be hesitant getting any dogs from out of state even in the US unless I absolutely knew the breeder.
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| erinarnal |
| Posted 3/15/2007 11:11:56 AM |
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Active: 03-15-2007
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I am in the same boat. I saw an article in the newspaper for a Yorkie, when I emailed them to find out how much they said it was free only pay shipping. He claimed he was a pastor and him and his wife didn't want to keep her down there because of the harsh weather conditions. His name was J and they were living in Nigeria. They wanted $150 through Western Union, when I got suspicious, I contacted western union to find out if they had some sort of Fraud protection and then I searched the airline he was claiming to ship her by (Aero pets Airline Nigeria Ltd) and I couldn't find it on the web, so I searched "Shipping pets from Nigeria Africa" and this website came up. Thank you for everybody posting and making me realize I was making a big mistake. |
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| MandySue01 |
| Posted 3/16/2007 11:11:22 PM |
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Active: 03-16-2007
Posts: 1
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| Quote erinarnal: I am in the same boat. I saw an article in the newspaper for a Yorkie, when I emailed them to find out how much they said it was free only pay shipping. He claimed he was a pastor and him and his wife... |
The same thing just happened to me. Can you stop a transfer throught western union? |
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| ts44609 |
| Posted 5/24/2007 10:24:30 AM |
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Active: 05-24-2007
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Wow... I am so glad I decided to look up information on this aero pets airline.
This page popped up immediately... My mom and I were looking to get a Yorkie.
The guy - bruce B was claiming free puppy, only had to pay shipping. Him and his wife were missionaries in Africa and the weather was to harsh for the puppy.
THANKS SO MUCH for posting your experiences... it kept us from making a big mistake......
Sincerely
Tanya |
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| lizzus |
| Posted 5/24/2007 2:20:44 PM |
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Active: 05-24-2007
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I was almost sucked into a scam after replying to an ad for a $200 AKC Maltese puppy. The 1st reponse I got was from a lady that was SO sorry. She had just sold them to a fellow breeder who was being relocated to west africa for missionary work was the name) and that I should contact her ASAP before she's gone because she was giving them away! Of course I'm on that because the ad was local and thought I could pick up my free dog. Oh no. The email back from the Rev said she was already in africa but would ship the Dog to me for $300 ($600 if I wanted both). They were free, I was just paying for shipping. The "poor babies" weren't doing well in the weather there and she blessed me over and over for taking "her babies". I replied back that I was not prepared for a puppy that needed to be shipped--had never dealt with it and $600 was way too much for me at the time. Then the response is simply "how much can you afford?". So now I was catching on. So I low-balled out of suspicion and said I could only come up w/ $200. "that's fine, I'm just grateful to find a home for my babies. I will cover the rest. Be sure to Western Union the money asap to this address..." was the response. Every response (and it only took about 2 mins for each one) spoke so highly of "her babies" and money. I then said--in West Africa is it 3 am now, you are very vigilant. In response to that, she said "it is always like this with my night prayers". Bull. I then asked where she lived before Africa and where she preached. She gave me some bogus website for some missionary thing and after googling her email, the original ad email, and searching for names in TX where she said she was originally from I found nothing and told her as such and that I was worried about a scam. That's when I ended it. Her response, "I understand, God Bless". Big flag there, no "wait, I can send you more info about myself or my breeding". Still steaming this morning about how I feel like I can't trust anyone online, I googled "nigerian puppy scam" and found tons of stories almost identical to mine.
Sorry this was so lengthy, but I am DISGUSTED that people like this are targeting the best people on earth (pet lovers!) and pretending to be people of God to help sucker you in.
Good luck anyone that's been a victim. I am just barely a lucky one!
