There is a new scam that has started up, where a person is coping a picture from someone's website like mine, then putting that picture on sites like: www.puppyfind.com , selling the puppy which they do not really have for a smaller amount of money then tends to be normal for that Breed. A potential buyer gets very excited thinking that they are getting a very good deal.  The "so called seller" has the person wire them the money through something like Western Union, then the person never hears from the seller again, and of course will never see a puppy.

This scam is very tempting to the buyer as they think they are getting a great little purebred puppy for a very low price. I've found one of my Maltese being sold this way and a Yorkie (Lexi) being sold this way.

    www.puppyfind.com  and other such advertisers for breeders are great tools for the buyer and seller, but this new scam is making it much harder to be trusting when you buy a puppy. You need to be very careful. Thankfully I have been contacted about this type of fraud from potential buyers who also saw the picture of the same puppy that someone was falsely selling also on my website and contacted me about it before they sent the money to this other person who had stolen the picture from my website.

    What I tell people to do when ever they consider buying a puppy from anyone is to ask for the breeder's veterinarian's phone number, look it up and make sure it is an actual veterinarian, then call the vet and make sure the breeder is a reputable breeder. If a person won't give you his or her veterinarian's number, then "run the other way". If a person says that their vet doesn't like calls, then "run the other way". A good breeder will have a good veterinarian that will not mind you calling his or her office and speaking with either him/her or his staff concerning the breeder and the quality of their puppies. If they are hesitant about you calling their veterinarian, then either they are not on the "up and up" or may be a questionable breeder who is not on good terms with a veterinarian. That should be a warning.

    There are many good breeders out there who love their dogs and take great care with their dogs and their puppies. But as in all walks of life, there are also those that do not do what they should or are trying to scam people and are not even breeders.

So just be careful. Hope this helps save some broken hearts and hard earned money!

Terry Warren
 

Please e-mail me with any questions: terrystwobytwo@hughes.net

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updated: 08/26/07