Canadiangurl
21 November 2007, 10:02
Well I have not lost any money but I am wondering if all items from Cameroon are scams ?
Let me explain.. I have been looking for an african Grey baby for awhile and recently I came across a few ads that were selling them for 450.00 for the baby .. I replied and this is the first email I recieved..
""Hello,
Thanks for the respond.We do have both females and males congo african grey babies for sell.Our congo african grey babies are 5-6months old already weaned,tame and DNA sexed and can go separately for $450 for one and the DNA sexed pair for $860.The prices included shipping,cage and toys.The are home raise and hand fed in my living room around my kids,dogs and cat which makes them very sociable.A cage,all playing toys,a handbook on keeping and caring CAG and some food to last for two weeks will come with.
We are located in Douala,Cameroon,Shipping and delivery is done on the same day to your home address which is just 8-9hours flight by plane to where you are located.Awaiting your reply to proceed with sending you pictures and let me know when you will like to have the bird
deliver to you.
Thanks-Sharri."""
so than I wrote back saying "no thanks". and sent it off.
I had been reading a local forum that there were scams over puppies coming from Cameroon... However I got curious (even though I knew I would not be buying one from this person) but i wrote back this email:
""hi Sharri, '
I was wondering if you could send me pics of the babies .. do you have a web site ? do you sell the birds under a business name ? Why is the flight only 8-9 hours? How do they cross the border without being held for quarantine ? Do you have other customers that you have dealt with in the past that could give referrences? Why are your babies cheaper than my local breeders's prices?
Thanks ""
(real name withheld)
A few hours later I recieved this email :
""Hello,
Attached to this mail is the pictures of my greys babies which i have.There on the attachment you will see my three greys babies which are for sell,also you will find the picture of my DNA sexed pair which are also for sell and go togather and the cage which the grey will be coming along with and some toys.I am located in Douala,Cameroon and that is just 8-9hours flight by plane to Canada.Shipping and delivery will be done on the same day to your location.All i will need as shipping details to ship and deliver the male the grey to you is just your full names,full home address and the name of the closest airport in your area which you have already given to me.I am set for the shipping as soon as possible,so let me know how soon you are prepared to have the grey deliver to you.We ship daily from DOUALA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, The airport is only 30 minutes away from our facility, So this reduces stress on the birds. All live birds are shipped AIR LINES ONLY we do not ship USPS this is illegal so please don't ask.Live arrival of the bird is Guaranteed,since "PETS ASSURANCE " is assigned to take good care of the bird while on plane to make sure you have the grey in good health and less stress.
N.B, All health records are faxed directly from our airport here to your airport when bird is coming to you .If for any reason you are dissatisfied with bird, you may return the bird within 30 days, for a replacement, exchange, merchandise credit or a full refund of the purchase price. Original shipping will be deducted from the refund.if you cancel the order within three business days, the refund will include shipping.My birds have all their papers and which means it will not be allow to stay in quarantine since i have all my papers approve by the Canadian Embassy here for shipping and i check that out before i place my advert for sell in Canada.Also attached to this mail is the picture of me and my driver's license card,sure you will no who i am from the look of that.Just here with my husband but spend most of time in US.
Let me tell you more about our birds.The babies from this set are big talkers, Usually before weaned they begin.All our birds are hatched and hand-raised on our farm from two weeks until weaned which makes them exceptionally friendly, and very affectionate pets.All birds for sale are in good and healthy condition.Our parent birds are housed in our home, in spacious, meticulously clean cages with full spectrum lighting and loads of toys. When we decided to raise parrots, we committed ourselves to caring for our parent birds as well as we care for our much loved pets. Our nursery is an equally pleasant environment and our babies are accustomed to being gently cared for by our whole family.100 percent Health Guarantee.They learns very fast, too. Every once and a while, they would call the duck..."Heeeere, duck, duck, duck, duck,duckyyyyyy!" We decided to try to teach them on command. We would say,"Papa, where's the duck? Can you call the duck?" and when they would,we would say, "GGOOOOOOOOD Papa!!!" and give them a treat. Now, no matter who's around, when we ask them to, they will call the duck...they wants that treat.
Waiting for your reply to proceed.
Thanks-Sharri.""
Now this was a shocker when I opened the emails (after scanning for viruses naturally) I found photos of the baby birds and the last one a picture of Sharri, her Oregon driver license (same face) Birthdate, assume old address, and her issue date and expire date for the license. Also her passport book from the USA (same face) , again with details of dob, Birth place, date of expiry, you know the usual looking passport information, and another picture of the same woman this time on a horse. The first thing that I looked at was the DOB and then the issue date. From the date she was born and the date the pieces of id was issued she looked Young not at all like a woman in her 40's. Not that I am a good judge of character in people's ages but it seemed off. However I could be wrong (which is not a new concept).
This is where I started to acually think "hmm maybe it is legit, maybe this isn't a scam like the others I had read about" I mean I would never give photo copies of my personal information out like that to anyone. Especially in this day and age. The one other thing I found weird was the way she signed off her emails ""Waiting for your reply to proceed"". I know personally most people do a "Thanks, Thanks in advance, Sincerally, regards, talk to you soon or just nothing ( I might be missing a few) but never seen "Waiting for your reply to proceed" before. I tried to look up her name ( for what it was worth) on line to see if anyone else had posted about this person but nothing came up. I have the full name & email just didn't want to break the rules of the board by posting if it is a no no.
Am I crazy to think that this is possibly a scam ? Or just to cautious?
Usually I do not even ponder things like this I just ignore and delete after I have the *gut feeling*. Although this time I am curious if anyone else has come across this person or had dealings ( in hopes that it might be legit).