--Liz
For more info or copies of the emails I received, contact me at lizzus@gmail.com |
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| southernpawskennel |
| Posted 5/25/2007 12:33:49 AM |
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Active: 05-24-2007
Posts: 5
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Always ask if you can see video of the puppy. Ask them to put items into the picture such as a your name written on a poster board behind the puppy. Or for them to talk to you through yahoo messenger for example. tell them you want to see the puppy on their webcam. Them tell them you want them to touch the Puppies nose, ears ect. This is a good way to avoid a scam. The best thing to do is buy local. I personally ask people to fly to me to pick up there puppy. I wouldn't ever ship a puppy alone. Good breeders/ responsible breeders would care about the puppy and the buyers well being. |
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| davidnews |
| Posted 5/25/2007 1:45:51 AM |
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Active: 05-25-2007
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Hi, I'm a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. We're doing a story about the Nigerian (and Cameroon) puppy adoption scams. - I would greatly appreciate speaking to someone who lost money due to one of the scams. It would greatly strengthen the article to include a bit of what happened to you. And the stronger the article is, the more powerful a tool it is to help curb these scams. - Unfortunately, I have a tight deadline on this - if I could hear from anyone on Friday (5/25), that would be terrific, especially in the morning. - If anyone would like to check out my recent consumer columns in the L.A. Times, go to www.latimes.com and put my last name (Colker) in the search box. Several will pop up. -- Thanks again, and hope to talk to some of you, soon. David Colker, Los Angeles Times - 800-LA-TIMES (800-528-4637), ext 77496. -- |
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| davidnews |
| Posted 5/25/2007 1:59:28 AM |
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Active: 05-25-2007
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David Colker, again, from the Los Angeles Times - I forgot to leave my e-mail address. It's david.colker@latimes.com - Thanks
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| borderlover |
| Posted 5/25/2007 2:18:28 AM |
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Active: 11-12-2006
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| Quote davidnews: Hi, I'm a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. We're doing a story about the Nigerian (and Cameroon) puppy adoption scams. - I would greatly appreciate speaking to someone who lost money due to one of the... |
Wow, I'm so glad to see your post. We see this exact same topic come up time and time again on this forum. As I was scrolling through this one I was just thinking it seems to be so common I am surprised I haven't heard anything about it in the news. It's about time that somebody makes the average public aware of the scam.
If you go back through past threads, you will see this same topic posted time and time again. It is almost always titled "Nigerian scam" or "Nigerian puppy scam". Bull dogs seem to be a big breed of choice that they use in this scam as well.
I'm sure by looking back, you can hear about many first hand accounts. Unfortunately, it will be anonymous and will be difficult to contact those people unless they check back in and see your post.
Good luck with the article. I will look forward to reading it. |
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| lizzus |
| Posted 5/29/2007 3:07:44 PM |
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Active: 05-24-2007
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So, I emailed the guy back and said I'm not interested and was going to look locally. He wrote back "look me in the eyes and tell me you want my baby to suffer" and how God had a place for kind people like me who come to save his babies. UGH!!!! The gall of these people to try to guilt-trip people into their scam. It makes me sick! I hope more news people get ahold of this... maybe even Dateline! We should push for that. They could do a 'to catch a preditor' on puppy scammers. Maybe I'm over-reacting and should just let it go, but it sickens me to think that people are doing this to people that just want to give an animal a home. I have also contacted the website in which I saw the ad (petboro.com) twice and reported it as fraud and it is still up. The hits are over 400 and they were at 200 when I first sawy it. I surely hope those 200 people did some research and didn't get sucked in!!
--Liz |
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| WintrRavn |
| Posted 6/3/2007 6:29:08 AM |
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Active: 06-03-2007
Posts: 7
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I just recently came across the same scam on edited I saw many ads for Yorkies that were either cheap or free. I just lost my yorkie to a hit and run driver so I was excited to see this. I sent e-mails to different people just in case the puppy I wanted was taken. The first guy sent me a reply saying he was a missionary in Nigeria Africa and due to extreme weather conditions he was giving his puppy away. But the person had to be a Christian. I told him I was. I then got another e-mail from someone who was California and just sold their last puppy to someone in Texas but he gave me the name and e-mail of someone who was in (Africa) who needed to send their puppy back to the states. So I sent her the e-mail. She said that she had a yorkie and a maltese, and if I sent her $500.00 she would send the Puppies through her shipping agent. Meanwhile another ad said she needed to giver her Puppies away because her job had her working too many hours in California. Her e-mail said she was in London and due to her job and "extreme weather conditions" she could not keep the puppy. By this time red flags are going up. I had my husband to a trace on the IP addresses and e-mails which all happen to be yahoo.com. None of which came back to the place they were supposed to be. On the ads, none of the locations matched the states and none of the phone numbers were legit. They were all directory assistance. So basically someone in the states is working with someone over seas. All the e-mails I received were written the same way. I have contacted the Federal Trade Commission. The lady I spoke to said that I was indeed a scamed. She said not to send any more correspondence. What you need to do is contact the FTC 1-877-382-1222. If you have any e-mails, forward them to spam@uce.gov. Then go to Fraud org. and put in a complaint. I am not sure if this will get you your money back but it is a start. If you need to talk to someone who knows exactly what you are going through please feel free to e-mail me at WintrRavn@msn.com.
