english bulldogs for sale scam [Archive]

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viklmikg

30 December 2006, 12:28

I was looking for a puppy an came across a site which had 2 for sale when i contacted the person they then sent me an email telling me to contact another person in nigeria who was posted there.they said there pups cant cope with the heat.i was very interested but they want me to send money with westeren union before they will send the pups.they said i would get the pups withing 24hours after money was recieved.a site scanned the email which said they think it could be what do u think.the email asked for full name address and email address for shipping company.i contacted these people first as it was a for sale ad.some of the words that was wrote in the email i searched for on the net and they came up as scams

Nyla

31 December 2006, 02:58

It sounds like a textbook scam, but it sounds like you already know this.

Just a bit of general advice, first, for your puppy search. You want to buy puppies in person, not sight unseen, off the internet. Not just to avoid scammers, but to avoid "puppy mills" or, heaven forbid, buying a completely unsuitable dog who will then end up abandoned in the pound when you decide you can't keep it. You want to see the puppy in person, be able to confirm it is healthy, that it's had its shots, and that it has a good disposition. The last thing you want is to bring home a puppy you've never met and discover that it has a rotten personality and will not get on with you as an owner, or that it has severe health problems of some sort. And believe me, that does happen, and it happens often. I have a coworker who volunteers in an animal shelter, and she sees this with great regularity.

Any truly reputable, responsible breeder (especially one that deals with purebreds) is probably going to want to meet and screen any prospective owners in person before sending one of their animals home with you, as well. Most breeders don't want to sell their pride and joy to an owner that doesn't measure up. I would steer well clear of any dog sale that does not involve you actually going to meet the breeder and the puppy in person before making a decision. There are a few breeders who could be trusted to sell you a dog over the internet, and to ship it to you safely, but compared to the multitude of scammers and sloppy, uncaring breeders out there, they are few and far between.

Ask yourself, why would these "owners" have bought/taken the dogs to Nigeria in the first place if they can't cope with heat? It's not as though the heat would have come as a surprise, even if they supposedly moved to Nigeria to live and/or work. A simple web search consisting of two seconds' worth of research would have told them that the heat in Nigeria can be intense and tends to stay intense most of the year. If they're doing this all "for the good of the pups", why are they charging you anything at all, even for shipping? Why are they requesting payment by Western Union, the scammer's preferred method of payment?

I'm going to guess that these people are supposedly missionaries, or working with some Christian organization in Nigeria. That tends to be the preferred scammer story when cooking up these fake puppy ads. It makes the owners sound very sympathetic and trustworthy, claiming to be Christians. Any pictures they've sent you are probably taken from the internet. The adorable dogs only exist in the scammer's imagination and a few stolen pictures, I'm sure.

Unregistered

2 January 2007, 21:20

i got this reply when i enquired about a puppy for sale in the cairns post

Rev Wright Phil (revwrightphil200@yahoo.com)
To:
Subject: Re: puppy info

Attachments: Security scan upon download Jemmy 1.jpg (4.0 KB), Jemmy 2.jpg (4.1 KB), Jemmy 3.jpg (3.7 KB)

Greetings peta, First of all I thanks my Living God for helping mesee an intending parent for the Interest in my Baby.However, i want you to know right now i'm currently ofAustralia. I have been transfer to West Africa to HeadUN Branch in West Africa, but right now the Puppy isin Australian Capital Territory with my Sister. I haveattached her pictures, and i'm asking $700 for herincluding shipping. I will want you to Pay the Moneyto West Africa, I will Contact my sister right nowabout where the Puppy will be delivered and i willneed your Name and Address where the puppy will bedelivered. All these will be forward to my SisterImmdiately and Once Payment is Confirmed your Puppywill get to you the Nextday as soon as possible. Ilook forward to your quick response. God Bless You. Cheers

Nyla

3 January 2007, 00:19

The reply you received also has many of the hallmarks of scams. The scammer is posing as a "Reverend" and scattering religious references througout the email to make victims trust him more. After all, who would accuse a Reverend of having the intent to scam someone? The scammer also keeps referring to the dog in a super-affectionate manner, calling it his "Baby", and referring to you as a prospective "parent". This is to curry sympathy and make you feel responsible for the dog.