Let me explain.. I have been looking for an african Grey baby for awhile and recently I came across a few ads that were selling them for 450.00 for the baby .. I replied and this is the first email I recieved..
""Hello,
Thanks for the respond.We do have both females and males congo african grey babies for sell.Our congo african grey babies are 5-6months old already weaned,tame and DNA sexed and can go separately for $450 for one and the DNA sexed pair for $860.The prices included shipping,cage and toys.The are home raise and hand fed in my living room around my kids,dogs and cat which makes them very sociable.A cage,all playing toys,a handbook on keeping and caring CAG and some food to last for two weeks will come with.
We are located in Douala,Cameroon,Shipping and delivery is done on the same day to your home address which is just 8-9hours flight by plane to where you are located.Awaiting your reply to proceed with sending you pictures and let me know when you will like to have the bird
deliver to you.
Thanks-Sharri."""
so than I wrote back saying "no thanks". and sent it off.
I had been reading a local forum that there were scams over puppies coming from Cameroon... However I got curious (even though I knew I would not be buying one from this person) but i wrote back this email:
""hi Sharri, '
I was wondering if you could send me pics of the babies .. do you have a web site ? do you sell the birds under a business name ? Why is the flight only 8-9 hours? How do they cross the border without being held for quarantine ? Do you have other customers that you have dealt with in the past that could give referrences? Why are your babies cheaper than my local breeders's prices?
Thanks ""
(real name withheld)
A few hours later I recieved this email :
""Hello,
Attached to this mail is the pictures of my greys babies which i have.There on the attachment you will see my three greys babies which are for sell,also you will find the picture of my DNA sexed pair which are also for sell and go togather and the cage which the grey will be coming along with and some toys.I am located in Douala,Cameroon and that is just 8-9hours flight by plane to Canada.Shipping and delivery will be done on the same day to your location.All i will need as shipping details to ship and deliver the male the grey to you is just your full names,full home address and the name of the closest airport in your area which you have already given to me.I am set for the shipping as soon as possible,so let me know how soon you are prepared to have the grey deliver to you.We ship daily from DOUALA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, The airport is only 30 minutes away from our facility, So this reduces stress on the birds. All live birds are shipped AIR LINES ONLY we do not ship USPS this is illegal so please don't ask.Live arrival of the bird is Guaranteed,since "PETS ASSURANCE " is assigned to take good care of the bird while on plane to make sure you have the grey in good health and less stress.
N.B, All health records are faxed directly from our airport here to your airport when bird is coming to you .If for any reason you are dissatisfied with bird, you may return the bird within 30 days, for a replacement, exchange, merchandise credit or a full refund of the purchase price. Original shipping will be deducted from the refund.if you cancel the order within three business days, the refund will include shipping.My birds have all their papers and which means it will not be allow to stay in quarantine since i have all my papers approve by the Canadian Embassy here for shipping and i check that out before i place my advert for sell in Canada.Also attached to this mail is the picture of me and my driver's license card,sure you will no who i am from the look of that.Just here with my husband but spend most of time in US.
Let me tell you more about our birds.The babies from this set are big talkers, Usually before weaned they begin.All our birds are hatched and hand-raised on our farm from two weeks until weaned which makes them exceptionally friendly, and very affectionate pets.All birds for sale are in good and healthy condition.Our parent birds are housed in our home, in spacious, meticulously clean cages with full spectrum lighting and loads of toys. When we decided to raise parrots, we committed ourselves to caring for our parent birds as well as we care for our much loved pets. Our nursery is an equally pleasant environment and our babies are accustomed to being gently cared for by our whole family.100 percent Health Guarantee.They learns very fast, too. Every once and a while, they would call the duck..."Heeeere, duck, duck, duck, duck,duckyyyyyy!" We decided to try to teach them on command. We would say,"Papa, where's the duck? Can you call the duck?" and when they would,we would say, "GGOOOOOOOOD Papa!!!" and give them a treat. Now, no matter who's around, when we ask them to, they will call the duck...they wants that treat.
Waiting for your reply to proceed.
Thanks-Sharri.""
Now this was a shocker when I opened the emails (after scanning for viruses naturally) I found photos of the baby birds and the last one a picture of Sharri, her Oregon driver license (same face) Birthdate, assume old address, and her issue date and expire date for the license. Also her passport book from the USA (same face) , again with details of dob, Birth place, date of expiry, you know the usual looking passport information, and another picture of the same woman this time on a horse. The first thing that I looked at was the DOB and then the issue date. From the date she was born and the date the pieces of id was issued she looked Young not at all like a woman in her 40's. Not that I am a good judge of character in people's ages but it seemed off. However I could be wrong (which is not a new concept).
This is where I started to acually think "hmm maybe it is legit, maybe this isn't a scam like the others I had read about" I mean I would never give photo copies of my personal information out like that to anyone. Especially in this day and age. The one other thing I found weird was the way she signed off her emails ""Waiting for your reply to proceed"". I know personally most people do a "Thanks, Thanks in advance, Sincerally, regards, talk to you soon or just nothing ( I might be missing a few) but never seen "Waiting for your reply to proceed" before. I tried to look up her name ( for what it was worth) on line to see if anyone else had posted about this person but nothing came up. I have the full name & email just didn't want to break the rules of the board by posting if it is a no no.
Am I crazy to think that this is possibly a scam ? Or just to cautious?
Usually I do not even ponder things like this I just ignore and delete after I have the *gut feeling*. Although this time I am curious if anyone else has come across this person or had dealings ( in hopes that it might be legit).