BBB of Central and Western MA and Northeastern CT Study Update: Average losses in puppy scams rise

Worcester, MA (December 6, 2022) -- In October, a woman from Ohio went online to find her family an English Mastiff puppy. She located one on a website claiming to be a breeder in Templeton, MA. She paid $970 for the puppy, which she never received. The consumer said: “they seemed legit; they had contracts & pictures of puppies.”

Soon after, BBB learned of another victim, located in Iowa, reporting that they made a payment of $870 via PayPal to the same Templeton “breeder”. They then received an email with “tracking information” and a “pet reference number.” When they called the airport, there was no puppy to be found. 

Yet another victim, located in Illinois, paid $970 thinking she was going to be welcoming a new puppy into her family, and no puppy was ever delivered. According to the consumer: “I googled English Mastiff's looking for a breeder. I was directed to this site. It appeared legitimate. I was contacted by them in regard to available puppies. They went by the names Jack and Renee Blount. They were out of state and requested payment be sent via Zelle. I had multiple text messages with them over the 24 hours questioning the site. I was sent a contract to sign. The next day I was contacted by the shipping company Eagle Shipping and Logistics Company, asking for a Pet Insurance payment of $1,250.00. It was then that I realized that this was a scam.” 

This is a very common scenario with puppy scams. The scammer gets payment for the puppy, and then the victim is contacted by a phony “shipping company,” which is just the scammer posing as a shipping company. They state that they need additional money for pet insurance for the puppy to be able to be transported by them. This ruse is just a ploy to try and extort more money from their victims.

Two more consumers told their stories on BBB Scam Tracker^SM  but informed BBB that after noticing some of the tell-tale red flags of puppy scams, they disengaged from the scammer before sending a payment.

Better Business Bureau of Central and Western MA and Northeastern CT^® (BBB^®) urges consumers to exercise caution this holiday season when purchasing a pet online. BBB Scam Tracker^SM reports indicate that consumers who purchase pets without seeing them in person, use hard-to-track payment methods like Ze,lle and accept extra charges like shipping insurance or special cages are at substantial risk of being scammed. Because purchasing a pet can be such an emotionally charged experience, BBB urges consumers to be on high alert for scams.

So far this year, pet scams in North America appear to be on the decline, even as losses exceed $1 million and are expected to approach $2 million. That total is down by a third since the peak of more than $3 million during the pandemic in 2020-2021, according to BBB Scam Tracker. Pet scams historically make up a quarter of all online shopping frauds reported to BBB and are on track to be about 18% this year. As reports decline, however, average monetary losses are climbing, with an average loss of $850 in 2022, up 60% since 2017. BBB has tracked this swindle since 2017 when it issued an in-depth study, Puppy Scams: How Fake Online Pet Sellers Steal from Unsuspecting Pet Buyers.

Puppy scams remain profitable for scammers because their multi-tiered setup allows scammers to convincingly go back to a consumer several times to ask for money.

On the front end, puppy scams operate much like other online fraud. Scammers entice buyers to their website after an online search, social media advertisement, email or text message. The fake websites are incredibly convincing, with names like www.homeofenglishmastiff.com Pictures of healthy and adorable puppies adorn the pages, with sellers falsely promising purebred dogs for reasonable prices.

Yorkies, Daschunds, and French Bulldogs make up nearly 30% of all puppy scams, according to 2022 BBB Scam Tracker reports. Consumers mentioned more than 40 breeds, however, meaning that buyers should be cautious when shopping for any breed online. All of our five victims were shopping for English Mastiff puppies.

In another twist to the scam, when a buyer finally settles on a dog and attempts to pay, scammers claim the credit card was declined or is not working. In reality, scammers have stolen that information to use later. But the fraud has just begun. They then ask the shopper to pay using Zelle, PayPal, or gift cards. While the shift to these unsecure payment types should raise a red flag, consumers said it is easy to be swept up in the emotions of the moment when buying a pet and push forward anyway.

When one of the victims of this puppy scam started to notice some red flags during the process, they attempted to check out the breeder and contacted Templeton, MA. Animal Control Office. The Animal Control Office asked for the name and the address where they were to pick up the puppy. After running a check, the representative told them it was indeed a scam. People had gone to the address to pick up puppies they paid for only to find out there were no puppies and they had been victimized by a scam.

