Scammer Strategies
Arte's Teacups
Scammer Strategies
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Most Scammers count on gaining your confidence.  Once you have contacted them they will have certain characteristics that will appeal to your opinions as to how a “nice” person should be.  They will play on your vulnerabilities and any information you provide them.  When contacting a breeder, it is best to try to keep the conversation all business; otherwise, the Scammer will use your personal information in order to “customize” how they will gain your confidence.

Some of these topics are:

Religion:  If you mention anything along the lines of a religious nature, the Scammer will become a “God fearing Christian.”  Oftentimes, they will use religious proverbs and ideology on their websites or in their conversations with you in order to gain your confidence.

Marital Status: If you are a widow, widower, single parent, etc., they can give you story after story about their struggles to gain your sympathy and show they can relate to your situation.

Disabilities and/or Medical Catastrophes: They will relate their horror stories of their fight with cancer, MS, or some debilitating physical disorder of either themselves or a family member.

Motherly and/or fatherly attitude:  I think we all know how this goes.  They will constantly call you endearing names such as honey, dear, and overall come across as they are your best friend or mother/father, grandmother, etc.  The Scammer has no boundaries.  Their personalities will pretty much fit whatever your vulnerability projects.

Website attraction: The Scammer will in most cases have “marketing strategies” that will catch the eye of some of the above topics.  Angels, religious proverbs, names and/or pictures of recording artists, movie stars, and other celebrities known to own certain breeds of dogs.  Cutesy pictures that make you wonder if they are selling baby items, babies, almost anything other than puppies.  Oftentimes they will dress up the puppy in cheap, ostentatious costume jewelry and props that make you forget you were looking for a puppy.  The breeder seems to go to great extremes to divert your attention away from the quality or lack of quality of the pup.  This type of website rarely, if at all, showcases a pup in its natural surroundings.

Contributions to charities and other nonprofit organizations:  Ask to see letters of commendation or thank you notes from these agencies for which they claim to support or sponsor.  I have worked for many, many nonprofits and we ALWAYS acknowledge contributions on our letterhead for all contributions regardless of the denomination.  This letter acknowledging the contribution will contain the name of the organization, the person in charge of the fundraisers or contributions, and their Federal ID number so that you may use the value of the donation as a tax write-off.  If the breeder does not have a letter acknowledging their most gracious donation, then ask them for the name of the agency and the agency’s location.  You would be able to verify the donation from some staff person at the agency.  If the breeder states they made the donation anonymously, then ask the breeder why they felt it was necessary to post on their website that they made donations if they do not want even the agency to know they made a donation.

Bait and Switch:  Will show particular puppies, but when you inquire those puppies are already sold, but they have others.  Will suggest if you don’t make a deposit now, the puppy will more than likely be gone tomorrow because they have several prospective buyers.  Some will even go as far as having you put a deposit to hold the puppy (within 24 hours) and then demand that you pay the full amount (within a week or so) before the contractual time for you to take possession of the puppy.  Also, you may end up having to choose another pup because the Scammer sold your chosen pup to someone who was willing to pay a higher price.  And, of course, the scammer will come up with a story as to what happened to your pup but no supporting evidence.  But they are not going to tell you they just sold your pup to the highest bidder!  There are other signs related to the bait and switch which I will explain under our RED FLAGS.

They will do anything and everything to have some commonality with you to gain your confidence.  The only commonality they should have with you is to provide you with a healthy and happy dog that is of the parentage and breed they represent for the amount of money you are going to pay them.  Your personal life is just that – PERSONAL!  Small talk should be limited to the quality of the dog, how it plays, what it eats.  In other words, stick to the subject of the dog.


RED FLAGS

Breeder has numerous active and/or non-active websites and addresses but no company name

There is no address or “place of business” phone number on their website.  With changing times, it is understandable that addresses are not always given out immediately.  However, a city or district along with a state should be cited so that the Consumer knows where the breeder is located.

