[Jester]

Hi guys, please click on the following link to read more about web pets scams.

http://www.petsonthenet.co.nz/scam

[Mashauk]

Great information, thanks for posting. Even better advice though, just don't buy pets from the internet, there's plenty of animals available at re-homing centres.

[petsonthenet]

Hi thanks to your moderator for publishing the warning about pet scams, they seem to be rife..

Also yes, we TOTALLY AGREE with the reply above that there are PLENTY of pets in shelters, there is no need whatsoever to import pets or purchase pets.

We at petsonthenet work with hundreds of shelters and rescues nationwide who post free ads with us regularly under our Pets for Adoption section. We have rehomed thousands of pets this way, so please do not be put off by petsonthenet initiated adoptions in NZ, they are very successful! in the last week alone I know we have directly assisted to rehome several cats and dogs that were literally on DEATH ROW. So it's very rewarding work.

We just urge you to be careful and read our warnings to ensure you are dealing with a genuine NZ person firstly. This will be obvious from their phone number and address. Stay safe out there!

[fresia]

Be careful-the gumtree sites are full of pet scammers-offering white kittens/yorkies /bulldogs & now African Grey parrots!-usually for adoption -the reply will often say they need to let them go because they are suffering by living in a hot climate?? ieCameroon!!

They don't exist!

[Cold_Fish]

I disagree.

Shelters are good however, the checks they run you through is completely unnessersary. I have nothing to hide but I recently applied to adopt a dog from Battersea Dogs Home after my American Bulldog died. I turned on my heels I'm afraid. I am a stay at home mum, my husband works but having a child is something they did not welcome. They also want to carry out a home check before I am concidered a "parent" and then after to see how the dog is doing, they also wanted letters from landlords, details of local parks and their names to check! Too much hassel I'm afraid, I don't want home visits. Furthermore my aunt went to adopt a cat from there but when a home check was carried out she was told no, despite having windows she could open and a large, secure garden, she was told no for the sake of not having a...

... CAT FLAP!

I'm all for shelters and understand what happens to animals (in particular Staffs) when in the wrong hands, but surely a nice family home not wanting home checks (I'm a bit private like that) or a nice old woman with a big garden is better than a tiny cage.

[White water lily]

Cold_Fish,I agree with what you have written. I also had problems trying to adopt a cat from a rescue centre- I had been looking after a stray for just over a month after discovering she had been abandoned, no one claimed her and she was heavily pregnant. When she gave birth unexpectedly I arranged for the rescue centre to help her as only one kitten had emerged. I later discovered they had to operate to get the second kitten out. I was told to wait for at least 8 weeks whilst the kittens were being weaned. In the meantime I filled in adoption papers and had an interview. Then the first home visit said my place was unsuitable due to extension leads lying on the floor and the fact that I don't have a private garden. I argued for a second home visit which accepted that the kitten could access a small communal garden behind my place. The extension leads had been sorted out by now. It turned out that they made more excuses about why the place wouldn't be safe for a cat. I told them that I had done plenty of reading on how to look after cats and would do everything possible to make it safe. They still turned me down.
Even if I had succeeded, yes they would have made another home visit in 6 months time just to check up on me. I found out that a member of staff from the rescue centre had been fostering the cat and 2 kittens. She had got very attached to them and was one of the people doing the home inspection...obviously a very biased person against me!

I have now bought myself a kitten over the internet, went to see her and collected her a month ago from a family who were about to move house...and she is doing very well here!

[Cold_Fish]

That's terrible, see with actions like that it's no wonder why not many people wish to rehome from rescue centres.

Im just going to BUY a dog regardless in Jan, be it on gumtree or epupz, so instead of making people fill in hundreds of forms and subject them to loads of home visits they should be happy that someone is willing to home these poor unwanted cats and dogs.

Some of the questions on this 10 page or so form I had to fill out were BIZARRE.

Questions asking me the dimensions of my home, the names of every local park in the area, the names and ages of any regular visitors, your beliefs on certain kinds of treatment, what brands of food the dog will eat, etc. I had to fill in the 10 page form, then go over it AGAIN with a rehomer, it was a process which took nearly THREE HOURS. And this was on a quiet day, there was no one else in the queue!

The most strange request was to bring my everyone in my household, then ALL the regular visistors which included my sister in law, her child and my two brother in laws. They wanted me to BRING THEM to the rehoming centre to meet a dog that we would ALL like despite they only drop round!

[Peco]

These proceedures have been adopted as a result of thousands of rehomed animals being brought back by the new owners and giving reasons such as, the dog barks too much, the cat scratches my furniture, the dog doesn't come back when I call it, the cat pees on the carpet, the dog casts hair all over the place, the cat climbs up my curtains, the dog doesn't get on with my other dog, the cat tries to kill my budgie, the dog chews up the mail that comes through my letterbox, my kid is allergic to the cat, the dog is too scared of loud noises, when I get home form work after leaving the dog alone at home for 10 hours it has shit on the floor, we're going on holliday and don't have anyone to look after a cat/dog/rabbit etc etc etc.