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| delaneyshelties |
| Posted 6/3/2007 8:13:23 AM |
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Active: 04-02-2007
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| Quote WintrRavn: I just recently came across the same scam on edited I saw many ads for Yorkies that were either cheap or free. I just lost my yorkie to a hit and run driver so I was excited to see this. I sent e-mails... |
Wow, you are the first person, to actually post info to get this stopped, great job, I am sure people will greatly appreciate this.
My neighbor came over to my house the other day, she is looking for a red toy poodle, and she was so excited to get this one for 250, and the owner was a pastor, i stopped her in her tracks and told her to run and report this, it is a scam, but i didn't know how, so thank you I will pass it on the her.
I know that the scam posts are getting redundant, for us regulars, but there are really ALOT of people falling for them, i was just glad that I am educated about it, and i was able to help out my neighbor! |
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| arachyd |
| Posted 6/3/2007 8:55:51 AM |
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| WintrRavn |
| Posted 6/5/2007 5:53:42 PM |
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Active: 06-03-2007
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Quote delaneyshelties: Wow, you are the first person, to actually post info to get this stopped, great job, I am sure people will greatly appreciate this.
My neighbor came over to my house the other day, she is looking for... |
I am so glad I could help. I am still getting e-mails and phone calls. I of which I am saving. If nothing else forward all e-mails to spam@uce.gov. Just hit foward and type this where it says to put contact info or the person you are sending the e-mail to. Then type that this is in regards to the Nigerian Puppy scam. Try and get this to as many people as possible. You can even report ads that you have seen on the internet. Just include as much information as possilbe and the URL so it can be traced. |
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| mydalpuppy |
| Posted 6/5/2007 6:17:51 PM |
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Active: 06-05-2007
Posts: 1
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Back in January I was on .com looking for a dalmatian pup. Well, I still check there every once in a while, and a week ago I noticed a pic from Jan.. of a deaf dal puppy. Well, I checked to see what else they were selling, there were 35 Puppies.. all a different breed. They were all 12 weeks old, and $350 each. I turned them into puppyfind... 8 different times. (and they were removed from the site that many times too) I knew it was a scam every since time. Not to mention they would say they were located in 1 state and their cell number was for a different state (thanks to whitepages.com). I guess all I have to say is make sure you're dealing with a reputable breeder, and instead of having the pup shipped to you, you should fly on a plane to it... with money in hand. OR, better yet, shop/adopt locally.  |
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| Administrator |
| Posted 6/7/2007 11:41:35 PM |
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Administrator
Active: 11-10-2004
Posts: 259
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Ends Scams! FeelSafe Pet Pay: http://www.nextdaypets.com/directory/dogs/forum/8852.aspx |
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| Alveda |
| Posted 7/21/2007 11:33:34 AM |
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Active: 07-21-2007
Posts: 2
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this is the e-mail scam i got from a person who wants me to adopt their 2 Maltese Puppies.br>"Hello ,
Regard to your mail,I want you to no that i am the happiest person in life today as you intend to adopt my babies and take them away from this harsh weather,currently and akc registered all their shots are up to date.I am giving the both out for $300 shipping including.and for one puppy shipment i was told to be $150 I got relocated to west africa recently and could not take care of the babies anymore. I want a great home for them where they would be nutured with all the Love and care that they deserve because they are my real babies.
I have a male and female and his name is Muffy while the female name is Alliens,they are both very good with kids and love to play alot this is one of their many characters.The weather here is not conducive for them that is why I want to get them out as soon as possible and I will be very happy if you will be the one to take them as your babies.I never wanted to give them out but the weather here in West Africa is not helping matter at all. If you are interested kindly get back to me asap so that the babies can be on their way to their new home as soon as their shipping arrangement is concluded! I will like you to get back to me with the information below..
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Country:
Phone#
Zip Code:
So that i can get the Puppies register for next day deliver for shipment and they will insue me the registration paper with your full recievr's information.
Awaiting to read from so soon .
Thanks"
to make matter worse, i actually gave him my information.
today at around 2am, he called me 3-4 times until i pick up the phone. i answer but no reply so i hang up. Again today at around 6am he called again for about 6-7 times until i pick the phone. He say that he send me an e-mail. and then he ask me to send the money by Western Union.
because of the intense calls, i decided to do some research and i found this site. thanks you for raising the awareness for e-mail scammers.
but is its big problem if he have my info?
btw i post this on the E-Mail Scam alert forum. |
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