Scam artists using puppies to steal your money
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SEATTLE - Con artists have come up with another devious way to steal your money. Their bait: cute little puppies.
It starts with an e-mail or a classified ad, and it ends with disappointment and a drained bank account.
Some of the victims KOMO 4 News has contacted were taken for almost $2,000. This scam works because the bad guys use the puppies to tug at your heart strings.
Michael Roland Jr. of Seattle found a Rottweiler puppy on a site called puppyfind.com -- a legitimate Web site that's sometimes used by con artists.
A lady in North Carolina, who said she was a breeder named Carol, told him all about the puppy.
"She'd like describe what he looked like exactly, what his eating habits were, a bunch of stuff like that," Roland said. "So she seemed like a good lady."
But she wasn't a good lady. Carol wanted $750 for the puppy, and she was very specific about how she wanted to be paid.
"She said it had to be Western Union," Roland said.
She got the money, and Roland got nothing.
The same thing happened to Michelle Waltenburg of Tacoma. She was on the Craigslist web site looking at the classified ads for pets when she came across an ad for a "lovely English bulldog puppy needing a loving and caring home."
"Something about the way they worded it jumped out at me," she said. "It was an adorable little bulldog puppy, just sitting there, looking at the camera. That's it. That's all it takes."
Michelle responded and got a quick reply from a James Campbell. He claimed to be an American working in Cameroon. He said he wanted someone in the United States to adopt his bulldog puppy, Suzy, because the weather in Africa was no good for her.
"And he said, 'No, there's no fee, but I need you to pay for the puppy to be flown home,' " Waltenburg recalled. "And I said, 'Oh cool. I can do that,' having no idea what was involved."
Waltenburg thought she was going to get a purebred puppy for free, as long as she paid for the shipping, which the "seller" said had to be wired via Western Union.
Michelle sent him $180. That's when the requests for more money started coming in.
"Unfortunately, there never was a dog and you're never going to get your money back," said Alison Preszler, with the National Council of Better Business Bureaus.
"These scammers will keep coming back to you and ask for more and more money with more and more ridiculous reasons," Preszler said. "The puppy is stuck in customs; the puppy's now sick; the puppy has vet bills that need to be paid. And as long as you keep giving the money, they'll keep coming back to you for more."
Walterburg actually confronted the scammer via e-mail. He admitted he wasn't an American named James Cambell, but a crook in Nigeria. He apologized to her and promised to return her $180. He never did.
Vandra Huber is a registered breeder who's been raising champion Scotties since 1982 and teaches business at the University of Washington. She says people don't just give away purebred puppies, because they're worth so much money.
"Depending on the breed, it can be as little as perhaps $500, but it can be as much as $2,000 and up," she said.
Walterburg said it's easy to get sucked into the scheme.
"There's a cute picture of a puppy and you just think that you're saving this dog from the heat or whatever they're telling you and..."
You've seen how this scam starts online. Sometimes it begins with an e-mail out of the blue or a newspaper ad. They'll send you a picture of a cute puppy to suck you in, but it's just a generic photo, often stolen from a legitimate Web site.
So how do you spot this scam? It's real simple: The bad guys always want you to wire them money. Don't do it.
One more warning: I would never deal with someone wanting to ship me a puppy from overseas. Never. You could get a sick puppy, or you could get no puppy. Then what do you do?
For More Information:
Hound Hoax: Con artists target dog lovers
American Kennel Club and BBB Warn Consumers to Be Wary Of Puppy Scams
Thinking of buying a puppy? Find a responsible breeder.
So you want to pick a puppy? Pick your breeder first
It starts with an e-mail or a classified ad, and it ends with disappointment and a drained bank account.
Some of the victims KOMO 4 News has contacted were taken for almost $2,000. This scam works because the bad guys use the puppies to tug at your heart strings.
Michael Roland Jr. of Seattle found a Rottweiler puppy on a site called puppyfind.com -- a legitimate Web site that's sometimes used by con artists.
A lady in North Carolina, who said she was a breeder named Carol, told him all about the puppy.
"She'd like describe what he looked like exactly, what his eating habits were, a bunch of stuff like that," Roland said. "So she seemed like a good lady."
But she wasn't a good lady. Carol wanted $750 for the puppy, and she was very specific about how she wanted to be paid.
"She said it had to be Western Union," Roland said.
She got the money, and Roland got nothing.
The same thing happened to Michelle Waltenburg of Tacoma. She was on the Craigslist web site looking at the classified ads for pets when she came across an ad for a "lovely English bulldog puppy needing a loving and caring home."
"Something about the way they worded it jumped out at me," she said. "It was an adorable little bulldog puppy, just sitting there, looking at the camera. That's it. That's all it takes."
Michelle responded and got a quick reply from a James Campbell. He claimed to be an American working in Cameroon. He said he wanted someone in the United States to adopt his bulldog puppy, Suzy, because the weather in Africa was no good for her.
"And he said, 'No, there's no fee, but I need you to pay for the puppy to be flown home,' " Waltenburg recalled. "And I said, 'Oh cool. I can do that,' having no idea what was involved."
Waltenburg thought she was going to get a purebred puppy for free, as long as she paid for the shipping, which the "seller" said had to be wired via Western Union.
Michelle sent him $180. That's when the requests for more money started coming in.
"Unfortunately, there never was a dog and you're never going to get your money back," said Alison Preszler, with the National Council of Better Business Bureaus.
"These scammers will keep coming back to you and ask for more and more money with more and more ridiculous reasons," Preszler said. "The puppy is stuck in customs; the puppy's now sick; the puppy has vet bills that need to be paid. And as long as you keep giving the money, they'll keep coming back to you for more."
Walterburg actually confronted the scammer via e-mail. He admitted he wasn't an American named James Cambell, but a crook in Nigeria. He apologized to her and promised to return her $180. He never did.
Vandra Huber is a registered breeder who's been raising champion Scotties since 1982 and teaches business at the University of Washington. She says people don't just give away purebred puppies, because they're worth so much money.
"Depending on the breed, it can be as little as perhaps $500, but it can be as much as $2,000 and up," she said.
Walterburg said it's easy to get sucked into the scheme.
"There's a cute picture of a puppy and you just think that you're saving this dog from the heat or whatever they're telling you and..."
You've seen how this scam starts online. Sometimes it begins with an e-mail out of the blue or a newspaper ad. They'll send you a picture of a cute puppy to suck you in, but it's just a generic photo, often stolen from a legitimate Web site.
So how do you spot this scam? It's real simple: The bad guys always want you to wire them money. Don't do it.
One more warning: I would never deal with someone wanting to ship me a puppy from overseas. Never. You could get a sick puppy, or you could get no puppy. Then what do you do?
For More Information:
Hound Hoax: Con artists target dog lovers
American Kennel Club and BBB Warn Consumers to Be Wary Of Puppy Scams
Thinking of buying a puppy? Find a responsible breeder.
So you want to pick a puppy? Pick your breeder first