For someone who is supposedly Australian, the scammer's grasp of written English is not particularly good. The dog is conveniently with "his sister" in Australia, yet, he expects you to send money to West Africa, which, unfortunately, has a strong reputation for fraud. And he wants it sent by Western Union, which is the scammer's preferred payment method.

Again, it makes little sense to sell a dog located in Australia, yet expect payment to be made to West Africa. I'm sure if you suggested going to the sister's to meet the dog in person, there would be a flurry of excuses as to why this is not possible.

abnixo1

17 January 2007, 18:55

I also receved an email from a REV, but after reading your post i didnt buy the dog. Please no one fall for these scams

Unregistered

4 February 2007, 02:40

Ive been dealing with this "Reverend" and he's offered me a chihuahua for a $150 adoption fee. I would also pay for shipping. He sent me pics, but they were small. After many requests for more pics, he never sent me any. I made plans for my father in law to pick up the dog for me, but he had SO many excuses. He gave me an address to send the CASH ONLY. SO I googled it and certainly enough it was a church for future priests. I asked him to leave me a contact number, and he didnt. WHich I found very odd. So I called the school. They never heard of him. I talked to the lady there for a long time. We're both disgusted.

Unregistered

27 February 2007, 06:32

Like all the stories above he did the same thing to me. I did my research (thank God) before pursuing anything. I was so furious I continued to lead him on saying that I had sent the money so he would get it when it was not there. He kept asking if I sent it and I always said tomorrow so he would go to the western union to get it. So this went on for three days and he got really mad cause I kept leading him on. I know this sounds pathetic and maybe wrong but in the end I wrote I was part of Interpol and we had enough information for making a arrest and told him to turn himself in within a certain amount of time or he would get a even bigger punishment for us chasing him. Ya I know that was pretty lame but it was funny. I'm waiting for his reply now.
mo

Nyla

27 February 2007, 16:15

What you are doing is called "scambaiting" or "baiting". We recommend NOT doing this with your real information, which the scammer probably has. It's not a good idea to give a known criminal information that actually identifies you. This means no real names, no real email address, no email address that can be connected with your real name, no real home addresses, no real phone number. Nothing identifiable. You may feel safe, thinking the scammer is in a foreign country, but 419 gangs have members all over the world. These people ARE criminals. There's nothing to keep him from having a friend in your country pay you a personal visit. Please drop the communication immediately and find a scambaiting community. There are numerous forums and websites that teach you how to scambait effectively, and more importantly, SAFELY.

Also, impersonating a member of law enforcement is illegal, and the authorities tend not to be amused by it. Most scammers know that an employee of Interpol has zero chance of getting them arrested anyway. Interpol can't even carry out an arrest on its own. They're primarily a coordinating agency that acts as a go-between for international law enforcement operations.

Unregistered

13 April 2007, 05:40

I also had a guy who sent me pictures of the lab. I'm going to notify my local paper tomorrow about this scam. I didn't realize where the guy was at first, but then he said he was in Cameroon and moving to England. Originally, was from Chicago, IL. He also said lab puppy was usualy lab color. WHAT??? When I asked him what color, he sent pictures of a very white puppy. I asked him why he didn't get rid of the puppy while in the states and he said they went over for a wealth convention. I'd say, they thought they would be getting wealthy. Get this one, he didn't want to take the dog to England because it wouldn't be good for the dog to move from one country to another....BUT...it's alright to move the dog from Africa to central U.S. Wow, what a flight. He also would have shipped the dog to my little local airport. Isn't life grand and thank God for our sixth sense.

kimy

30 April 2008, 10:43

i was scammed aswel.I was told id receive my pup at my door,all i had to pay for was the flight.i am gutted doh.after finding this site and realised iv been scammed i feel so foolish.