Every concievable reason is given for bringing the pets back, so the rescue centres try to anticipate any possible reasons why a dog or cat might be unsuitable to be rehomed with someone. It's just a pity the system doesn't make allowances for individuals. Someone with a garden is always favoured over someone without one, even though a flat owner might make the best owner in terms of caring for a dog and exercising and feeding it, giving it company etc, and the person with the garden might never even let their dog out in the garden anyway.

Most of these organisations such as the RSPCA and SSPCA are charities, with boards of directors who make policy but are completely out of touch with the realities of pet ownership.

[jim morrison]

if you are thinking of buying a pet from overseas ring DEFRA first it may save you a lot of money

[montyzuma]

bruce.finder@yahoo the non existant puppy man who was all over gumtree like a rash has had his yahoo email address binned

flogging puppies who send you obvious photoshopped documents when asked and wanted money to get the pupps out of the airport kennel

clown

[flower4]

thanks for the info..NICE

[cherrypink]

Hi

I've been reading about the scams with interest. Been looking for a kitty online (been to shelter home but they were very fussy), and although I don't want to sound horribly naieve I am unsure of a situation I have found myself in.

I saw some kittens up for free adoption on my local (Leeds) Gumtree. I emailed and the guy said he had one left. He said he lives about 40 mins away so could not drop off - I said we could go and pick up the Kitten if he didn't want to make the journey but to no response. He had forwarded us 3 mobile number, all of which did not work (well, it said Unavailble). Then he said he was going to Scotland for the week, so would see when he gets back, and he did mention "sending" kitty to us, if "only" he had the money but then he did not actually ask for any money, instead saying that we could wait a week to see what happened.

There are obviously bad signs (numbers not working, not responding to our request to pick up the kitten if distance was the issue) but at the same time, this person hasn't asked for money from us. They are due back in a few days, I am unsure how to proceed; if this person is a scammer or if our emails are just a little lost in translation.

Any advice?

Thanks

[Meowmies]

I would continue with great caution Cherrypink.
When they return from Scottland I would ask again if you could pick up the kitty, but if they mess around with you, prolong it further or tell you things that you think must be lies then just forget them is my advice.
I saw a hamster for sale online that was very thin and small, had a terrible cage and was being bred from inappropirately. She was being sold as a breeding animal but I knew if she was bred once more she would die. I tried to buy her for two weeks but the owner was very difficult to deal with, lying alot, stalling, not answering when I called the number she gave, telling me to meet her somewhere with no intention of actually turning up.. Eventually I got the hamster, but I quickly realised it was a male of the same colour and not the female that she sold me (overpriced too and I think she must have known full well it wasn't her). Later I found out she did breed the female again and she was nursing a litter, a day later I found out she had died. The male I got was malnourished, aggressive and scared.
If it had been a larger animal it would have meant even more heartbreak (I burst into tears for the little female I tried to save as it was) and much larger vet bills.

So don't stick around if they play around with you too much and also I would want to know what condition the animal is in, whether they are spayed/neutered, due vaccinations etc. They may have lots of genetic problems too if they were bred badly by their current owner. So I would be cautious and if you feel too uncomfortable, try and find another person you can actually trust.
Good luck!

[goldrush]

http://bistromobile.com/specials.html


They sell 10 up to date mobile phones for somthing aroun 1000 punds
CAN I TRUST TO THIS WEBSITE????PLZ HELP

[the_tidy_kiwi]

[Eviemuff]

I completely agree with you about the hoops you have to jump through to get a kitten from a rescue centre. Mindful of how many dodgy pet shops sell sick kittens I went through the home visit business. The lady checked my house, my family, my well loved old cat and that my four year old didn't swing the cat round her head. I then had to ring and see the Foster Mother. The woman obviously disliked children. She kept saying 'ooh careful!' and 'Isn't she excitable!' whenever Kate pointed at one of the cats. I asked my daughter to be very quiet and gentle (which she was) and the woman kept steering us towards two black and white kittens. Now I understand that b/w kittens and cats are harder to home but we'd always from Day One been clear we wanted at least one ginger kitten.

I said that we really wanted one of the ginger kittens plus one more and she started saying that my daughter was too 'excitable'. It's not that - it's because we didn't want to take the black and white ones and now we're being punished! She also phoned another 'foster' mother and said that we weren't to get her two ginger kittens as my daughter is 'too young' and (guess what) 'excitable'.