BBB spoke with the individual who lives in the home at the address where the business is claiming to be located. She told BBB that she has been dealing with this situation for the last year. People have shown up on her doorstep demanding the dog they have paid for. She gets phone calls from people trying to find out where their puppy is because her phone number is associated with the address when doing a simple internet search. There was even an instance when someone showed up at her home claiming they were there to pick up a monkey they had paid for! Amanda said that the Animal Control Officer for Templeton, MA reached out to her to find out what was going on, as they had received so many inquiries regarding that address being associated with puppies being sold. The Animal Control Officer came out and verified that there are, indeed, no puppies for sale at this address. The resident made several calls to the Templeton Police Department to express her concerns. This situation has caused her a great deal of distress and aggravation. She worries about keeping her family safe and has even had to install security cameras around her home. “These people are upset, they have paid a lot of money for a puppy, and they want what they have paid for” she has had to explain numerous times to upset victims, sometimes standing right on her doorstep, that her address is being used fraudulently, and that there are no puppies being sold from her home. 

It is important to draw attention to the fact that there are other victims of this swindle that consumers may not even realize. Not only are the individuals who were hoping to purchase the fictitious puppies victims of this scam, but so is the consumer who lives at the address that is being used by the scammer to help them seem legitimate, and the consumer whose personal photos have been pilfered and used without her permission on the bogus website. 

Nancy B. Cahalen, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving central and western MA and northeastern CT, commented on this most recent puppy scam: “These puppy scams continue to be one of BBB’s top-reported online purchase scams, so it’s important that consumers do their homework and be mindful of the red flags of fraud. The scammers play on your emotions, so we advise the consumer to think with your head and not with your heart.”

Dozens of reports to BBB describe the excitement of adding new animal members to the family. These consumers note that they brushed off concerns and failed to do research like reverse image searches of the puppy pictures because they simply wanted to get an animal before the offer went away.

After the initial payment is completed, fraudsters use the shipment of the dog to extract more money. They tack on hundreds of dollars for bogus charges like “insurance” or heating and cooling devices for crates.

These “courier scams” use fake emails, shipping numbers and documents for companies like FedEx or Delta Airlines to legitimize the charges. Because these methods are used in all types of online commerce frauds, scammers develop intricate layers of fraud to fool consumers.

When the buyer begins to get suspicious, the seller pulls out high pressure tactics and threats, claiming that the consumer will be charged with a crime for failing to safely secure the animal.

Money orders were once the frequent payment choice for scammers, they now prefer credit cards, money transfer apps (Venmo, Zelle, PayPal) and gift cards, according to an analysis of BBB Scam Tracker reports. To avoid credit card chargebacks, fraudsters may prolong the grift by providing fake tracking numbers and other bogus information. They hope that consumers will not notice the con until it is too late to dispute the charge. Still, BBB recommends consumers pay with a credit card, when possible, as those companies have strong procedures in place for disputing fraudulent transactions.

Pet scams make up one of the biggest chunks of online retail frauds reported to BBB Scam Tracker. A BBB 2021 online retail fraud study and a November 2022 update show the massive scale at which bad actors have co-opted the online shopping process.

BBB tips for researching puppy sellers:

·     Do your research! Only purchase from a reputable dealer. Check BBB Business Profiles on BBB.org for complaints and customer reviews before you make the purchase.

·     Don’t buy a pet without seeing it in person. If that isn’t possible, request a live video call to view the animal, meet the breeder, and evaluate the facility.

·     Conduct a reverse image search of the picture of the pet you are considering. If the same picture appears on multiple websites, it’s likely a fraud. You can also search for distinctive text from ads or testimonials, to see if the seller copied it from another website.

·     Avoid wiring money or using a cash app or gift card. These payment methods offer no way to get your money back if you are the victim of fraud.

·     Do research to get a sense of a fair price for the breed you are considering. Think twice if someone advertises a purebred dog for free or at a deeply discounted price, it could be a fraudulent offer.

·     Consider reaching out to a local animal shelter. Many shelters are looking for fosters to help relieve animal stress and reduce overcrowding at their facilities.

Who to contact if you are the victim of a puppy scam:

·     Better Business Bureau – BBB Scam Tracker to repo a fraud online.

·     Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – reportfraud.ftc.gov to file a complaint online or call 877-FTC-Help.

·     Your credit card issuer – report the incident if you shared your credit card number, even if the transaction was not completed. Monitor your statements and if you suspect fraud, ask for a refund. It is not guaranteed, but many credit card companies will grant one.

·     Petscams.com - petscams.com/report-pet-scam-websites tracks complaintcatalogsues puppy scammers and endeavors to get fraudulent pet sales websites down.