barbara123

23 November 2009, 16:33

Talk about feeling foolish....Although I did not send money, I answered all these "blocked" calls from Hope Collins and Kelly C. How luck am I? I got two Christians that wanted a good home for their dog. Unfortunately, I did email my home address and phone numbers. Should I worry? Hope Collins stated that she worked for American Cancer Society and was moved to the UK and that I could take her babies and raise them. I was sooo stupid and wrote a whole story on why I was the best for the pups. She referred to them as babies and asked for $1000 to send them to me and drop them off on my door step. She insisted I go to walmart to send money via western union. If that wasn't bad enough, she called me to tell me not to talk to anyone else cause she heard of all these scams in UK. She emailed me all day. I sent her the email below: After that, I have not heard from her. I really hope there is not a gang looking for me.

You r so right. I have put this in Gods hands. I'm not worried. Your dogs will be taken care of very well. I found a family for Andy. My uncle would love to adopt him. Uncle Steve is an FBI agent and told me to call u so he can help me make arrangements for the dogs. Isn't that great. He travels back and forth to Washington but his loving wife stays home and is so excited. Ok my uncles gift to me is to take care of the shipping. When is a good time for him to call you to make arrangemts for the puppies. We can't wait. At first he was skeptical but I assured him you were a person of God. He was gonna look into it. Some people are so distrusting. He's gonna handle it. You were right there are so many scams but I know that once I receive puppies, my uncle will send you the money, eveything always works.
Uncle Steve is so happy!!! It's a surprise for his wife.
Well I can't wait!!

Dodobird

23 November 2009, 17:16

Hello Barbara123,

Don't feel foolish, many are taken in by these scammers. But please give them the publicity they deserve by posting all details here (but remember to remove your personal information) so that others searching on the web may find them.

I'm glad you didn't get caught! :)

barbara123

23 November 2009, 17:31

Thanks, I appreciate your support. Okay so just look out for United Kingdom, Christians looking for Christians to adopt bull dogs; Andy and Kate. They want you to adopt their "babies" and give them good homes. Hope Collins email address is rev.hopecollins@hotmail.com and phone number is
+447024091897. It all started with me answering an ad on puppyfinders.com. I got a response that puppy was sold but brother and sister are in UK.....you know the rest. AGAIN, IF IT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE....STAY AWAY!!! I invested an entire day back and forth. I even was trying to find the other puppy a home. Thank God, I didn't get any family or freinds involved to the point of no return....

Thanks for your words of wisdom

Unregistered1

29 January 2010, 18:37

This is also common with yorkie puppies...and pretty much any other animal you are looking for. I found some adorable yorkie puppies online and emailed the person...the emails were in bad english and they kept changing where they said they lived and were very pushy about sending the money. I googled the web adress i was emailing and discovered they were a fake...then i googled "yorkies for $120" (which was the askin price for shipping) and found ads all over the United States with the same yorkies pictures. The email address is bfinta@yahoo.com

Unregistered 2

3 April 2010, 19:18

i was scammed aswel.I was told id receive my pup at my door,all i had to pay for was the flight.i am gutted doh.after finding this site and realised iv been scammed i feel so foolish.

i think i have been scammed i have just paided £130 to western union for a bulldog puppy and they are now asking for another £800 for a special crete and vainations but they assured us in e-mails that the puppy had had all off her vacinations i have refused to pay the £800 but they are now threating me saying that the dog will end up in quarintine and i will have to pay a fine of up to £4000 but i have not agreed to any type of contract only spoken via e-mail

Shuecraft

3 April 2010, 22:09

Please see my reply to your earlier post here (http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?p=105682#post105682)

Mycroft

3 April 2010, 22:25

There's absolutely no doubt that you've been scammed, I'm afraid.
You can safely ignore the threats, and on no account send any more money. He's only trying to frighten you into doing so. Everything he told you is a lie. The puppy doesn't exist, so there are no quarantine fees, and certainly no prospect whatsoever of you being fined.

anomorescams

21 May 2010, 21:48

Thanks all for posting such valuable information. To decrease the likelihood of success for these scammers, the more we post the email addresses they use and the places/names where they want the money transferred, the better.