When you call the breeder, regardless of how many times, you always have to leave a message for the breeder to return your call.  The breeder will tell you they are so busy that they do not have time to always be available to answer the phone.  This could be an indication the breeder is “hiding out” and is checking who is calling through the caller ID.  Some breeders will go as far as to look you up on a skip tracing services, such as Intelius, to enter your phone number and/or name to see if you are who you say you are and not a customer they are hiding from.

When the breeder does not post weekly pictures so that the Consumer who purchased a pup with the understanding they would be able to “watch” their puppy grow and then claims to be too busy taking care of the needs of the dogs might be an indication that the breeder has more dogs then can be reasonably managed, such as in a puppy mill.  Time management is an essential tool in any business.  A work-day requiring one to work 16 hours in order to accomplish 10 hours of work is a good indication the breeder has over extended themselves and has too many dogs to manage along with the other requirements of running a business.  Would this not jeopardize the proper recordkeeping required to chart the development of your puppy?

WATCH OUT FOR THAT CONTRACT.  If the contract is out of balance (the majority of the terms and conditions protects the breeder and very few protect the Consumer) you may not want to do business with this breeder.

AGAIN, WATCH OUT FOR THAT CONTRACT.  If the breeder does not have their contract posted on their website and will only provide you with a copy of the contract once you have given them a deposit on a pup, RUN, don’t walk, away from that breeder.  One should ALWAYS have an opportunity to review and seek legal advice before entering into any type of contractual relationship.  And make sure you keep a copy of it with your signature and ask that the breeder return a copy of it as well with their signature.

Okay, so you didn’t take my warning and you sent money anyway without having the breeder sign the contract.  Now you will have to worry as to whether or not that breeder will change the terms and conditions of the contract.  For example, you have to give a certain amount of deposit to hold the puppy and the balance has to be paid within a certain time before the puppy is shipped or at the time the puppy is picked up.  Some of these breeders are known to have DEMANDED the balance of the puppy be paid a week after you have just made a deposit and assured you that you would have until it is time to collect the puppy to pay the balance.  They will threaten you with selling the puppy to someone, threatening that you will lose your deposit, or whatever they think they can get away with BECAUSE YOU DID NOT GET A COPY OF THE CONTRACT SIGNED BY THE BREEDER BEFORE GIVING THEM YOUR DEPOSIT!

If the breeder requires that you make out your check or money order to a party other than the breeder, walk away.  If a breeder cannot receive money in their own name, something is wrong.  Then, if you need to take this breeder to court, the breeder will say, I didn’t have the agreement with the party and I didn’t receive any money from them.

Never wire money into another’s account.  If the breeder cannot accept a postal money order, Bank Cashier’s Check, or some type of payment that can be traced to the actual individual to whom you are paying for the pup, RUN!  Do not believe a breeder if they tell you they are handling the sale for their child and it is their child’s dog.  If this child is a minor, that child CANNOT legally enter into any contractual relationship as long as they are a dependent minor.  In fact, they cannot own property or money!  Everything has to be through a legal guardian.  So don’t fall for this one.  I know it sounds crappy, but sometimes blood is as thin as the dollar bills these scammers are trying to steal from you.  These scammers will use their own children to get over on a Consumer.

The same advice goes for a breeder supposedly selling the animal for a family member or friend.  You want a contract that has a legitimate signature.  That signature would be the owner of the pup!  If the breeder is selling the pup for a friend, and even a family member, then that breeder is acting as the owner’s agent and is just as liable for the transaction as the owner.  Therefore, ask to see a power of attorney wherein the breeder has been authorized to sell the pup for its legal, registered owner.  Also, make sure the power of attorney has been notarized and that the notary certifies that the signature to the power of attorney is that of the legal and registered owner of the puppy.  Also, make sure the breeder has a broker’s license to handle this transaction since they are not the legal owner of the pup and is a go-between the Seller and the Buyer.

Puppy prices change from day to day, and sometimes hour to hour within the same day.  Ask the breeder why, but remember the words of Judge Judy, “If it doesn’t make sense, then it is usually a lie.”