I don't understand this. We could have offered two kittens a happy loving home. Now I'm thinking 'sod this' - I'm buying two kittens. I sometimes feel the rescue centres are manned by odd children hating cat obsessed weird ladies who resent giving the kittens up!

[aldwynd]

well i personaly think if someone is going to pay hundreds of pounds for a dog they must realy want it and wont abuse it

[jenny81]

hi! I have been a victim of a dog scam. I have just lost £220 to a dog dlivery agency. As stupid as i sound i did almost pull out serveral times but obviously these poeple are proffesionals and they do seem real. yes dont buy a puppy online, however if you do then you must be aware that wiring money to CAMEROON is a scam! I am trying to get my message out everywhere so no one else is scammed like i was! the website that is a scam is www.flypetsinc.spruz.com and the email address babiesweb47@gmail.com is also a fake breeder! DONT NOT BE AS STUPID AS ME!

[aldwynd]

you should never buy a puppy unless you can go and see it with at least its mother and in its surroundings and then you should only leave a nominal deposit and pay balance on collection

[truthful]

Dear jenny81,
Sorry to hear about your misfortune with trying to buy a pet over the internet.Your trust was betrayed, the scammers are the stupid ones for they are living a lie and an immoral life and will receive their nemisis in due course in the form of an unfullfilled soulless existence with no love only an empty selfish spiritless hell.
Thank you for your information.I was nearly drawn into the same scam while trying to buy a Morkie and I include the e-mail I received stating the conditions I needed to meet to receive the puppy.Despite all the attempt to portray a professional smoke screen the condition to transfer funds before delivery was the give away and also the inability to see the pup or pick the pup up privately.
I hope the police can bust these criminals who are prayng on geniune trusting law abiding citizens.
Don't berate yourself for being a trusting soul.But we all need to be cautious in our business affairs.It's still a beautiful world.


This PUPPY will come with all necessary papers needed, But as the Brierley Hill veterinarians must conduct another tests to be sure of its health.

PAPERS INLCUDED:
Health certificate KC register Deworm Shot records Veterinary Records
Health guarantee

DELIVERY:............... DOORSTEP
CRATE TYPE:............ XL44CUDLE
MATRICULATION NUMBER:............... 65545161004147793

So the PUPPY is now ready for delivery. But it should be noted that this shipment cannot be carried out, unless the delivery charges of (£150) is paid for the delivery of the PUPPY.
Which will come alongside with one of our pet carrier. This payment is to be done to the Headquarter of the company. The animal moving and importation board in BRITISH-CAMEROON.
payments are made via MONEYGRAM (POST OFFICE), to the animal moving board in BRITISH CAMEROON.. With address:
payment information

NAMES:.............................. TABOT NDIP

COUNTRY:......................... CAMEROON
CITY :................................... LIMBE
ZIP CODE:............................ 00237.
you will need a test question, make it to me?
TEST QUESTION................ ASSURANCE?
ANSWER.............................. GUARANTEE.

WE REQUIRE A CONFIRMATION OF ADDRESS TO AVOID WRONG DELIVERY, AFTER CONFIRMATION OF ADDRESS, AND AFTER MAKING PAYMENT, JUST EMAIL US BACK WITH THE REFERENCE NUMBER OF THE MONEY TRANSFER.

The PUPPY are registered under urgent delivery and after confirmation of address and charges paid, we shall provide you with the Time schedule of the arrival and departure of the PUPPY.


Thanks
General Manager Brierley Hill Branch
Mr. OMANDE CONRAD

Email: donnaday@luxmail.com
Phone: 07031869155
Direct:

STAY TO ENJOY THE SERVICES OF PET AIR CARRIERS


SECRETARY
Mrs. Emmanuel Messe

PetAir UK. Safe Hands - Safe Journey

[gums]

never buy a pet without seeing it etc in person face to face allways cash on collection pet scams i really dont believe the scammers will use any sort of scams

[hotchicklegs]

cotton de tulear or coton de tulear for sale pet scam. I currently am looking for one of these dogs, however in the short time I have been looking,4 people have tried to scam me out of money or been eager to get hold of my FULL name/details! Do not send money and do not give out your full name and address to strangers, its so easy to go down to the births and deaths registra, to get your date of birth and nick your id and your cash!!!
The general gist of it is I have had to relocate for a job, due to bereavement etc. However if you can spot them, (bad English grammar, for one) you can have lots of fun messing them around. Ask the parentage and tell them, with fedex who is a pet carrier, payment is on delivery, however, do not give your correct details out.

[pethouse]

You should always be careful with buying pets.

My partner and I do a lot of pet sitting and we do not understand why people or how people can mistreat animals.

If you want a decent pet approach the local RSPCA or Dogs Trust. You can get lovely pets from them!

[jmswlsh]

i want to buy fish.
where can i buy it without being scammed ?

[montyzuma]

asda