The email I received was from "elaown@yahoo.com"
The 'transportation company" they used this time is " ICSCA PET MOVERS"
email: info_icsca@yahoo.com
website: www.icsca.page.tl

JUDE MUA KEBEI
SOUTH AFRICA
4578
NGOBOTINI
Slovo
question: COLOR ?
answer: LA PAZ
€ 234

sensed the scam

3 September 2010, 11:42

>>> melvis Root <melvisroot@yahoo.com> 2010/09/03 12:24 PM >>>
Each puppy cost R 1600, flight and pick up at your air port will cost
you R 130, making a total of R 1730, you will need to make a deposit of R 1000, once you have received received your order, only them you will pay the balance in to my account.

Below are the details you requested for.

MR NTUNDI K ALOMBA

St. Andrews Street,

house 43a, Bloemfontein

Free StateP.O Box 517, Bloemfontein,

9300,051-403-3165/0782212823

MR NTUNDI K ALOMBA

FIRST NATIONAL BANK

ACCOUNT 62270956059

BRANCH CODE 250655

AMOUNT R1000

FAX PROOF OF PAYMENT TO 0865805867

Regards

--- On Fri, 9/3/10, I had written to find out about the retrievers for R1500 based on the online advert

>>> melvis Root <melvisroot@yahoo.com> 2010/09/03 10:15 AM >>>
My Golden Retrievers puppies are raise to the healthiest, happiest puppies
possible and place each of them in a loving
home. I have ensured that
appropriate health certifications have been performed to check for
serious hereditary health defects. As well as provide routine
preventative health care and regular examinations by a licensed
Veterinarian. For this
reason I am able to offer a written health
guarantee with confidence for the newest member of your family.
I have placed puppies in homes all over SOUTH AFRICA. I am experienced
at getting your puppy to you quickly and safely.Not only do I
want my
babies to have good homes, I want my new owners to be as happy as my
puppies are! I strive to make your puppy purchase as pleasant and
simple as possible.They love playing and are very friendly.They will
make a
wonderful addition to any home.They are definitely gifts that
will keep on giving These puppies are K.U.S.A registered, vet checked, up
to date on shots and wormer and is health guaranteed.

EACH PUPPY COMES ALONG WITH THE FOLLOWING;

=K.U.S.A Registration
= Micro-Chip Certificate
= De-wormed Invoice
= Health Vaccination Certificate
= Inoculation Invoice
=Training manuals
=Nutrition Booklet
=Playing accessories

Each cost R1600

Call us on 0782212823

The guy has a west african accent, and he kept on calling to check for the deposit. These are his details above. He promised to deliver at my doorstep. I indicated I preferred picking them up myself. the converstion changed. Hhahaha

Dodobird

3 September 2010, 14:41

Hello sensed the scam,

You fell onto a busy scammer! Here are some other contact info for this same criminal;

kittenparadise@gmail.com
Kittenfarm@gmail.com
Kittenparadise@gmail.com
Kittencattery@gmail.com
davidsprimates@gmail.com
davidsdalmations@gmail.com
davidpalmer@live.com
freemonkeys.pets2@live.com
davids.dalmatians@gmail.com
beaglekingdom@gmail.com
lillydominic8@gmail.com
jamelle.lu@gmail.com
some.yorkie@yahoo.com
perfectfarm1982@sify.com
marmosethome1982@gmail.com
british.cats@yahoo.com
gardner.johanna91@gmail.com
lillydominic8@gmail.com

0710606673, 0738210423

Unregistered

12 January 2011, 15:03

I live in NC and searched several weeks for an English bulldog puppy I could afford. With every search, http://www.greathomepups.net/ kept coming up. The web site advertises English bulldog puppies for $500 each with some being sold and one on hold. I replied using the "Contact Us" form titled "Champion English Bulldog Puppies (Available" asking about 2 of the puppies and got a reply from "Grace" at homepuppies1@aol.com.