·Puppy’s date of birth is not shown with each update of the picture of the puppy. I’ve seen pictures of puppies wherein the breeder will say the pup is 7 weeks old when its development does not look any older than 4 weeks old.  Also, that puppy just kind of shows up on the website without ever being showcased as a newborn.  This is somewhat weird when you consider reputable breeders are very proud when their bitches whelp a litter and can hardly wait to boast, and rightfully so, IF THEY ARE A GOOD BREEDER and they are quality pups!

When puppies are showcased and shown as being either pending or sold, the PICTURE IS STILL of the puppy when it is only 3- to 5-weeks old.  Pictures of the matured 12- to 18-week-old pup is never shown thereby giving the appearance that the 3- to 5-week-old pup looks that way at 12- to 18-weeks old when its new owner took possession.

Puppies are never shown with the mother dog or their littermates.  Why?  Surely the breeder has time to take pictures of the puppy with its mother and littermates if the breeder has time to get out all of the “parlor” decorations or dress the puppy up in cheap costume jewelry or dress the puppy up to make it look child-like in cutesy costumes.

You are not able to visit the breeder until well after the puppy is weaned.  The reason given for this is supposedly for the protection of the puppy from diseases and, therefore, the breeder will not allow you to visit the pup until after the pup has supposedly had all of its puppy shots.  However, the experienced breeder knows how to show their pups without risks of contamination to its mother or littermates.  As a consequence, you have no idea if the mother dog they show you is actually the mother of that pup (if they show you one at all) since the pups have been weaned and there is no mother/child interaction.  There is no legitimate reason for a potential buyer to not be able to visit the puppy, the dam and sire (if owned by breeder), and the littermates.  A breeder who uses the above excuse is either inexperienced (and therefore I would be concerned about how they went about breeding the litter) or has something to hide.

·You meet the breeder in parking lots, parks, vet offices, any place except where the pup lives with its mother and littermates.

·The breeder will not show you the pedigree of the sire and dam of the puppy you are interested in purchasing so that YOU can verify that they are the true owners of the puppy’s litter.  The AKC numbers of both the sire and dam are on the pedigree and you can inquire regarding the ownership of the sire and dam from AKC.  Actually, the breeder should have had the litter registered by the time the puppies are ready for viewing.  Therefore, the buyer should also be able to see the litter registration which will show the sire and dam and date of birth of the pup.  If the breeder uses the excuse that they don't register the litter until after a several weeks to make sure all of the puppies survive in order to save money, beware.  If the breeder cannot afford to loose $5 or $10 bucks on a litter, how well was the sire and dam taken care of post- and prenatally?  Business is business!  The breeder can write-off whatever money they may loose if a pup dies, provided that is, the breeder is legitimate and is paying taxes in the first place.

TIPS

Always ask the breeder to see some identification; preferably their driver’s license as it will show their address and you can later ascertain from tax records or Intelius if they actually reside where they show you the pups.  Should you need to locate the breeder, you need to make sure he/she lives where they say they live.  If the breeder kennels their dogs at another breeder’s site, BEWARE!  Are they running a puppy mill?  Why doesn’t your breeder have their own kennels; especially, when they say their pups are home-raised!  Or, better yet, they may be renting someone’s home just to show their pups in because their pups are raised in another breeder’s kennels.  The offering of a driver's license via fax is not a sign of legitimacy.  There are many counterfeit rings who can make up driver's licenses.  The driver's license is only for identity purposes ONCE YOU MEET THE PERSON AT THE PUPPY RESIDENCE to be sure the breeder occupies that facility.

Ask to see the prenatal and postnatal vet reports on the dam regarding the pregnancy of the litter from which you are purchasing your pup.

AND MAKE SURE YOU read everything you can ahead of time about the breed of pup you are purchasing so that you will at least have some insight as to how well the breeder knows the breed of dog they are selling.

