C/P (with permission) from another forum I belong to:
I got a strange phone call yesterday- it was a "relay" call, the type of service that is intended to enable communication for hearing impaired people- where basically a person calls you and types on a computer back and forth between what you are saying and the person on the other end is saying. Anyway, someone "called" me and was interested in one of our schnauzer puppies. He gave me his email address and asked that I send some information. So I get this email back from him today:
***
Hi ,
Thanks very much for your email, it was really nice speaking with you on
the relay call, you have to bear with me as I have hearing problems, hence
the use of the relay call. The reason I am sending you this email is to
make final reconfirmation of the puppy and also to let you know that
payment will be by certified WALMART MONEY ORDER. In view of this I need you to email me any information that may be required to send the Money Order, as I do not want to send the Money Order to a wrong location lest they gets into the wrong hands.
Regarding the shipping, I have a company that takes care of the pick up
of my consignments for me and ship to my destination anywhere in the U.S.A,
you do not worry about shipping, the company will send down a representative to arrange the sales documentation and the pick up from
your end for onward transfer to my destination.
I also want to alert you on the fact that you will be recieving an overdraft Money Order, which will cover the money for the pickup (pickup and shipping to the final destination) as well as the money to be paid to the company that will take care of the pickup and the documentation with you. So please, as soon as you receive the Money Order, go and cash them immediately, deduct the money that accrues to you, and send the balance to the Head Office of the company that handles the shipment in London United Kingdom via the nearest Western Union agent in your area. Deduct the Western Union charges from the balance and send the remaining to London immediately .
The Money Order will be in your name to make it easier for you to receivepayment, deduct your money and send the balance via Western Union as regards my earlier direction, please reconfirm your details one more
time.
I will give you the details of the company that you will send the balance
of the money to in London once I get a reply and agreement that you will
send the money to London via Western Union money trnasfer immediately you
cash the Money Order. Once the money is received by the agent in London , the shipping agent will contact you immediately to arrange the documentation as well as the pick up immediately. So in view of the above, here are some of the details I will need for final issuance of the WALMART MONEY ORDER to you.
(1) Full Name
(2) Mailing address, no p.o.box please
(3) your direct telephone number
(4) acceptance of my offer
Once you get back to me with all the above, the Money Order will be
issued out immediately and it will be sent to you .
Hope to hear from you immediately.
Regards,
mike donald
N.B. : I will pay you extra $100 to reserve this puppy for me, i need one
female and is for my wife as a companion.
***
Thinking all of this was a little odd (and too good to be true) I did a search on google for "dog breeder scams" and came up with this:
All these emails below are SCAMMERS! Some of the emails may not look like scams, but they all lead to the same thing. The scammer will pay by check (cashier's check/money order) for more then the pet is worth, then they will ask you to send them back the difference in money. A couple weeks later you find out the check was fake and the bank will take it out of your account. This scam can be set up several ways.
Some key points for pointing out a scammer:
1. Doesn't care much about the pet, just the transaction.
2. Says they will use their own shipper.
3. 95% of the scammers are from overseas (Nigeria, Israel, South Africa)
4. Pays you more then the pet is worth, then asks for the difference in money back.
(The rest of the article can be viewed here-
http://www.terrificpets.com/scams/i...p?page=2&order= )
This makes me sick to my stomach. I emailed him and told him that I believe he is a scam artist, and if he is interested in one of our puppies that I will arrange its delivery via air, and payment will be accepted by CASH only. Luckily I didn't send him any personal info either. So, instead of needing a relay call for his "hearing problems", he probably was calling from overseas and doesn't speak English and had to sit there and translate what I was telling him via relay. Anyway, just a little PSA for anyone who breeds puppies- if it seems too good to be true, IT IS!