"Grace" replied "all the puppies have been taken. If you are really interested in getting one, then we will advise you to contact Dr Benjamin Madison. He is a very good reputable breeder, and i think his pups can warm your heart. Can guarantee he has top quality pups. he did send to us some pics of available babies the other day. If you are interested contact him immediately and tell him James wife, Grace from Rhodes Island directed you to him for the adoption of the babies. His email address is drbenjaminmadison@yahoo.com He said that he has reduced the price to $450. Make sure to tell him you are not a breeder and won't be breeding the puppies."

I contacted "Dr. Benjamin" immediately and got a reply with pictures of 2 beautiful puppies (Cali and Taylor) stating "the price is $600/ea. They're all AKC registered, currently on shots, Champion bloodline, I check them myself for health issues since I am a vet doctor ."..."I usually send them off with a blanket,all papers and a manual." "You will have to let me know as soon as possible which of them you love to have and when you intend having them home."

After replying that I definitely wanted Cali, but would like both if I could afford them he replied, "You can have both puppies for $1000 including shipping. Let me know when you guys are ready so that we can proceed with the shipping arrangements."

I knew this entire deal was suspicious so I wrote "Grace" on 01/07/11 asking for references or web site addresses for "Dr. Benjamin's" puppies or his "Vet" practice and I haven't heard from her since. I also replied to Dr. Benjamin on 01/08/11 asking for the same information. Nothing from him either.

Lesson: BUYER BEWARE!! Don't fall for the heartless crooks that are after your money and could care less about your emotions!

Unregistered

27 January 2011, 18:38

Shuecraft

27 January 2011, 23:06

Nyla

28 January 2011, 14:33

after my brother told me about these scammers this morning now im wondering! ive been emailed by this andrewslovak2@yahoo.com! says he is on an auditing assignment in miami florida an the puppy is being shipped n i have to pay in advanced! its suppossed to be set up for tomorrow but im doing a bank wire so it can be traced! but now im not sure if i wanna go through with it! he is asking 220 for the puppy! what should i do

Put that email address into Google.

Notice how it brings up at least 8 pages of results? It doesn't take long to find that he's put these English bulldog puppies up on multiple sites, in multiple cities. He's also offered Siberians.

http://classifieds.lycos.com/sale-pet-dog/sal-siberian-husky-puppies-2397622141

Not to mention, gee, look, there are other scam formats out there that use the same "I'm on auditing assignment" schtick.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100828134612AAwMUkk

This scammer is supposedly in Washington.

We've said this over and over. Read the many, many posts and articles on the subject. There's an article linked in my signature and another in the menu to the right about buying pets online. Go buy from a local breeder where you can make multiple visits to meet the pet and see the conditions it lives in or preferably ADOPT a pet from your local shelter.

Essentially, when it comes to buying pets online, our advice boils down to one word. Don't.

mysteryquest

28 January 2011, 20:10

http://www.greathomepups.net is Dead again.

Sajila

9 January 2013, 06:38

I am really thankful to u guys that u r doing a great service to intimate people of these scammers. So i thought it was my duty to spread awareness about these con artists. I was on the verge of becoming a victim of this Cameroon fraud; I was going to deposit the money into the western union bank. They asked me the very next day. It were two macaws they said will be shipped to me, i only have to pay the shipping charges. And the story was the same as I’ve seen in many other cases reported here.
I was lucky that i just typed british Cameroon and there i saw these pet scam websites.
They also said that the shipping company fee is 280$. So as a new year present he'll pay one half of the cost himself. The man called himself Robert Gates his email robertgates00@gmail.com. He coaxed me and said plz do the payment for the birds’ sake, i don’t want them to spend another night in the shipping agency.
I am lucky that i am writing this post today otherwise I’d been depositing 205$ into the western union bank.
Please beware of these con men. They can you out of your hard earned money and of your life savings.

Shuecraft

9 January 2013, 10:22

I am lucky that i am writing this post today otherwise I’d been depositing 205$ into the western union bank.

Please be careful, Western Union is not a bank, it is a cash transfer service. Scammers commonly call it a bank to make it sound like you are sending money via Wire Transfer.