DO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PICTURE OF THE PUPPY!!! Fall in love with the puppy once you see that it exists, that it is what you are looking for, and it is everything the breeder claims it to be.  If you found this pup and you are not sure of the answers you are getting from the breeder are truthful, do not be rushed into making a decision you may later regret.  Once you send that breeder your deposit, your money is GONE!  All of the breeders are specific about that:  NONREFUNDABLE DEPOSIT!

Give yourself plenty of time to shop around.  Like we have discovered while doing our research of the various breeders, there are over 100,000 on the Internet and additional breeders who only use the classified section of the newspaper.  UNLESS it is the last pup of a Grand Champion, another day, week, or month, will not make a difference.  The pup you were meant to have will be there waiting for you.

When you have some free time, and we all do to some extent or another, when you find a breeder’s website that appeals to your eye, watch that website for at least a month before you decide to use that breeder.  A website tells a lot about a breeder in some way or another.  Do any of the above “marketing strategies” or “red flags” manifest themselves on these websites?  If so, you may need to look for another favorite website if after physically contacting the breeder leaves you uncertain as well.

Those of us who have been working together on building this website could tell you some of the funniest stories about how questionable breeders will change their websites several times a day, EVERY SINGLE DAY, trying to stay ahead of their game.  So it is very important to visit whatever website you are interested in several times before you decide to commit.  In fact, there is one particular breeder who studies this page and will change their website to conform.  Now that does not necessarily mean what they do verbally is legal, but will make their web site look legit.  So, if you watch websites long enough and see that they actively change, BEWARE!  In fact, this breeder's reputation has caught up with them and they have changed their website COMPLETELY.  If you encounter this situation, BEWARE!

If you live in Canada, outside the State of California, or too far a distance within the State of California to visit and inspect the breeder’s premises from which you wish to purchase a puppy, call the dog club nearest to the location of the breeder’s facility to see if a member would be willing to visit and observe the pup you are interested in AND inspect the premises and provide you with a report BEFORE you send any money and/or sign a contract.  I am not aware of any dog club who offers these services, but it is another option if you cannot be there yourself. 

ALWAYS REMEMBER to follow-up with an email to the breeder after every telephone conversation you have with the breeder confirming whatever you discussed concerning your purchase of their puppy.  For example:  As we discussed on the phone on 07/07/07, please confirm our conversation on the phone which included, etc., etc., by replying to this email.

Now, I know this is a whole lot to read and take into consideration.  But, if you are purchasing a Chihuahua, you are looking to have a wonderful friend for approximately 15 to 18 years, if not more.  Plus, you will be investing quite a bit of money into this loving little furry creature and a large part of your heart.  Better to take 30 minutes reading and taking heed to all of the above instead of spending $300 to $3000 in unnecessary unanticipated vet bills and, of course, a broken heart!

The following link is a list of breeders who have been suspended from AKC and cannot registered any litters they have bred with their AKC dogs until after that suspension has been lifted.  We suggest you refer to this list when you find a breeder you wish to do business with BEFORE you do business with them.  However, just because their name is not on this list doesn’t always mean you will be dealing with someone who is okay with AKC.  Some of the breeders have taken on new identities or use the family and friend’s names to sell their puppies.   www.barkbytes.com/suspend/suspindx.htm

One other website you may want to investigate is Rip-off Reports.com.  While this website does not require a person to prove their claim, if one were to read these letters long enough, one would be able to match up who wrote what complaints and whether or not they are legitimate or fake complaints just to ruin someone's reputation or business.  Also, beware of breeders who will "plead" their case on their website, but only give bits and pieces of a "sob story" of how they have been wronged.  There are always two sides to every story.  Should you see one of these "sob stories" about how this particular breeder is being "persecuted," look up the Rip-off Report to see what precipitated these reports.  Search reports that have to do with "Animal Services," "Pet Shops & Supplies," and "Animal Abuse."

And, this article by AKC should also be of assistance to you in identifying scammers and how to report them.